Researchers deploy a connected forest in Abitibi-Ouest

State-of-the-art equipment will allow researchers to transmit data on the boreal forest in real time directly to the laboratories of the Lac Duparquet Teaching and Research Forest in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

A first research project from the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) aimed at assessing the impact of climate change on vegetation is being deployed in this new connected forest.

Work began last fall with the acquisition and installation of a retractable telescopic tower. And the deployment of state-of-the-art equipment continues in the field.

meters”,”text”:”We installed the first sensors on the trees. The tower is already deployed and we will install sensors on the tower next month. Then the tower will be raised to its final level which is approximately 25 meters”}}”>We installed the first sensors on the trees. The tower is already deployed and we will install sensors on the tower next month. Then the tower will be raised to its final level which is approximately 25 metersexplains Fabio Gennaretti, professor at the Amos campus of theUQAT and member of the Forest Research Institute.

Holder of the Canada Research Chair in dendroecology and dendroclimatology related to the morphology and growth of trees. He directs this work in collaboration with his colleagues Miguel Montoro Girona and Valentina Buttò of theUQAT.

Researchers from Laval University and abroad are also involved, as is the forestry research department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests. The Abitibi-Ouest Connected Forest is jointly financed by the MRC Abitibi-Ouest and the Quebec Research Fund – Nature and technologies.

Capture weather data

The tower can therefore rise up to 30 meters, but researchers estimate that at 25 meters, it will be able to fly over the canopy, the upper layer of a forest. The highest peaks are approximately 17 meters from the ground.

The instruments that will be installed on the tower will make it possible to capture meteorological flows from the forest over a radius of just over two kilometers.

There will be equipment that measures gases and anemometers that measure winds in three dimensions. There will also be pyranometers which measure solar radiation.

There will be different cameras on the top of the tower, visible cameras, but also thermal cameras which will be able to give the temperature of the crown of the trees in real time.specifies Mr. Gennaretti.

And this data will be transmitted directly to the laboratories of the Lac Duparquet Teaching and Research Forest.

kilometers in a straight line. And we verified that indeed, with radio transmissions, we are able to transfer our data directly to the station, where we can analyze them in real time”,”text”:”We are in the process of setting up a system of radio communication because the laboratories of the Lac Duparquet Teaching and Research Forest are approximately three kilometers away in a straight line. And we verified that indeed, with radio transmissions, we are able to transfer our data directly to the station, where we can analyze them in real time”}}”>We are in the process of setting up a radio communication system because the laboratories of the Lac Duparquet Teaching and Research Forest are approximately three kilometers away in a straight line. And we verified that indeed, with radio transmissions, we are able to transfer our data directly to the station, where we can analyze them in real timeunderlines Fabio Gennaretti.

Create a drought

This spring, a team from the Forest Research Institute is working in the field to get everything ready for this first research project.

To understand the impacts of climate change on the boreal forest, researchers will study the effects of drought on a coniferous tree species, black spruce, and a hardwood species, white birch. They chose an approximately 35-year-old black spruce plantation for the study.

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Simon Filiatrault, laboratory and instrumentation technician, and Louis-Philippe Charest, technician from the Amos campus of theUQATbuild roofs that will protect the crowns of a certain number of trees.

These roofs will prevent rain from reaching the ground and therefore, we will simulate a drought on certain trees, while other trees will be kept under controlled conditions. We will then compare the responses of the trees under drought conditions with the trees which remain in the control condition.says Fabio Gennaretti.

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Measuring the impacts

Researchers will monitor the impacts of drought on the growth of trees under the roof, and compare the data with those collected on trees that are not protected from rain. The equipment will make it possible to know in real time the productivity of the forest plot that will be observed.

Research professional Marc-André Lemay and Elena Barocci, an Italian intern studying for a master’s degree, are busy installing instruments in the connected forest.

We have different sensors installed on trees. We have dendrometers which measure radial variations every half hour. So, what we can see with these sensors is all the daily cycles of contractions and expansions of the tree. We can convert this into water deficit of the tree and also into growth during the growing season.explains Professor Gennaretti.

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Other sensors will be installed to measure sap flows, which record the tree’s transpiration.

We will correlate this with micrometeorology sensors such as temperatures, air humidity and soil humidity.specifies the researcher.

Climate changes

In this first phase, the research project should therefore make it possible to assess the resistance and resilience of forest ecosystems in the face of climate change.

One of the major concerns is to study how global warming will impact the growth of our forests, recalls Fabio Gennaretti. Here, we are particularly interested in the impact of drought. Then, we could compare the responses of the different species.

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We know that with climate change, deciduous trees will be able to take up more space in the territories. We want to experiment in the field if these changes are already present and if we see increased growth of deciduous trees compared to conifers.indicates Professor Fabio Gennaretti.

With a minimum duration of three years, the project could then continue over time, depending on the evaluation of the first results.

Given that the majority of our equipment is easily transferable elsewhere, we could also set up a similar device in another environment.

The latter adds that other similar experiments have already taken place, but he believes that the conditions will be met in this project to obtain even more precise results.

There are still logistics involved in setting up which are quite important. You have seen the construction of the roofs. There have always been certain flaws that prevented very significant results from being achieved. We have taken note of all the faults of other experiments that have been carried out elsewhere to propose improvements and to have recordings which are more significant of what we want to study.underlines the researcher.

Analyze short phenomena

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With all the sensors that will be in place, the Abitibi-Ouest Connected Forest will also be able to measure in real time the impacts of shorter weather events.

days, threedays or a week, and see what the cumulative impacts of events like heatwaves are on tree growth. The dendrometers have been in place for ten days and in the last ten days, we have had temperature changes and heavy rain. We can already see all these changes, how they have affected the radial expansions of the tree trunks”,”text”:”We are talking about events that happen over two days, three days or a week, and see what the cumulative impacts of events like heatwaves on tree growth. The dendrometers have been in place for ten days and in the last ten days, we have had temperature changes and heavy rain. We can already see all these changes, how they have affected the radial expansions of the tree trunks”}}”>We’re talking about events that happen over two days, three days or a week, and seeing what the cumulative impacts of events like heatwaves are on tree growth. The dendrometers have been in place for ten days and in the last ten days, we have had temperature changes and heavy rain. We can already see all these changes, how they have affected the radial expansions of the tree trunkssays Fabio Gennaretti.