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Social forestry (SF) has long been implemented in production and protected forests in Indonesia. SF is considered to be a win–win solution for occupied and cultivated forest areas. The aim of this paper was to review the implementation of social forestry in Indonesia and its strengths and challenges. The secondary purpose was to synthesize the lessons learned and recommendations for the government about designing SF that can integrate the objective of forest biodiversity conservation and the social welfare of the surrounding communities. The study used a systematic literature review (SLR) of international and national peer-reviewed articles. The results of the study indicate that SF is intended to achieve benefits in three main areas: social, economic, and ecological. However, the review found that the ecological aspects of biodiversity conservation often receive less attention compared to the social and economic goals. A strong point of SF implementation is increasing community access to forest land use, while a challenge that must be resolved is that including communities in forest management can result in fragmentation and changes to animal habitats; thus, there is the potential for population decline and extinction. This study advises policymakers to pay more attention to ecological functions to ensure forest sustainability in SF development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Mature forests have structural habitat features that can take hundreds of years to develop, and large reserves alone are unlikely to ensure conservation of the species that rely on these features. This paper outlines a proposed new approach to managing mature forest features, the ‘mature habitat management approach’, in areas outside of reserves. The objective was to maintain a network of current and future mature forest habitat distributed across the landscape. The approach is designed to complement the existing reserve network and management actions and is tenure‐blind. Spatial information on the availability of mature forest habitat at the local (1‐km radius) and landscape (5‐km radius) scales is used for decisions on retention within a 1‐km radius of a harvest area, to reach the minimum target of 20% and 30% retention of mature forest at the local and landscape spatial scales, respectively. We believe this approach could contribute to meeting the conservation needs of many species that require mature forest features for refuge and breeding in Tasmania and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat degradation and fragmentation are two of the main drivers for biodiversity loss. To mitigate the negative impact of fragmentation in forests, conservation targets are increasingly addressing connectivity to facilitate the independent movement of species between habitat fragments to ensure genetic diversity and adaptation to climate change. In this article, we present a novel approach to identifying and prioritizing stepping stones for preserving connectivity based on national and regional biodiversity data for Austrian forest ecosystems. Our study identified forest areas where conservation measures should be taken to ensure future habitat connectivity by combining four indicator values with different requirements of a stepping stone habitat into a prioritization value. The four compounded indicators are: (i) the Protect Value, which includes distances to patches of protected areas with restricted management for the undisturbed development of retention areas, (ii) the Connect Value, which combines datasets of designated habitat corridors and connectivity areas in Austria based on landscape models and expert validation, (iii) the Species Value identifying species‐rich areas, and (iv) the Habitat Value identifying biotopes of high ecological value, key biodiversity areas, and sites of favorable protection status. Nonparametric tests revealed significant differences in prioritization value among the ecoregions of Austria and therefore encourage the consideration of stepping stone prioritization at local and regional context. Building upon the insights from this case study on Austrian forest ecosystems, we developed a robust framework derived from our methodology. This framework is designed to facilitate future implementations in diverse study regions, accounting for factors beyond connectivity crucial for identifying high value stepping stone habitats. We encourage adaptation of this framework to local data availability, species requirements, and local conditions. The compiled framework provides decision support for managers and conservationists for prioritizing areas to conserve and improve connectivity of forest habitats. However, it does not substitute on‐the‐ground field assessments of habitat quality and measures of functional connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the degradation of forest ecosystems, their habitats and the loss of species, many formal conservation policies and voluntary forest conservation tools have been proposed and implemented. The woodland key habitat (WKH) is one such initiative that aims to protect biodiversity. This generally involves two key actions: (i) the creation of policy (conservation action) and (ii) the consequences of the policy or initiative in the field. However, the final step of measuring their success in the field is often missing. The aim of this study is to assess the contribution of the WKH initiative to conserve biodiversity in Lithuania. We compared the changes in spatial distribution, species assemblages and richness within the WKH network between 2005 and 2017. Results showed that the spatial distribution of WKHs decreased in number and by area after 12 years. However, species occurrence, abundance and richness of the WHK network generally increased. In conclusion, we found the WKH initiative has contributed to the conservation of forest habitats and biodiversity in Lithuania. However, the future of the WKH network is uncertain due to the current voluntary system, lack of support and funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotropica is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The quantification of tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) and multi-taxon biodiversity is pivotal to the implementation of forest conservation policies, which are crucial under the current climate change scenarios. We assessed the capacity of Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data to quantify biodiversity indices related to both forest beetle and bird communities and TreMs, calculating the species richness and types of saproxylic and epixylic TreMs using the Shannon index. As biodiversity predictors, 240 ALS-derived metrics were calculated: 214 were point-cloud based, 14 were pixel-level from the canopy height model, and 12 were RGB spectral statistics. We used the random forests algorithm to predict species richness and the Shannon diversity index, using the field plot measures as dependent variables and the ALS-derived metrics as predictors for each taxon and TreMs type. The final models were used to produce wall-to-wall maps of biodiversity indices. The Shannon index produced the best performance for each group considered, with a mean difference of −6.7%. Likewise, the highest R2 was for the Shannon index (0.17, against 0.14 for richness). Our results confirm the importance of ALS data in assessing forest biodiversity indicators that are relevant for monitoring forest habitats. The proposed method supports the quantification and monitoring of the measures needed to implement better forest stands and multi-taxon biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protecting forests provides potential synergies for both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes are commonly used to promote biodiversity conservation in private forests, and including carbon as another target may be a cost-efficient way to promote both goals. We analyse a hypothetical reform on a forest biodiversity PES scheme by supplementing it with a carbon payment paid to landowners for also providing carbon benefits. With a site selection model, we examine how the proposed scheme could promote biodiversity and carbon values, and what level of the carbon payment would provide the highest synergy gains. We found that introducing the payment promotes both targets, but there is a temporal trade-off between selecting sites with high carbon storage or sites with good sequestration potential. The highest synergy gains are obtained in most cases by a second-best payment level of 10–20 € tCO2−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is preliminary part of a long-term and comprehensive monitoring of forest resources in Eden and Dibibi, Quirino Province. The general aim was to present various biodiversity values and functions of trees. Pilot quadrat sampling was used to yield preliminary data on canopy composition and undergrowth tree species. For purposes of the long-term assessment, canopy trees are those individuals having 20cm dbh and higher; undergrowth having <20cm dbh. Various indices were utilized to measure and compare forest strata, diversity, morphology and physiognomy. Species Importance Values and Carbon sequestration formulas were used to glean the functionality of canopy trees. Both forest sites resemble Tropical Lowland Evergreen- and Semi-Evergreen Rainforest formations. General diversity is moderate (H'Eden=2.65; H'Dibibi=2.26) and species composition is heterogeneous (βcc=0.745). At least 18.75% of canopy and undergrowth species are found endemic to the Philippines. Jaccard and Sorenson Indices on forests (collectively and individually) denote that canopy and undergrowth layers are dissimilar. Estimates of AGB and Carbon storage fall below the per-hectare figures given in authoritative literatures. The forests, have ecological and economic potentials. However, only species that abundant in number can be expected to be resilient to disturbances. Other observations can be used as bases for community-based rehabilitation and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Forestry Chronicle is the property of Canadian Institute of Forestry and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Monitoring of forest biodiversity and habitats is an important part of forest conservation, but due to the impossible task of monitoring all species, indicator species are frequently used. However, reliance on an incorrect indicator of valuable habitat can reduce the efficiency of conservation efforts. Birds are often used as indicators as they are charismatic, relatively easy to survey, and because we often have knowledge of their habitat and resource requirements. In the Swedish government's environmental quality goals, there are a number of bird species identified as being associated with 'older' and 'high natural value' forests. Here we evaluate the occurrence of four of these indicator species using data from 91 production forest stands and 10 forest reserves in southern Sweden. The bird species assessed are willow tit Poecile montanus, coal tit Periparus ater, European crested tit Lophophanes cristatus and Eurasian treecreeper Certhia familiaris. For the production stands assessed, these indicator species exhibited no significant preferences regarding forest composition and structure, indicating a wider range of habitat associations than expected. These species frequently showed territorial behavior in forest stands <60 and even 40 years of age; much younger than the 120‐year threshold for 'older forest' as defined by governmental environmental goals. As almost 80% of the production stands ≥10 years old included at least one of the four indicator species, this raises questions regarding the suitability of these species as indictors of forests of high conservational value in southern Sweden. Notably, besides the four species assessed here, none of the additional indicator taxa identified by the government, were recorded in the 10 reserves. This outcome may reflect the difficulties involved in finding bird indicator species indicative of high natural values in this region. Our results highlight the importance of coupling bird surveys with quantified assessments of proximate vegetation cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rodriguésia is the property of Revista Rodriguesia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Ornithology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Due to a steadily growing human-induced impact on the biosphere, natural biological diversity preservation and support for forest ecosystems and their dynamics forecast is one of the most urgent global issues. The aim of our research was to identify geographical and landscape diversity features of the mountain forests of the South and the Middle Urals (Russia) based on forest typology, landscape ecology and vegetation science approaches. As a result of the long-term research (1991-2017), quantitative data on biological diversity of old-growth coniferous forests were obtained. Productivity and species saturation of the subordinated layer was studied. It was established that a diversity of forest vegetation conditions and an ecotone effect lead to modern forest type diversity. The research has complemented data on forest types with information on productivity and species saturation for a herb and shrub layer of nominally primary forests. A natural biodiversity level required to preserve natural ecosystem stability was identified. The minimum values are revealed at steep slopes and upper mountains, both in the Southern, and the Middle Urals. The largest species saturation is revealed in lower smooth slopes for moss spruce forests of the Southern Urals and for Multi-herb pine forest of the Middle Urals. The carried-out analysis has shown the advantages for joint use of forest typology, landscape ecology and floristic analysis methods for forest vegetation research. The conducted work forms a scientific basis for biodiversity preservation of the Ural mountain forests, their regional and landscape dynamics research, justified forecast of forest resource conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Setting operational conservation objectives is a major challenge for effective biodiversity conservation worldwide. To analyse forest conservation objectives in Germany in a transparent manner and to achieve a consistent and consensual framework, we systematically classified conservation objectives suggested in concepts by different stakeholders. We analysed 79 biodiversity and forest conservation concepts of different stakeholder groups at various scales and applied textual content analysis and Dirichlet regression to reach a high degree of transferability and applicability. Our analysis revealed a broad consensus concerning forest conservation across stakeholders and scales, albeit with slight differences in focus, but we detected a scale-related mismatch. A wide array of conservation objectives covered social, biotic and abiotic natural resources. Conservation of species, ecosystems and structural elements in forests were found to be of primary importance across stakeholders and scale levels. Shortcomings in the conservation concepts were found in addressing genetic diversity, abiotic resources and socio-cultural objectives. Our results show that problems in forest conservation may be rooted in trade-offs between aims, targeting mismatch across scale levels and insufficient implementation of objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continued decline of natural forests globally has increased interest in the potential of planted forests to support biodiversity. Here, we examine the potential conservation benefits of plantation forests from an Irish perspective, a country where remaining natural forests are fragmented and degraded, and the majority of the forest area is comprised of non-native Sitka spruce ( Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) and Norway spruce ( Picea abies (L.) Karst.) plantations. We examine the true value of Irish plantation forests to native biodiversity, relative to remaining natural forest fragments, and to prior and alternative land use to afforestation. We find that plantation forests provide a suitable surrogate habitat primarily for generalist species, as well as providing habitat for certain species of conservation concern. However, we find that plantation forests provide poor habitat for native forest specialists, and examine potential management strategies which may be employed to improve habitat provision services for this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Forests set aside from productive forestry are often considered best conserved by non-intervention. However, biodiversity is often maintained in natural forests by a background level of disturbance, which, in some forests, takes the form of forest fires. Set-aside forests may therefore benefit from continuation of such disturbances, which, in forests under protection, must be managed anthropogenically. While the effects of prescribed burning on tree regeneration and on pyrophilous and/or saproxylic species in some regions are well known, effects on other organisms are less clear and/or consistent. It would be valuable to broaden the knowledge of how prescribed burning affects forest biodiversity, particularly because this practice is increasingly considered as a conservation management intervention. The primary aim of the proposed systematic review is to clarify how biodiversity is affected by prescribed burning in temperate and boreal forests. The ultimate purpose of the review is to investigate whether and how such prescribed burning may be useful as a means of conserving or restoring biodiversity, beyond that of pyrophilous and saproxylic species, in forest set-asides. Methods: The review will examine primary field studies of how prescribed burning affects biodiversity in boreal and temperate forests. We will consider studies made in such forests anywhere in the world, and will include forests both in protected areas and under commercial management. Non-intervention will be used as a comparator. Relevant outcomes will include a range of measures of biodiversity, including abundance and diversity, but not of pyrophilous and saproxylic species. Relevant studies will be taken from a recent systematic map of the evidence on biodiversity impacts of active management in forests set aside for conservation or restoration. Additional searches and a search update will be undertaken in a subset of databases from the systematic map, using a search string targeted to identify studies focused on prescribed burning interventions. Searches for additional literature will be made in the bibliographies of existing reviews of forest burning. Traditional academic literature and grey literature in English, French, Swedish and Finnish will be considered. Stakeholders who engage in prescribed burning will be asked to provide relevant grey literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire-killed timber is considered as a loss of potential revenues and is thus increasingly salvaged, though not without concerns for biodiversity conservation. Indeed, a large diversity of burn-associated saproxylic beetles use recently burned trees., This study intends to reduce potential impacts of salvage logging on biodiversity by identifying high conservation value forests ( HCVFs) for burn-associated beetles, which are considered the most at risk., In five burns ignited naturally in 2010 in the eastern Canadian boreal forest, we selected 31 and 29 stands of black spruce and jack pine respectively. Three 50-cm bole segments were retrieved from each stand and placed in emergence cages to measure tree utilisation by saproxylic beetles. This yielded 7235 beetles from 103 taxa, of which 67 were considered rare (<5% occurrence in logs) and 36 as common taxa (>5% occurrence in logs)., Among the common taxa, we identified six groups of ecologically related species using co-occurrence-based hierarchical clustering, among which three were mainly formed by opportunistic species that are currently of little concern in a post-fire logging context. The three other groups were formed by burn-associated species that could be affected by salvage logging., HCVFs include jack pine stands and large trees of either tree species of low- to mid-range burn severity. We also recommend retaining the periphery of burned stands, as ecotones are rich habitats used by several burn-associated species that are found in low numbers in green forests but they benefit from burned habitats by increasing their populations significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is difficult to map and quantify biodiversity at landscape level in areas with low data availability, despite demand from decision-makers. We propose a methodology to determine potential biodiversity pattern using habitat suitability maps of the understory plant species with highest cover and occurrence frequency in the three different forests types of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). We used a database of vascular plants from 535 surveys from which we identified 35 indicative species. We explored more than 50 potential explanatory variables to develop habitat suitability maps of the indicative species, which were combined to develop a map of the potential biodiversity. Correlation among environmental, topographic and forest landscape variables were discussed, as well as the marginality and the specialization of the indicative species. We detected differences in the niches of the species prevailing in the three forest types. The developed map of potential biodiversity uncovered hotspots of biodiversity in the ecotone of Nothofagus pumilio and N. antarctica as well as in the wettest part of the mixed N. pumilio- N. betuloides forests. It allowed thus to identify forest areas with different conservation potential and can be readily used as a decision support system for conservation and management strategies at different scales including the identification of land-use conflicts (e.g. of biodiversity with timber production and livestock) and the development of a network of protected areas, which currently does not cover the forests of highest conservation value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangrove forests are one of the most important coastal ecosystems as they support many local communities. However, over the last two decades harvesting of mangrove forests has been extensive with effects on mangrove biodiversity and ecosystem services. We investigate the effect of mangrove harvesting on tree biodiversity in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Using two line transects each in ten mangrove forests, mangrove composition, species dominance, density, frequency, coverage, and stem diameter and diversity were recorded. Interviews detailing provisioning ecosystem services were also conducted with local forestry and fishery workers to determine the level of exploitation. Ten mangrove species were recorded ( Avicennia alba, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Ceriops tagal, Excoecaria agallocha, Lumnitzera racemosa, Nypa fruticans, Rhizophora apiculata, Rhizophora mucronata, Rhizophora stylosa, and Sonneratia alba) belonging to six families (Avicenniaceae, Rhizophoraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Combretaceae, Arecaceae and Sonneratiaceae). Mangrove forests are now dominated by saplings and seedlings, with few trees above 15 cm diameter at breast height. Rhizophora sp. were found to be the most important and dominant species. Rhizophora sp. was the most widely used as it was deemed the most suitable for firewood and charcoal. In addition, it is the main species planted in mangrove restoration projects, which have focused on establishing production forest rather than restoring natural species composition and structure. Despite the decrease in biodiversity, the mangroves still provide a wide range of ecosystem services to the communities in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, Brazil made important progress in the conservation of forest ecosystems. Non-forest ecosystems ( NFE), in contrast, have been neglected, even though they cover large parts of the country and have biodiversity levels comparable to forests. To avoid losing much of its biodiversity and ecosystem services, conservation and sustainable land use policies in Brazil need to be extended to NFE. A strategy for conservation of Brazil's NFE should encompass the following elements: (1) creation of new large protected areas in NFE; (2) enforcement of legal restrictions of land use; (3) extension of subsidy programs and governance commitments to NFE; (4) improvement of ecosystem management and sustainable use in NFE; and (5) improvement of monitoring of land use change in NFE. If Brazil managed to extend its conservation successes to NFE, it not only would contribute significantly to conservation of its biodiversity, but also could take the lead in conservation of NFE world-wide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we present a framework for identifying areas with high dead wood potential (DWP) for conservation planning needs. The amount and quality of dead wood and dying trees are some of the most important factors for biodiversity in forests. As they are easy to recognize on site, it is widely used as a surrogate marker for ecological quality of forests. However, wall-to-wall information on dead wood is rarely available on a large scale as field data collection is expensive and local dead wood conditions change rapidly. Our method is based on the forest growth models in the Motti forest simulator, taking into account 168 combinations of tree species, site types, and vegetation zones as well as recommendations on forest management. Simulated estimates of stand-level dead wood volume and mean diameter at breast height were converted into DWP functions. The accuracy of the method was validated on two sites in southern and northeastern Finland, both consisting of managed and conserved boreal forests. Altogether, 203 field plots were measured for living and dead trees. Data on living trees were inserted into corresponding DWP functions and the resulting DWPs were compared to the measured dead wood volumes. Our results show that DWP modeling is an operable tool, yet the accuracy differs between areas. The DWP performs best in near-pristine southern forests known for their exceptionally good quality areas. In northeastern areas with a history of softer management, the differences between near-pristine and managed forests is not as clear. While accurate wall-to-wall dead wood inventory is not available, we recommend using DWP method together with other spatial datasets when assessing biodiversity values of forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bamboos are opportunistic species that rapidly colonize open areas following forest disturbance, forming dense clusters that alter the regenerative processes and maintain lower levels of tree diversity. Widespread forest degradation, especially in Latin America and Asia, and human-induced introduction have allowed native and non-native bamboo species to thrive, hindering successional pathways that would otherwise lead to more diverse forests; such a large-scale phenomenon is a key concern in the conservation of forest resources around the globe. Despite previous research on this phenomenon, little is known about the long-term effects of bamboo dominance on forest structure and composition and the corresponding interaction with natural regeneration. As such, we sought to evaluate the long-term effects of bamboo dominance on the dynamics of adult forest populations considering two forest types (Bamboo Forest—BF and Araucaria Forest—AF) over an 11-year period in the Embrapa Research Station in Caçador, Brazil. We monitored 20 plots (15 × 15 m) in each forest type where we tagged, identified, and measured the height and diameter of all the trees taller than 1.5 m (H) and diameter at breast height (DBH) greater than 3.18 cm. Comparisons were based on forest species diversity and structure parameters. In BF, diversity of species increased after the bamboo die-off that occurred in 2006 with a subsequent reduction in the number of pioneer species overtime. However, secondary species remained stagnant demonstrating that recruitment and transition into higher size classes is restricted to the immediate die-off aftermath. On the other hand, plant diversity and structure in the relatively bamboo-free AF were stable with secondary species accounting for the most richness. Our results confirm that BF maintains significantly lower levels of diversity that are restricted to pioneer species; AF structure and diversity are not significantly affected by bamboo die-off and recolonization; and BF tree species are caught in a closed cycle of arrested successional development. The widespread presence of bamboos as dominant species in the region should become a part of the conversation pertaining to forest management and conservation in Brazil and other countries in south America and Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]