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OFRI Research
OFRI's researchers develop new scientific knowledge related to the conservation and sustainable management of Ontario's forests. They then transfer that new knowledge to MNR program, policy, and field staff, as well as to clients such as Ontario's forest industry.
What Directs OFRI Research?
Direction for OFRI's research projects comes from:
- Legal and regulatory commitments, which stem from the Declaration Order Regarding MNR's Class Environmental Assessment Approval for Forest
- Management on Crown Lands in Ontario and the Crown Forest Sustainability Act
Objectives and priorities stated in MNR's strategic direction document, Our Sustainable Future, as well as MNR's forest business plan, which supports MNR's mission of ecological sustainability and is updated annually - MNR's corporate goals for sustainable resource management, which include research to support Ontario's recent land use planning initiative and the Ontario Forest Accord
- MNR's science strategy as well as researchers and science managers, who link closely with partners and clients to ensure their science needs are supported
OFRI's Research Areas
Following is a list of OFRI's current research areas. A description of each area is provided, along with examples of accomplishments and links to profiles of some current projects. For more information on any of these research areas, e-mail information.ofri@ontario.ca.
- Climate change
- Forest growth and yield/modelling
- Forest health and pathology
- Forest landscape ecology
- Forest management and ecology – boreal
- Forest management and ecology – Great Lakes‑St. Lawrence
- Genetics
- Non-timber forest products
- Remote sensing
- Soils and hydrology
- Other
Climate Change
Determining the effects of human-induced changes in global climate on Ontario's trees and forests.
Some accomplishments:
- Determined that most management activities could be used to increase forest carbon storage during a rotation, either by increasing the sequestration rate or by reducing natural disturbance to retain carbon stored in forests
- Worked with federal scientists to calibrate a carbon accounting model to represent Ontario's contributions to a Canada-wide risk assessment for including forest management in Kyoto Protocol carbon accounting
- Produced a report that reviews existing knowledge about carbon cycling in Ontario's peatlands over various time periods and spatial scales, describes research underway or planned to improve the ability to assess carbon in Ontario peatlands, and identifies critical research gaps
- Published a report that summarizes the potential effects of climate change on human, animal, and plant parasites and diseases in Ontario and suggests mitigation measures and adaptation strategies
- Also go to Genetics
Project Profiles:
Fluxnet Canada Ontario Flux Station: Soils Component
Ontario's Large-Scale Forest Carbon Project
Carbon Sink and Source Functions of Two Contrasting Boreal Mixedwood Watersheds
Also go to Genetics
Return to list of OFRI's research areas
Forest Growth and Yield/Modelling
Developing and using computer models to simulate how trees and forests grow and change under various conditions.
Some accomplishments:
- Provided scientific support related to estimating wood volume to MNR staff during the softwood lumber dispute with the United States, allowing more meaningful and accurate comparisons of timber prices
- Developed models that better predict tree shape, allowing more accurate estimates of how much wood forests contain
- Also go to Climate Change
Project profiles:
Identifying Science Priorities for Ontario's Wood Supply Strategy
Also go to Climate Change and Forest Landscape Ecology
Return to list of OFRI's research areas
Forest Health and Pathology
Developing strategies for improving tree and ecosystem health through managing pathogens and other tree stressors.
Some accomplishments:
- Discovered that in central and southern Ontario, the most virulent species of the fungus Armillaria (A. ostoyae) is also the most widely distributed and the most likely to affect conifers
- Determined that in red pine plantations that are designated to be converted to mixedwoods, Armillaria is a greater threat to pine than to hardwoods and should not hinder conversion
- Assessed aspen mortality over large areas of northeastern Ontario and determined that likely causes include frequent defoliation by forest tent caterpillar, a 1998 drought, and the age of the trees (most are mature or overmature)
- Discovered that moderate (30-50 percent) to severe (greater than 50 percent) ice damage to maples reduced syrup production for up to six years after the damage
- Determined that the amount of food stored in a tree's root system (the root starch level) is related to the amount of ice damage the tree had for up to three years after the damage occurred, indicating that root starch levels could be used to assess tree condition
- Produced a Forest Management Guide for Tomentosus Root Disease;
Project profiles:
Dynamics of Northeastern Ontario Aspen Stands Following Forest Tent Caterpillar-Related Decline
Distribution, Hosts, and Site Relationships of Resident Pathogens in Northern Ontario
Red Pine Mortality in Ontario
Impact of an Extreme Climatic Event on Productivity and Growth in Sugar Maple
Also go to Climate Change and Genetics
Return to list of OFRI's research areas
Forest Landscape Ecology
Understanding and modelling forest patterns, dynamics, and ecology over large areas and long time frames.
Some accomplishments:
- Developed a broad array of GIS-based software tools for understanding forest landscapes, including the Boreal Forest Landscape Dynamics Simulator (BFOLDS), the Landscape Ecological Analysis Package (LEAP II; download from the AI-Geostats website), and the CD-ROM entitled Ontario's Forest Fire History: An Interactive Digital Atlas (available from OFRI); these tools have helped to revolutionize the way Ontario's forest managers and planners do their work, and some were used to support Ontario's recent land use planning initiative
- Led the writing teams that produced the books Forest Landscape Ecology: Transferring Knowledge to Practice, Emulating Natural Forest Landscape Disturbances: Concepts and Applications and Ecology of a Managed Terrestrial Landscape: Patterns and Processes of Forest Landscapes in Ontario, available from major online booksellers
Project profiles:
Developing the Boreal Forest Landscape Dynamics Simulator (BFOLDS)
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Forest Management and Ecology – Boreal
Investigating new approaches to harvesting, regenerating, and tending Ontario's boreal forests.
Some accomplishments:
- Worked with MNR's science and information units to produce a binder designed to transfer a wealth of practical information on forest vegetation management, including current approaches and alternatives, the role of vegetation management in silviculture, effects of harvesting methods on vegetation management, and the link between vegetation management and forest renewal
- From a 10-year, multidisciplinary study comparing vegetation management alternatives in spruce plantations, determined that the treatments resulted in different forest types and wood volumes but overall did not decrease plant diversity; from a forest management perspective, achieving desired conifer wood volumes is possible only if initial planting densities are higher than current minimum standard
- Provided scientific input into A Silviculture Guide to Managing Spruce, Fir, Birch and Aspen Mixedwoods in Ontario's Boreal Forest
Project profiles:
Intensive Forest Management: NEBIE Plot Network
Old Trial Remeasurement for Intensive Forest ManagementDeveloping Sustainable Mixedwood Practices in a Stand-Level Adaptive Management (SLAM) Framework
Fallingsnow Ecosystem Project: Comparing Vegetation Management Alternatives
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Forest Management and Ecology – Great Lakes-St. Lawrence
Investigating new approaches to harvesting, regenerating, and tending the forests of central Ontario, including determining the effects of riparian forest disturbance on lakes.
Some accomplishments:
- Assembled an annotated bibliography and a metadata catalogue of all known hardwood silviculture studies conducted in Ontario, providing resource managers with valuable tools for identifying projects that warrant further study, determining information gaps, and setting priorities for new hardwood research
- Learned that partial harvesting in old growth white pine stands can produce some ecological benefits, such as enhancing growth of older white pines and providing wildlife habitat
- Determined how site preparation affects the establishment, growth, and survival of white pine seedlings, as well as the seedling growth environment and plant diversity; how increasing light availability to understory white pine can increase stem volume by a factor of 10 over 10 years; and how herbaceous and woody plants that compete with white pine seedlings conduct their physiological "warfare" (herbaceous species tend to use up soil moisture, putting white pine under drought stress, while woody species tend to outgrow and shade white pine seedlings, reducing the light they need for photosynthesis)
- Improved partial cutting and understory release treatments to speed conversion of red pine plantations to "natural" forest
- Contributed information and expertise to the Silvicultural Guide for the Tolerant Hardwood Forest in Ontario, the Silvicultural Guide to Managing Southern Ontario Forests, the Ontario Tree Marking Course, and A Tree-Marking Guide for the Tolerant Hardwoods Working Group in Ontario; for more information on these publications, go to the Ontario's Forests publications page
- Provided scientific support to the team revising MNR's Timber Management Guidelines for the Protection of Fish Habitat
Project profiles:
Parkside Gully Tolerant Hardwood Selection Harvesting and Wood Recovery Study
Regenerating Red Oak and Hardwoods Using Shelterwood Cuts and Prescribed Burning
Riparian Zone Tree Mortality and Coarse Wood Ecology Project
Return to list of OFRI's research areas
Genetics
Providing scientific support to Ontario's gene conservation and tree improvement programs.
Some accomplishments:
- Identified eastern white pine families with partial resistance to white pine blister rust, as well as eastern white pine-Eurasian pine hybrids that are highly resistant to blister rust (research is continuing on field performance of these families and hybrids)
- Developed guidelines for ensuring that white pine seeds are genetically suited to their planting site to ensure optimum survival and growth even if the climate changes
- Refined a new technique for propagating jack pine through rooted cuttings
Project profiles:
White Pine Blister Rust Studies
Propagating Jack Pine and White Pine Using Rooted Cuttings
Black Spruce Protein Markers for Growth and Climate Change Adaptive Traits
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Non-Timber Forest Products
An accomplishment:
- Produced a review of Ontario's commercial and non-commercial non-timber forest products, which provides information about current and potential non-timber forest products, issues associated with their use and development, and recommendations for sustainable development of the sector.
- Developing propagation guidelines for commercial production of Canada yew
Project profiles:
Canada Yew: Developing a New Value-Added Crop for Northern Ontario
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Remote Sensing
Developing and testing new remote sensing methods (using equipment on aircraft or satellites) for collecting data related to forest management.
Some accomplishments:
- Evaluated use of large-scale photography to collect data in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest; determined that this method has potential for forest and wildlife habitat inventory but does not target individual trees accurately enough for use in crown dynamics research
- Developed a prototype forest condition rating system for assessing maple forests, which may lead to new and more cost-effective tools for identifying boreal tree species, conducting forest resource inventories, and estimating the condition of the inventoried trees
- Developed a remote sensing method for integrating laser-based (LiDAR) estimates of biomass to generate more accurate estimates of canopy chlorophyll
Project profile:
Return to list of OFRI's research areas
Soils and Hydrology
Understanding the relationships among forest management, soil nutrient and water cycles, water quality, and forest productivity.
Some accomplishments:
- Determined that changes in nutrient and water cycles vary depending on the site type and that soil nutrient and carbon losses persist for 10-20 years
- Determined that riparian peatlands are important for maintaining summer stream flow and carbon transfer from forests to streams
- Determined that riparian zone alder is important for nitrogen transfer from forests to streams
Project profiles:
Scalable Indicators of Disturbance: Cumulative Hydrological Impacts of Forest Disturbance in Ontario
Also go to Climate Change
Return to list of OFRI's research areas
Other
- Led the writing team that produced the book Regenerating the Canadian Forest: Principles and Practice for Ontario, available from major online booksellers
- Produced the Ontario Plant List, which provides a single, comprehensive provincial reference for plant names, available as an Access database on CD-ROM
- Co-led the writing team that produced the book Conifer Cold Hardiness, available from major online booksellers
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Last Modified: April 28, 2008