Relationship of root rot to black spruce windfall and mortality following strip clear-cutting

Abstract

Root and butt rots are often implicated as causal factors influencing windfall and mortality of residual trees following partial cutting. Measurements of decay at stump level (i.e., the upward extension of root rot) were made on cross-sectional discs taken from windfallen and standing dead 100- to 130-year-old black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) near Nipigon in northwestern Ontario. Subsequently, causal fungi were identified using laboratory culturing procedures. The incidence and amount of decay in windfallen trees within leave strips following alternate strip clear-cutting was higher than the general stand levels but lower than that found in windfallen trees in uncut forest. The incidence and amount of decay was also higher in windfallen trees near the centres of the leave strips than in those near the edges and corners of these strips. These results indicate a strong association between root rot and windfall and suggest that for comparable windfirmness, trees near the edges of residual stands must have less decay than those in more sheltered locations. Decay levels tended to be lower on poorly drained sites than on well-drained sites. In uncut forest, and especially in the leave strips, more trees were uprooted than died standing or suffered stem breakage. The incidence and amount of decay tended to be lower in uprooted trees than in standing dead trees or those with stem breakage, although in uncut forest virtually all windfallen or standing dead trees had some degree of stump-level decay. Of the 21 wood-rotting Basidiomycetes isolated from windfallen and standing dead trees, Inonotus tomentosus (Fr.:Fr.) Teng was the most frequent, followed in order by Armillaria ostoyae (Romagn.) Herink, Coniophora puteana (Schum.:Fr.) Karst., and Scytinostroma galactinum (Fr.) Donk. The incidence of I. tomentosus, C. puteana, Xeromphalina campanella (Batsch.:Fr.) Kuhner & Maire, and Serpula himantioides (Fr.:Fr.) Karst., but not Armillaria ostoyae, Scytinostroma galactinum, and Sistotrema brinkmanii (Bres.) Erik., was greater in windfallen and standing dead trees from the leave strips than in the general stand populations. In the leave strips, I. tomentosus, Amylostereum chailletii (Pers.:Fr.) Boid., and Trichaptum abietinum (Dickson:Fr.) Ryv. tended to greater relative abundance in standing dead trees, while the relative abundance of C. puteana and Serpula himantioides was greater in trees with stem breakage. Armillaria ostoyae and Scytinostroma galactinum were as abundant in uprooted trees as in standing dead trees or those with stem breakage. Ascocoryne sarcoides (Jacq.:Fr.) G. & W., a staining fungus that may protect against decay fungi, was frequently isolated in this study.