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Terrestrial LiDAR scanning (TLS) has the potential to revolutionize forestry by enabling the precise estimation of aboveground biomass, vital for forest carbon management. This study addresses the lack of comprehensive benchmarking for leaf-filtering algorithms used in TLS data processing and evaluates four widely recognized geometry-based leaf-filtering algorithms (LeWoS, TLSeparation, CANUPO, and a novel random forest model) across openly accessible TLS datasets from diverse global locations. Multiple evaluation dimensions are considered, including pointwise classification accuracy, volume comparisons using a quantitative structure model applied to wood points, computational efficiency, and visual validation. The random forest model outperformed the other algorithms in pointwise classification accuracy (overall accuracy = 0.95 ± 0.04), volume comparison (R-squared = 0.96, slope value of 0.98 compared to destructive volume), and resilience to reduced point cloud density. In contrast, TLSeparation exhibits the lowest pointwise classification accuracy (overall accuracy = 0.81 ± 0.10), while LeWoS struggles with volume comparisons (mean absolute percentage deviation ranging from 32.14 ± 29.45% to 49.14 ± 25.06%) and point cloud density variations. All algorithms show decreased performance as data density decreases. LeWoS is the fastest in terms of processing time. This study provides valuable insights for researchers to choose appropriate leaf-filtering algorithms based on their research objectives and forest conditions. It also hints at future possibilities for improved algorithm design, potentially combining radiometry and geometry to enhance forest parameter estimation accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of trees has always been a key task in precision forestry management and research. Due to the complex branch morphological structure of trees themselves and the occlusions from tree stems, branches and foliage, it is difficult to recreate a complete three-dimensional tree model from a two-dimensional image by conventional photogrammetric methods. In this study, based on tree images collected by various cameras in different ways, the Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) method was used for individual tree dense reconstruction and the exported point cloud models are compared with point clouds derived from photogrammetric reconstruction and laser scanning methods. The results show that the NeRF method performs well in individual tree 3D reconstruction, as it has a higher successful reconstruction rate, better reconstruction in the canopy area and requires less images as input. Compared with the photogrammetric dense reconstruction method, NeRF has significant advantages in reconstruction efficiency and is adaptable to complex scenes, but the generated point cloud tend to be noisy and of low resolution. The accuracy of tree structural parameters (tree height and diameter at breast height) extracted from the photogrammetric point cloud is still higher than those derived from the NeRF point cloud. The results of this study illustrate the great potential of the NeRF method for individual tree reconstruction, and it provides new ideas and research directions for 3D reconstruction and visualization of complex forest scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing private forests for wildfire resilience is challenging due to conflicting social, economic, and ecological decisions that may result in an increase of surface fuel loads leading to greater fire risk. Due to fire suppression and a changing climate, land managers in fire-prone regions face an increasing threat of high severity fires. Thus, land managers need fuel treatment options that match their forest types and management objectives. One potential option for producers that graze livestock is silvopasture management, where livestock, forages, and overstory vegetation are carefully managed for co-benefits on the same unit of land. This study compared forest composition and structure, fuel types, and vegetative biomass between silvopasture and non-grazed managed forests in Washington, U.S. We show that silvopasture management results in reductions in grass biomass, litter, and duff depth when compared to non-grazed managed forest. These findings point to the integrated nature of silvopasture, where management of overstory composition and structure, understory vegetation, and grazing can reduce fuel loads and potential wildfire risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Knowledge of genetic structure and the factors that shape it has an impact on forest management practices. European ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) has declined dramatically throughout its range as a result of a disease caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Despite the need for conservation and restoration of the species, genetic data required to guide these efforts at the country level are scarce. Thereofore, we studied the chloroplast and nuclear genetic diversity of 26 natural common ash populations (1269 trees) in Poland. Results: Chloroplast polymorphisms grouped the populations into two geographically structured phylogenetic lineages ascribed to different glacial refugia (the Balkans and the Eastern Alps). However, the populations demonstrated high genetic diversity (mean AR = 12.35; mean Ho = 0.769; mean He = 0.542) but low differentiation based on nuclear microsatellites (FST = 0.045). Significant spatial genetic structure, consistent with models of isolation by distance, was detected in 14 out of 23 populations. Estimated effective population size was moderate-to-high, with a harmonic mean of 57.5 individuals per population. Conclusions: Genetic diversity was not homogeneously distributed among populations within phylogenetic gene pools, indicating that ash populations are not equal as potential sources of reproductive material. Genetic differences among populations could be related to their histories, including founder effects or gene flow between evolutionary lineages (admixture). Our results suggest that ash stands across Poland could be treated as two main management units (seed zones). Therefore, despite the homogenizing effect of pollen gene flow known for this species, the genetic structure should be taken into account in the management of the genetic resources of the common ash. Although ash dieback poses an additional challenge for the management of genetic resources, efforts should be directed towards protecting populations with high genetic diversity within defined phylogenetic units, as they may be an important source of adaptive variation for future stands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, conducted in China in November 2020, was aimed at exploring the variations in growth traits among different provenances and families as well as to select elite materials of Juglans mandshurica. Thus, seeds of 44 families from six J. mandshurica provenances in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces were sown in the nursery and then transplanted out in the field. At the age of 5 years, seven growth traits were assessed, and a comprehensive analysis was conducted as well as selection of provenance and families. Analysis of variance revealed statistically significant (P < 0.01) differences in seven growth traits among different provenances and families, thereby justifying the pursuit of further breeding endeavors. The genetic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all traits ranged from 5.44% (branch angle) to 21.95% (tree height) whereas the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) ranged from 13.74% (tapering) to 38.50% (branch number per node), indicating considerable variability across the traits. Further, all the studied traits except stem straightness degree, branch angle and branch number per node, showed high heritability (Tree height, ground diameter, mean crown width and tapering, over 0.7±0.073), indicating that the variation in these traits is primarily driven by genetic factors. Correlation analysis revealed a strong positive correlation (r > 0.8) between tree height and ground diameter (r = 0.86), tree height and mean crown width (r = 0.82), and ground diameter and mean crown width (r = 0.83). This suggests that these relationships can be employed for more precise predictions of the growth and morphological characteristics of trees, as well as the selection of superior materials. There was a strong correlation between temperature factors and growth traits. Based on the comprehensive scores in this study, Sanchazi was selected as elite provenance. Using the top-percentile selection criteria, SC1, SC8, DJC15, and DQ18 were selected as elite families. These selected families exhibit genetic gains of over 10% in tree height, ground diameter and mean crown width, signifying their significant potential in forestry for enhancing timber production and reducing production cycles, thereby contributing to sustainable forest management. In this study, the growth traits of J. mandshurica were found to exhibit stable variation, and there were correlations between these traits. The selected elite provenance and families of J. mandshurica showed faster growth, which is advantageous for the subsequent breeding and promotion of improved J. mandshurica varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate refugia, areas where climate is expected to remain relatively stable, can offer a near‐term safe haven for species sensitive to warming temperatures and drought. Understanding the influence of temperature, moisture, and disturbance on sensitive species is critical during this time of rapid climate change. Coastal habitats can serve as important refugia. Many of these areas consist of working forestlands, and there is a growing recognition that conservation efforts worldwide must consider the habitat value of working lands, in addition to protected areas, to effectively manage large landscapes that support biodiversity. The sensitivity of forest bats to climate and habitat disturbance makes them a useful indicator taxon. We tested how microclimate and forest management influence habitat use for 13 species of insectivorous bats in a large climate refugium in a global biodiversity hotspot. We examined whether bat activity during the summer dry season is greater in forests where coastal fog provides moisture and more stable temperatures across both protected mature stands and those regularly logged. Acoustic monitoring was conducted at a landscape scale with 20 study sites, and generalized linear mixed models were used to examine the influence of habitat variables. Six species were positively associated with warmer nighttime temperature, and 5 species had a negative relationship with humidity or a positive relationship with climatic moisture deficit. Our results suggest that these mammals may have greater climate adaptive capacity than expected, and, for now, that habitat use may be more related to optimal foraging conditions than to avoidance of warming temperatures and drought. We also determined that 12 of the 13 regionally present bat species were regularly detected in commercial timberland stands. Because forest bats are highly mobile, forage over long distances, and frequently change roosts, the stewardship of working forests must be addressed to protect these species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Seedling recruitment is a vital process for forest regeneration and is influenced by various factors such as stand composition, climate, and soil disturbance. We conducted a long‐term field experiment (18 years) to study the effects of these factors and their interactions on seedling recruitment. Location: Our study focused on five main species in boreal mixed woods of eastern Canada: trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), white spruce (Picea glauca), balsam fir (Abies balsamea), and white cedar (Thuja occidentalis). Methods: Sixteen 1‐m2 seedling monitoring subplots were set up in each of seven stands originating from different wildfires (fire years ranging from 1760 to 1944), with a soil scarification treatment applied to every other subplot. Annual new seedling counts were related to growing‐season climate (mean temperature, growing degree days and drought code), scarification, and stand effects via a Bayesian generalized linear mixed model. Results: Soil scarification had a large positive effect on seedling recruitment for three species (aspen, birch and spruce). As expected, high mean temperatures during the seed production period (two years prior to seedling emergence) increased seedling recruitment for all species but aspen. Contrary to other studies, we did not find a positive effect of dry conditions during the seed production period. Furthermore, high values of growing degree days suppressed conifer seedling recruitment. Except for white cedar, basal area was weakly correlated with seedling abundance, suggesting a small number of reproductive individuals is sufficient to saturate seedling recruitment. Conclusion: Our findings underscore the importance of considering multiple factors, such as soil disturbance, climate, and stand composition, as well as their effects on different life stages when developing effective forest management strategies to promote regeneration in boreal mixed‐wood ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water resources must be preserved because they are vital for agricultural, industrial, and domestic use, especially in tropical forest regions. Given the importance of the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve to the Kedah state in sustaining paddy cultivation for the country, this study aimed to provide reliable forest classification method and produce Normalized Difference Vegetation Index-Maximum Likelihood Classification of forest density map for Ulu Muda Forest Reserve. Here, the study reports measurements of the satellite remote sensing index for the forest based the image date. The forest recorded NDVI index of 0.72 to 0.98 for high density, NDVI index of 0.61 to 0.71 for moderate and NDVI index of 0.26 to 0.60 for low density area. The index showed higher value, which is comparable with reports of other tropical forest elsewhere. The results were influenced using satellite remote sensing pre-processing, processing, and classification. As a result, based on the satellite image indices approach, upper threshold of the higher density, the forest can exhibit higher capability for sustaining its ecological and hydrological functions. Given that most of the tropical forest biome has sustained this threshold, forest management should be sustained at this state, and more measures should be taken for example increase of protection forest classification in Rancangan Pengurusan Hutan (RPH) that is one of yearly planning report in states of Peninsular Malaysia. In the meantime, Geographical Information System (GIS) capacity should be mandate looking forwards for more utilisation in mapping for planning and projection of forest resource management activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA), in power during 2002–2021, initiated the process of instituting community-based forest governance and building local capacity for natural resource management. These efforts coincided with the presence of international security forces and the mobilization of civil society organizations, and they were in response to community aspirations to protect and restore often degraded local forests. Legislation was passed to enable forest protection and management, including a provision to encourage participatory management by local community user groups organized as Forest Management Associations (FMAs). By the end of the GIRoA era, c. 20 registered FMAs were operating with c. 400 others in various stages of development across Afghanistan. Our analysis of relevant policy documents revealed that the policy framework developed during the GIRoA era scores favourably on the ideal criteria for community-based resource management. Despite the change in political administration with the inception of the current Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan regime, the influence of the GIRoA era serves as a starting point and may have enduring influences on rural communities in Afghanistan and the natural resources that support them. Anecdotal evidence suggests that community-based forest management may persist under the current national leadership despite international isolation and funding constraints. The model developed in Afghanistan may be relevant to other fragile states, especially in contexts where rural forest-dependent communities have strong local institutions, such as shuras , and where forests are not prone to heavy extraction pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Mecoptera, commonly known as scorpionflies and hangingflies, are an interesting, but small, and rarely-observed order of moderately-sized insects, with at least 22 species in Thailand. These insects typically prefer cool, moist mature forested habitats with broken sunlight, often on low vegetation bordering small mountain streams. They are poor fliers thus limiting their ability to disperse. For these reasons, they serve as a valuable bioindicator for monitoring changes in climatic and forest communities. However, no ecological study has previously been conducted for this insect group. This study exploits data from Project Tiger, where specimens were collected using Malaise and pan traps from 18 national parks across Thailand to characterize the biodiversity of Mecoptera with a focus on the influences of elevational and climatic factors. We found 21 species in total with 52% of them being specific to particular regions. Negative correlations between species richness and abundance of Mecoptera with both elevation and temperature were observed, suggesting a predominance of species in mid-altitude areas with a peak in the rainy season (21 species) followed by the hot (10 species) and cold (7 species) seasons. We suggest that the narrow distribution and preference for mid-altitude make Mecoptera particularly vulnerable to global warming, raising urgent conservation concerns. Ecological analyses of the small and lesser-known insect order Mecoptera in Thailand are presented. Specimens were collected monthly over a period of 12 consecutive months, using both Malaise and pan traps, from 29 sampling sites located in 18 national parks throughout Thailand. A total of 21 species in four genera were identified from 797 specimens, including Panorpa (1 species), Neopanorpa (18 species), Bittacus (1 species), and Terrobittacus (1 species), with the latter genus representing a new genus record to Thailand. Neopanorpa harmandi, N. siamensis, N. byersi, and N. malaisei were the most abundant species, representing 27.4%, 11.3%, 10.3% and 8.8% of the total specimens, respectively. The species with the highest frequency, as indicated by the high percentage of species occurrence (%SO), was N. siamensis (51%), followed by N. byersi (34%), N. harmandi (34%), N. spatulata (27%), and N. inchoata (27%). Eleven species (52%) exhibited specific regional occurrences. N. tuberosa and N. siamensis had the widest distribution, being found in almost all regions except for western and southern regions for the first and second species, respectively. The seasonal species richness of Mecoptera was high during the rainy season in the northern, northeastern, central, eastern, and western regions, with the highest richness observed in July (15 species), followed by the hot (10 species) and cold seasons (7 species), while there was no significant difference in species richness between seasons in the southern region. Multiple regression models revealed a negative association between species richness and abundance of Mecoptera with both elevation and temperature, and a positive association between rainfall and species evenness. It is predicted that climatic changes will have a detrimental effect on the mecopteran community. The results of this study enhance the understanding of the ecological aspects of Mecoptera, offering crucial insights into its biodiversity and distribution, which are vital for conservation and forest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation of forest remnants in southern Brazil is closely related to historical land use, for example in systems such as caívas that occur within remnants of the Araucaria Forest and include livestock production and the extraction of yerba mate. Over the last decade, technologies adapted for these systems have been developed that promote a significant increase in animal productivity, without harming forest regeneration or the maintenance of the tree layer. However, the fertilization of pastures proposed in the technology has also promoted greater growth of native trees, with a consequent increase in shade levels. This, in turn, has affected the maintenance of pasture and yerba mate in the understory. Thus, this study sought to develop a methodology to adjust shade levels based on forest management that adheres to the limits permitted by current legislation. The objective was to evaluate the effect of tree management to maintain 50% shade levels on environmental indicators in a caíva that has been implementing pasture improvement technology since 2013. Native tree management occurred in 2020 and 2022 and the results were compared with data from the floristic survey of the area carried out in 2013. The results indicate that although the adoption of forest management to adjust shade levels reduced the density of individuals, it did not affect forest diversity, nor the basal area of the caíva tree layer. As such, it is possible to maintain pasture and yerba mate production in the area. Strategies like this are fundamental so that the forest landscape can continue to offer a source of production while also supporting environmental conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests are a vital source of food, fuel, and medicine and play a crucial role in climate change mitigation. Strategic and policy decisions on forest management and conservation require accurate and up-to-date information on available forest resources. Forest inventory data such as tree parameters, heights, and crown diameters must be collected and analysed to monitor forests effectively. Traditional manual techniques are slow and labour-intensive, requiring additional personnel, while existing non-contact methods are costly, computationally intensive, or less accurate. Kenya plans to increase its forest cover to 30% by 2032 and establish a national forest monitoring system. Building capacity in forest monitoring through innovative field data collection technologies is encouraged to match the pace of increase in forest cover. This study explored the applicability of low-cost, non-contact tree inventory based on stereoscopic photogrammetry in a recently reforested stand in Kieni Forest, Kenya. A custom-built stereo camera was used to capture images of 251 trees in the study area from which the tree heights and crown diameters were successfully extracted quickly and with high accuracy. The results imply that stereoscopic photogrammetry is an accurate and reliable method that can support the national forest monitoring system and REDD+ implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global change impacts on disturbances can strongly compromise the capacity of forests to provide ecosystem services to society. In addition, many ecosystem services in Europe are simultaneously provided by forests, emphasizing the importance of multifunctionality in forest ecosystem assessments. To address disturbances in forest ecosystem policies and management, spatially explicit risk analyses that consider multiple disturbances and ecosystem services are needed. However, we do not yet know which ecosystem services are most at risk from disturbances in Europe, where the respective risk hotspots are, nor which of the main disturbance agents are most detrimental to the provisioning of multiple ecosystem services from Europe's forests. Here, we quantify the risk of losing important ecosystem services (timber supply, carbon storage, soil erosion control and outdoor recreation) to forest disturbances (windthrows, bark beetle outbreaks and wildfires) in Europe on a continental scale. We find that up to 12% of Europe's ecosystem service supply is at risk from current disturbances. Soil erosion control is the ecosystem service at the highest risk, and windthrow is the disturbance agent posing the highest risk. Disturbances challenge forest multifunctionality by threatening multiple ecosystem services simultaneously on 19.8 Mha (9.7%) of Europe's forests. Our results highlight priority areas for risk management aiming to safeguard the sustainable provisioning of forest ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mapping and quantification of forest biomass change are key for forest management and for forests' contribution to the global carbon budget. We explored the potential of covering this with repeated acquisitions with TanDEM-X. We used an eight-year period in a Tanzanian miombo woodland as a test case, having repeated TanDEM-X elevation data for this period and repeated field inventory data. We also investigated the use of GEDI space–LiDAR footprint AGB estimates as an alternative to field inventory. The map of TanDEM-X elevation change appeared to be an accurate representation of the geography of forest biomass change. The relationship between TanDEM-X phase height and above-ground biomass (AGB) could be represented as a straight line passing through the origin, and this relationship was the same at both the beginning and end of the period. We obtained a similar relationship when we replaced field plot data with the GEDI data. In conclusion, temporal change in miombo woodland biomass is closely related to change in InSAR elevation, and this enabled both an accurate mapping and quantification wall to wall within 5–10% error margins. The combination of TanDEM-X and GEDI may have a near-global potential for estimation of temporal change in forest biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought can have significant impacts on forests, with long periods of water scarcity leading to water stress in trees and possible damages to their eco-physiological functions. Satellite-based remote sensing offers a valuable tool for monitoring and assessing drought conditions over large and remote forested regions. The objective of this study is to evaluate the hydrological consistency in the context of drought of precipitation, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and land surface temperature observations against in situ measurements in a number of well-monitored sites in New Zealand. Results showed that drought indicators were better captured from soil moisture observations compared to precipitation satellite observations. Nevertheless, we found statistically significant causality relationships between the multi-sensor satellite observations (median p-values ranging from 0.001 to 0.019), with spatial resolution appearing to be an important aspect for the adequate estimation of drought characteristics. Understanding the limitations and capabilities of satellite observations is crucial for improving the accuracy of forest drought monitoring, which, in turn, will aid in sustainable forest management and the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies in the face of changing climate conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Capturing subcanopy forest information from airborne laser scanning (ALS) is constrained by signal occlusion. This study demonstrates the potential of close-range terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) scanning to mitigate the constraints of ALS in acquiring stem-level forest attributes. A transformer-based neural network was adapted to classify and segment 3D individual trees from ALS data. A deep neural network combined with a gaussian process layer was proposed to estimate tree diameter-at-breast-height (DBH) from ALS data. The performance of these methods was compared to other benchmarked methods using the same dataset, including a total of seven classifiers, five segmentors, and six attribute regressors. The study was conducted across four ALS sample areas and ten combined TLS/ALS plots, primarily in montane forests. Manual delineation of TLS trees provided a precise validation reference. The proposed methods demonstrated high accuracies, with a mean intersection-over-union (mIoU) of 0.92 for ALS tree classification, 0.70 for tree segmentation, and a RMSE of 4.2 cm or 18.9 % for DBH estimation on average of the ten plots. Tree detection accuracy was strongly associated with the final segmentation accuracy. Factors such as tree height, overlapping, inclination, and neighboring conditions impacted segmentation accuracy. Our segmentation method effectively mitigated accuracy loss for short and occluded trees. Overall, this study presents scalable and cost-effective solutions for TLS calibration of ALS scans over two meso -scale montane valleys. Leveraging deep neural networks enables scaling of stem attributes to landscape scales, thereby linking fine-scale forest inventory with sustainable management of expansive forest resources. Our codes are available at https://github.com/truebelief/artemis_treescaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional carbon sink estimation and local forest management require spatially explicit maps of bamboo distribution. However, accurate bamboo mapping is challenging due to the similarity of bamboo's optical spectral with those of other vegetation. To gain a high-precision bamboo forest distribution map circa year 2020, we developed a novel classification framework that integrated in-situ measurements, GEDI, and time-series multispectral Sentinel-2 images in a whale-optimized dual-channel Dense Convolutional Network (DenseNet) classification algorithm. The new method shows that vegetation structure features from GEDI can improve the performance of bamboo mapping by more than 5 percent compared with results obtained using only spectral information. Additionally, ablation studies show our proposed dual-channel DenseNet with whale-optimized DropBlock regularization outperforms traditional deep learning algorithms. The proposed method demonstrates a high level of accuracy in identifying bamboo, with precision, recall (producer's and user's accuracies), and F1-score reaching 90.81%, 91.86%, and 91.33%, respectively, which can provide more detailed and accurate results than previous studies, especially in regions where the terrain is complex or bamboo is intermixed with other vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the spatial–temporal dynamics of both natural and planted forests is critical for sustainable forest management and assessing ecological benefits or impacts. In 2020, China's forest area encompassed approximately 220 million hectares, accounting for around 5 % of the global forest area. Furthermore, China boasts the largest planted forest area worldwide. However, knowledge regarding the spatial–temporal dynamics of China's natural and planted forests has remained elusive. To fill this gap, we first generated wall-to-wall natural and planted forest maps at 30-m resolution for China every-five years from 1990 to 2020 by using 447,730 images from Landsat-4/5/7/8/9 surface reflectance archive and 656,920 field samples, which were a combination of crowdsourced data and expert knowledge. Secondly, we analyzed the spatial–temporal dynamics of natural and planted forests at multiple-scales from 1990 to 2020. The resultant maps achieved an overall accuracy ranging from 77.33 %±0.67 % to 81.78 % ± 0.59 % and revealed opposite trends in the areas of natural and planted forests from 1990 to 2020. During these three decades, China's planted forest area increased by 447,500 km2 while the natural forest area decreased by 219,100 km2. The spatial–temporal dynamics of China's natural and planted forests result from China's vast forest management programs in addition to social and economic factors. Variations of these factors at different scales not only determined the primary goals of protecting natural forests and expand planted forests but also resulted in increasing forest areas for many consecutive years by planting forests that offset the loss of natural forests. Our maps provide timely and valuable insights into the benefits and impacts of natural and planted forests in China, which are both closely linked to sustaining human well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Kohei Saito's book "Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism," which explores the ecological aspects of Karl Marx's work and proposes the concept of "degrowth communism." Saito argues that Marx's thinking was influenced by ecological issues and that his later work shows a shift away from a Promethean productivist view of nature. Saito also examines Marx's interest in ecology, the natural sciences, and the history of the commons, suggesting that Marx embraced a new worldview of degrowth communism. The article acknowledges the book's contribution to the understanding of Marx and Marxism, but also points out some limitations and unanswered questions. [Extracted from the article]

Understanding the colonization process of species living in a dynamic fragmented habitat is essential to assess their persistence. In the metapopulation theory, the colonization of a species can be quantified using the turnover of occupancy in habitat patches. However, this approach is often limited by the feasible size of surveyed areas. Because many species are capable of long‐distance dispersal, such areas often constitute open systems undergoing colonization of propagules coming from outside, the 'background deposition'. We focus on disentangling background deposition from local colonization among surveyed patches when analyzing turnover. We consider two spatial scales: 1) focal areas where all patches are monitored over time; 2) a larger extent, encompassing the focal areas, over which the distribution of the target species is quantified with a coarse spatial grain. Our key idea is to use the regional connectivity of focal areas within the larger scale as a covariate when analyzing colonization events within focal areas. A positive effect of regional connectivity on the colonization probability of patches may indicate background deposition. We applied this approach to the epiphytic bryophyte Dicranum viride in a managed temperate deciduous forest, considering phorophyte trees as patches, forest stands as focal areas and the whole forest as the larger scale. We combined a fine‐grained turnover survey of occupied trees within three forest stands (~ 3 ha) with a coarse‐grained snapshot of D. viride distribution over the forest (~ 15 000 ha). Regional connectivity came out as the most significant factor, with a strong positive effect on colonization probability within stands. However, it was attributed to sources in the immediate vicinity of focal stands, suggesting a short‐ranged colonization process occurring across stands' borders rather than long‐distance background deposition. Our results thus call for maintaining a stepping‐stone of habitat across the forest through time to improve D. viride persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its northern location, the exposure and vulnerability of Canada's forest ecosystems to climate change impacts are all too glaring. While there is now an extensive body of literature describing expected climate change impacts and potential responses, studies characterizing the implementation of adaptation and mitigation practices in forest management remain rare in the Canadian forest sector. Using a systematic literature review, we examined reports on forest management practices implemented in response to climate change, specifically focusing on governance and institutional arrangements that either support or limit climate change adaptation and mitigation responses. Our literature sample size of 24 documents suggests that the body of literature reporting on adaptation and mitigation practices in forest management is scarce. Governments remain the dominant actors providing funding and leading the implementation and reporting of climate change adaptation practices, primarily in response to national or international climate change commitments. Forest practices such as enhanced silviculture, assisted migration, and nature-based solutions were the most frequently reported. However, given the scarcity of literature, it is difficult to conclude the scope of climate change adaptation practice uptake in Canada. Barriers such as lack of information/data, inter-jurisdictional knowledge transfer, policy conflicts, forest tenure models, technical capacity gaps, and economic barriers to adaptation need to be overcome to strengthen climate change response in forest management. Better coordination of reporting at the provincial and national levels and improved information flows between private sector organizations and governments are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada is recognized as a global leader in sustainable forest management. Canadian forests and the forest sector remain vital pillars of the Canadian economy and home to many rural and remote communities. However, climate change is an existential threat to the sustainability of forests and forest-dependent communities. While both direct and indirect threats posed by climate change to Canada's forest sector are now well understood, our understanding of specific forest practices that have emerged from the body of science to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts is not well documented. Through a review of the scientific and grey literature, this study expands our knowledge and operational gaps associated with implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation practices in Canadian forests. The study found a dearth of literature specifically dedicated to reporting on the type of forest practices currently in use across Canada to address mitigation and adaptation. Most reports or studies were published in 2019 or later, with federal and provincial governments being the dominant actors in reporting and monitoring, research, and funding. Across the 15 terrestrial ecozones in Canada, forest practices linked to climate change were reported in 12 ecozones, with most practices reported in the Montane Cordillera located in western Canada. Common forest practices reported include fuel management, assisted migration, enhanced silvicultural activities, and carbon offset projects. We conclude that climate change adaptation/mitigation practices in Canada are in their early stages of implementation. Many practices remain in experimental stages (e.g., genetic trials) or are implemented at a relatively small scale in Canada (e.g., climate-based seed transfer and carbon reserves). The literature suggests that the most mainstream practices associated with climate change mitigation in Canada include tree planting for carbon sequestration and the designation of protected areas to enhance ecosystem resilience. We conclude that despite increasing reports linking climate change benefits with reported forest practices, the reporting in the scientific literature is scarce, poorly reported, and often not grounded in credible evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests contain substantial carbon stores, including above and belowground biomass and living and non-living biomass. Different management regimes produce different outcomes related to stored and sequestered carbon in forests. The geographic focus of this study is the Wabanaki-Acadian Forest of the Maritime Provinces of Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island). This study reviews the literature to evaluate the carbon impacts of (1) intensive forest management for fiber products, (2) unharvested (or conservation) forest, and (3) climate-focused, ecological forestry. Each of these forest management strategies and concomitant silviculture regimes sequester and store carbon at varying rates and across different carbon pools in the forest. The literature suggests that unharvested (conservation) forests store and sequester the most carbon, and traditional, intensive fiber management stores and sequesters the least. Ecological forestry may provide the best balance between carbon sequestration and storage and climate adaptability, while also allowing for the provision of some timber/fiber products. This study also discusses the co-benefits offered by forests under each of the three management regimes. New research, in general and in the region, needs to examine further belowground carbon dynamics in soil as most efforts to document carbon focus on aboveground carbon pools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As wildfires are increasingly causing negative impacts to communities and their livelihoods, many communities are demanding more proactive and locally driven approaches to address wildfire risk. This marks a shift away from centralized governance models where decision-making is concentrated in government agencies that prioritize reactive wildfire suppression. In British Columbia (BC), Canada, Community Forests—a long-term, area-based tenure granted to Indigenous and/or local communities—are emerging as local leaders facilitating proactive wildfire management. To explore the factors that are enabling local governance approaches to managing wildfire risk, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 Community Forest managers across BC. Managers highlighted financial and social capacity, especially trust and relationships with both community members and government agencies, as crucial factors influencing their ability to undertake proactive management. These factors enable Community Forests to address wildfire risk not only within their own tenure area, but also at household, community, and landscape scales, while balancing diverse community values, objectives for forest management, and legal and policy obligations. Despite ongoing challenges, Community Forests emphasized the importance of scaling up their efforts to address wildfire risk and are a critical form of local wildfire governance that can help advance proactive wildfire management across BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change interacts with ecological processes leading to changes in tree and forest growth rate, biome shifts and species composition, all of which are influenced by disturbances. This study explores future overarching climate trends of eight of Canada's ecozones containing managed forests. For the 2071 to 2100 period, climate projections indicate a warming trend of up to an additional 5.5 °C and an overall increase in annual precipitation. Future trends suggest marked contrast between coastal and interior forests and polarization between western and eastern forests. Warmer temperatures, accumulating degree-days above 5 °C and frost-free days suggest longer and drier growing seasons and greater risk of drought particularly in moisture-limited areas such as montane cordillera, taiga shield and boreal shield ecozones. Warmer temperatures and rising precipitation combined with less snow suggest shorter and wetter future winters. This indicates greater risk of rain-on-snow and freeze-thaw events, flooding and landslides particularly in coastal ecozones. We discuss how these projections are likely to result in shifts in dominant species and abundance, which when coupled with the cumulative effects of future disturbances, is likely to alter future forest dynamics and impact harvestable wood volumes for Canada's forestry industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although stakeholders' participation in forest management helps overcome problems and conflicts that prevent sustainable solutions, different approaches and nomenclature for similar contents in the literature hinder theoretical progress on the topic. This study organises existing information through a bibliometric analysis of scientific papers from the last 30 years (1991–2021) on sustainable forest management, focusing on the stakeholders' participation. Results demonstrate that stakeholders' participation in sustainable forest management gained relevance from 2017 onwards. Case studies are predominant (66%) and six major trends were identified. The first emphasises a systemic approach to participation. The second updates the community management discussion. The third studies historical problems related to the use of resources, rights, and services. The fourth focuses on regional assessments and studies. The fifth concerns assessment, decision-making, and planning, including issues related to certifications and policies. The sixth discusses innovation related to adaptation, climate change, equity, and resilience. The studies included in this last classification are problem-solving-oriented and seek new forest management. Although important, the role of innovation in stakeholders' participation in sustainable forest management is overlooked, which constitutes an avenue for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the limitations of Cunningham et al.'s (2023) analysis, which examined the impact of historic forestry on the thermal regimes of salmon-bearing streams in the North Thompson River watershed, British Columbia. Topics include challenges with spatial comparison approaches, the potential inadequacy of selected predictor variables, and the need for further research to understand the effects of forestry on stream temperature in medium to large catchments.

Private forest land policies in the U.S. differ by state and range from regulatory to non-regulatory. The state of California has a highly regulatory policy system to ensure sustainable forest management, and the state's family forest landowners, who hold 20% of the state's forests, navigate this regulatory system to achieve their management objectives. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 33 family forest landowners to better understand their perceptions of state forest policies, including the policies' efficacy and how they impact landowner behavior. We found that participants voiced general acceptance of California's forest policies, though they described significant concerns because of financial burdens and regulatory uncertainty. They had nuanced views regarding how the policies protect public trust resources and private property rights, suggesting that landowners' public responsibilities and private rights are not always at odds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the Can Gio district in Vietnam has faced escalating challenges linked to climate change, including deforestation, urbanization, and rising carbon emissions. This study employs remote sensing techniques to estimate critical forest metrics, particularly aboveground biomass (AGB) and carbon sequestration potential in the region. Through meticulous data collection and analysis, this research establishes strong correlations between vegetation indices derived from remote sensing data and AGB, as well as CO2 absorption. Our results reveal that the Can Gio mangrove forest boasts an impressive AGB ranging from 200 to 500 tons/ha and demonstrates significant variations in carbon sequestration potential across different sub-zones. These findings not only contribute to efficient AGB estimation methods but also facilitate sustainable forest management and climate change mitigation strategies, vital for the Can Gio district and regions globally grappling with similar challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peat ecosystems have very important ecosystem services and functions, and roles for human life, the flora and fauna. Management of Lepironia articulata Retz. become an alternative business carried out by forest farmers in peat ecosystems. This study aims to evaluate the management of L.articulata in supporting peat ecosystem conservation. The research conducted in Haur Gading sub-district, South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Data collection carried out through the interview on the stages of L.articulata management and socio-economic data on the community. Field survey were done by collecting ecological data from L.articulata habitat. Conservation support for peat ecosystems from L.articulata management analyzed using 7 variables and 17 indicators. Conservation support for the peat ecosystem from the management of L.articulata result is high (90.24%). Conservation support obtained from the indicator values of social benefits, economic benefits, technical aspects of L.articulata management stages, and several ecological benefits. The management of L.articulata by forest farmers able to reduce illegal logging and forest fires. Revegetation activities by forest farmers on enrichment planting is one option to increase the diversity of vegetation in peat ecosystems and also the form of conservation based on the utilization of the biodiversity of peat ecosystems. It contributes for improving the socioeconomic community and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A broad consensus has been reached on the need to adapt the management of our forests to the context of the rapidly changing climate, which resulted in the development of numerous models capable of simulating the impact of the climate change on the forest. The primary goal of this specific endeavor is to propose a novel framework of comparative analysis which could lead to the unique and universal description and mapping of these models. This framework is based on the reduction of the model output to the relatively simplistic information about the presence of the tree species suitable for the forest management i.e.,—a binary classifier, making it comparable with the largely available tree presence observations. The framework we propose comes along with a new score, based on the joint use of the Principal Component Analysis and the Co-inertia Analysis, which evaluates the model vis-á-vis the corresponding observations with the focus on its phase space dynamics, i.e., its dependence on external environmental variables, rather than its spatial precision. The pertinence of the proposed multi-scale approach, suitable for the multi-scale analysis, is demonstrated by conjointly using prototype binary classifiers, designed for this purpose, and two different examples of binary classifiers used in the forest management—climate-dependent tree species distribution models. This work has the ambition to serve as the basis for a potential combination of different models at different spatial scales in order to improve the decision-making process in the forest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest management in drained forested peatlands can negatively affect water quality due to the increase in exports of organic matter and nutrients. Therefore, new methods to alleviate this impact are needed. In laboratory conditions, biochar has been shown to be a strong sorbent of organic and inorganic nutrients due to its high surface area and ion‐exchange capacity. However, evidence of the adsorption capacity in field conditions is lacking. Here, we studied the water purification performance of two different biochar feedstocks (wood‐ and garden residue‐based) in a 10‐day laboratory experiment where we incubated biochar with runoff water collected from drainage ditches in clear‐cut peatland forests. We measured changes in pH and concentrations of inorganic phosphorus (PO4), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The biochar with the best adsorbent capacity in the laboratory experiment was then tested in field conditions in a replicated catchment‐scale experiment, where both clear‐cutting and ditch cleaning were performed. We determined the nutrient concentration of water at the inlet and outlet of biochar filters placed in outflow ditches of four catchments. We found that under laboratory conditions wood‐based biochar efficiently adsorbed TDN and DOC, however, it released PO4. Furthermore, we found that the biochar filters reduced TDN and DOC concentration in field conditions. However, the percentage decrease in concentration was dependent on the initial concentrations of nutrients in the water and could be considered low. Moreover, we found that the biochar in the filters increased in TN content over the course of the experiment. This suggests that a wood‐based biochar filter has the potential to be a water protection tool for reducing the export of nutrients from catchments with high nutrient concentration. And that the biochar from the ditches could be applied back to the regenerating forest catchment as a potential soil amendment, closing the nutrient cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Natural disturbances are key drivers of forest ecosystem dynamics and are highly sensitive to global change. Despite their importance, central disturbance characteristics remain unknown for many forests worldwide. Here, we quantified an important component of the forest disturbance regime—the distribution of patch sizes—in strictly protected areas by asking: (i) How are patch sizes of naturally occurring disturbances distributed across the Alps and how can they best be quantified? (ii) Are patch size distributions stochastic or can they be explained by environmental drivers? (iii) What are the return periods of extreme disturbance events? Location: European Alps. Methods: We analysed satellite‐based disturbance maps for the period 1986–2020 across a network of 12 strictly protected areas, modelling patch sizes of all observed disturbance patches as well as of annual extreme events. We tested the influence of temperature, precipitation, topographic complexity and forest type on patch size distributions. Results: Disturbance patch sizes across the Alps (median 0.36 ha, 5th percentile 0.18 ha and 95th percentile 1.71 ha) as well as their annual extremes (0.72 ha, 0.18–7.11 ha) are best described by a Fréchet distribution. The size of annual extreme events significantly increased with intra‐annual temperature amplitude (+0.98 ha with a one standard deviation increase) and the share of evergreen trees (+0.63 ha). On average, disturbance patches of 5.5 ha (95% credible interval 2.6–17.5 ha) occur once every 30 years, whereas patches of 2.6 ha (1.2–7.0 ha) occur once every 10 years. Main Conclusions: Disturbances caused by natural agents are generally small and stochastic across the Alps. Extreme events are driven by climate, suggesting sensitivity of disturbance patch sizes to climate change. Our results provide a baseline for monitoring climate‐induced changes in forest disturbance regimes, and provide important information for the management and conservation of forest ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed‐species forests are promoted as a forest management strategy for climate change adaptation, but whether they are more resistant to drought than monospecific forests remains contested. In particular, the trait‐based mechanisms driving the role of tree diversity under drought remain elusive.Using tree cores from a large‐scale biodiversity experiment, we investigated tree growth and physiological stress responses (i.e. increase in wood carbon isotopic ratio; δ13C) to changes in climate‐induced water availability (wet to dry years) along gradients in neighbourhood tree species richness and drought‐tolerance traits. We hypothesized that neighbourhood species richness increases growth and decreases δ13C and that these relationships are modulated by the abiotic (i.e. climatic conditions) and the biotic context. We characterised the biotic context using drought‐tolerance traits of focal trees and their neighbours. These traits are related to cavitation resistance versus resource acquisition and stomatal control.Tree growth increased with neighbourhood species richness. However, we did not observe a universal relief of water stress in species‐rich neighbourhoods. The effects of neighbourhood species richness and climate on growth and δ13C were modulated by the traits of focal trees and the traits of their neighbours. At either end of each drought‐tolerance gradient, species responded in opposing directions during dry and wet years.We show that species' drought‐tolerance traits can explain the strength and nature of biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships in experimental tree communities experiencing drought. Mixing tree species can increase growth but may not universally relieve drought stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As society's environmental consciousness grows, the importance of consumer awareness regarding eco-friendly products becomes increasingly significant. Sustainable goods are those designed to minimize their impact on the environment throughout their lifecycle, from production to consumption and disposal. Examples include reusable shopping bags, recyclable cleaning products, and energy-efficient appliances. To make informed choices, consumers interested in purchasing eco-friendly products can conduct research on the items they need and scrutinize labels to understand their ecological footprint. Additionally, seeking independent certifications such as Energy Star or Forest Stewardship Council can help ensure that products meet specific environmental standards. Moreover, consumers can educate themselves on the environmental implications associated with the production and disposal of products. This paper underscores the theoretical importance of consumer awareness in promoting the adoption of ecofriendly practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eucalyptus camaldulensis is a multifunctional tree and is globally used for the reclamation of problematic lands. Eucalyptus camaldulensis is prone to attack by a number of pathogens, but the most important threat is the Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum). Keeping in view the importance of E. camaldulensis and to manage this disease, five plant activators, i.e., salicylic acid (C7H6O3), benzoic acid (C7H6O2), citric acid (C6H8O7), dipotassium phosphate (K2HPO4), monopotassium phosphate (KH2PO4) and nutritional mixture namely Compound (NPK) and nutriotop (Fe, Zn, Cu, B, Mn) were evaluated in the Fusarium infested field under RCBD in the Research Area, Department of Forestry and Range Management, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF). Among plant activators, salicylic acid and a combination of compound + nutriotop exhibited the lowest disease incidence and enhanced fresh and dry weight of leaves compared to other treatments and control. Results of the environmental study indicated maximum disease incidence between 35-40 ℃ (max. T), 6-25 ℃ (mini. T), 70-80% relative humidity and 1.5-2.5 km/h wind speed while pan evaporation expressed weak correlation with disease development. It was concluded that Fusarium wilt of Eucalyptus camaldulensis could be managed through activation of the basal defense system of the host plant with provision of salicylic acid and balanced nutrition by considering environmental factors. Recent exploration is expected to be helpful for future research efforts on epidemiology and ecologically sound intervention of Fusarium wilt of Eucalyptus camaldulensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In hillside watersheds, forests play a crucial role in protecting against soil erosion. Not only does forest vegetation cover serve as a biological measure to prevent soil erosion, it also generates income through sustainable management practices. However, there is a scarcity of research that evaluates and compares the profitability of perennial woody crops with that of other agricultural crops by integrating biological aspects within an economic analytical framework in Central Madagascar. In this study, we address this gap by combining a biological growth model that captures complex forest dynamics with economic management data to utilize the discounted cash flow method. We applied this approach to evaluate and compare the profitability of forest management and agricultural crop production in the hillside watershed areas of Central Madagascar, which have experienced severe humaninduced soil erosion. Although our results showed that timber production is a profitable option, other agricultural crops generate much higher profits, indicating that financial subsidies alone may not be enough to shift land use toward perennial woody crops. In addition, growing fruit trees such as oranges and mangoes appears to be a much more financially attractive option for local farmers than annual agricultural crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest and land fires in Indonesia have serious impacts on many aspects, including the environment, health, economy, politics, and international relations. They cause haze pollution that extends to neighboring countries and peatland degradation. Despite extensive research and mitigation efforts, forest and land fires continue to occur and cost lives. Therefore, effective management and mitigation strategies are required. This research developed a webbased knowledge management system (KMS) using the Laravel framework as an effective forest and land fire mitigation platform. The KMS aims to support decision-making, facilitate knowledge exchange, improve coordination between stakeholders, and expand access to relevant information, while maintaining the sustainability of forest and land resources in Indonesia. The KMS evaluation results cover two important aspects: blackbox evaluation and Performance Evaluation. The blackbox evaluation showed that KMS provides knowledge retrieval features based on expert knowledge. The Performance Evaluation revealed that the KMS provides easy and quick access to information on forest and land fire prevention and management. Thus, this research has great potential to help overcome the problem of forest and land fires in Indonesia and protect the environment and society from their adverse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agroforestry is a cropping pattern that is commonly applied to private forest management in Indonesia. Agroforestry based private forest is a land-based silviculture that incorporates forestry plants with agricultural crops, plantation crops, and multi-purpose plants. One of the felling techniques used in agroforestry based private forests is the sandat-felling technique (SFT), which is a rope-assist felling technique. The felling technique was used to protect the remaining stand of the agroforestry based private forest. This technique is an innovation in the harvesting of agroforestry based private forests in Indonesia. The time consumption and productivity of this technique are not yet known. This study aims to assess the working time and productivity of SFT in agroforestry based private forests in Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia. The observed tree-felling technique included rope installation and tree-felling operations. The performance of the SFT was evaluated by analyzing its working time and productivity. The results of the study showed that the total working time of the SFT was 8.65 minutes tree-1, which consisted of 33.34% for rope installation and 66.66% for felling operation. The productivity of the SFT was 2.02 m3 hour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Forestry Review is the property of Commonwealth Forestry Association 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 International Forestry Review is the property of Commonwealth Forestry Association 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 International Forestry Review is the property of Commonwealth Forestry Association 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 International Forestry Review is the property of Commonwealth Forestry Association 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.)

We examined whether and how woody debris removal for domestic fuel affects carbon storage and soil properties in an Indian rainforest. Fuelwood removal reduced aboveground carbon stocks, increased soil bulk density, and possibly reduced soil phosphorus stocks. Equitably balancing this subtle trade‐off between climate‐regulating and vital, widely utilized provisioning functions, is a challenge for tropical forest research and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the significance of belowground processes in tropical forest restoration and offers recommendations for further understanding these processes. It emphasizes the role of plant-root interactions, soil microbes, and soil properties in driving essential ecosystem services such as erosion control, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. The article highlights the importance of plant-microbe interactions in forest recovery and proposes management strategies for soil stabilization, carbon storage, nutrient cycling, and forest diversity. It also stresses the selection of native mycorrhizal communities and cautions against using non-native soil inoculum. The authors argue that incorporating belowground research into land management strategies can enhance the effectiveness of restoration projects, while also emphasizing the need for collaboration between scientists and restoration practitioners and the consideration of ecological, economic, and social factors in restoration areas. [Extracted from the article]

Forest industry plays a critical role for many remote rural regions in Nordic countries. Despite the increasing number of various digital transformation initiatives, many forestry organizations still use very traditional non-digitalized work practices in harvesting, logging, and support operations. Unfortunately, digital transformation is often performed as an ad hoc activity without a holistic approach to ensure ICT quality control. In this paper, we aim to answer the research problem of how digital transformation affects the quality of a forest machine operator's operational processes and service systems. A case study research method with a single case structure was used in this study. The main contribution of the paper is to show that digital transformation shall benefit not only the forest machine operator organization but also their surrounding ecosystem by increasing transparency of operations, reducing travel costs, increasing productivity, and creating a more proactive operating model. Both sociological and technical aspects of digital transformation are discussed in the context of forest service management. Additionally, we show that in order to succeed in digital transformation, forestry organizations must pay attention to various quality aspects holistically: hardware quality, software quality, service quality, data quality, and process/project quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since biodiversity is a multifaceted aspect of natural systems, several indices have been suggested to measure it. In this paper, we examined a number of well-known diversity indexes to see whether some performed better than others when applied to forest data. In order to reach this goal, we used data on basic forest variables (such as the diameters, heights, and volumes of trees) from forest plots to see if common diversity indices lead to the same conclusions about changes in biodiversity in a pairwise comparison (i.e., comparing the same region at two different times or two different regions at the same time). Out of a collection of 17 diversity indices, 8 of them exhibited robustness, indicating their constant ability to demonstrate either an increase or decrease in biodiversity over pairwise comparisons. However, it is important to note that the remaining seven diversity indices may yield inconsistent or inconclusive results, but only with regard to forest data, highlighting the complexity and nuances of measuring biodiversity with different sorts of data. In this review article, all 17 indices are presented, allowing the reader to choose which ones are most applicable to their particular dataset (genetic, econometric, sociometric, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, research on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has significantly increased. Numerous studies have analyzed demonstration projects, outlined scenarios, modeled pathways, or focused on CDR's national or international governance. However, regional case studies investigating the dynamics that may facilitate or impede the broader adoption of CDR methods in spatially explicit settings are critically absent. Understanding implementation contexts on the ground is vital, and comparing them across different removal methods is essential for effectively scaling up CDR. This paper aims to address this research gap by comparatively examining the development of biomass-based CDR in three regions of Germany. Taking an exploratory approach, we conducted surveys in these regions to gain insight into stakeholder perceptions of the following six CDR methods: forest management, agriculture and soil carbon, long-lasting building materials, rewetting of peatlands and paludiculture, biochar, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. In this article, we present the results of the stakeholder survey, which offers multiple perspectives that can shape future studies of regional implementation and yield policy-relevant guidance. Although our research primarily focuses on the regional level in Germany, it sheds light on various conflicts, uncertainties, and potentials that are likely to be relevant for the rollout of CDR in other countries. By examining these aspects, we contribute to the broader discourse on CDR and its potential implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]