Managing Beech Bark Disease with ecological economic options

American beech is a tree species that is distributed from the southeast of the United States up to the southeast of Canada. It has significant ecological and economic importance in Canada, especially in southern and central Ontario and Quebec. The beech population is suffering from beech bark disease, which kills most of the mature individuals, causing a reduction in nut production, which is used as a food source for many mammals and birds, also reducing the possibility of achieving merchantable values for logs. This project will collect data to produce mathematical models of tree development and evaluate a set of plausible management options to deal with the problem. It will also provide Haliburton Forest, and others from forest sector, with optimal silvicultural treatments and management strategies including do-nothing or replace beech with other tree species to sustain beech forests and forest ecosystem goods and services, in general, in a cost-effective way.

Faculty Supervisor:

Rasoul Yousefpour

Student:

Partner:

Haliburton Forest

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Forestry; Environmental Science and Technology; Sustainability & the Environment

University:

University of Toronto

Program: