Monitoring Forest Change in Landscapes Under-Going Rapid Energy Development: Challenges and New Perspectives

Paul D. Pickell, Sarah E. Gergel, Nicholas C. Coops and David W. Andison
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Paul D. Pickell: Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
Sarah E. Gergel: Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
Nicholas C. Coops: Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
David W. Andison: Bandaloop Landscape-Ecosystem Services, 1011 Hendecourt Road, North Vancouver, BC V7K 2X3, Canada

Land, 2014, vol. 3, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: The accelerated development of energy resources around the world has substantially increased forest change related to oil and gas activities. In some cases, oil and gas activities are the primary catalyst of land-use change in forested landscapes. We discuss the challenges associated with characterizing ecological change related to energy resource development using North America as an exemplar. We synthesize the major impacts of energy development to forested ecosystems and offer new perspectives on how to detect and monitor anthropogenic disturbance during the Anthropocene. The disturbance of North American forests for energy development has resulted in persistent linear corridors, suppression of historical disturbance regimes, novel ecosystems, and the eradication of ecological memory. Characterizing anthropogenic disturbances using conventional patch-based disturbance measures will tend to underestimate the ecological impacts of energy development. Suitable indicators of anthropogenic impacts in forests should be derived from the integration of multi-scalar Earth observations. Relating these indicators to ecosystem condition will be a capstone in the progress toward monitoring forest change in landscapes undergoing rapid energy development.

Keywords: landscape structure; disturbance detection; anthropogenic disturbance; disturbance regime; resilience; North America; forest land use; oil and gas; Bakken shale; oil sands; Anthropocene (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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