Search

Long-term observations inform relationships among changes in vegetation, climate, and land use. For the eastern United States, I compared the timing of tree change, comprised of density and diversity increases, with the timing of climate change, as measured by change point detection of the Palmer Modified Drought Index (PMDI) that accounts for water balance, in two prairie ecological provinces, four grassland landscapes, and four forest landscapes. Historical evidence supplied documentation of tree density increases between approximately 1860 and 1890 in the two prairie provinces of grasslands bordering eastern forests. Additionally, because timing of tree increases paralleled when land area reached ≥25% agricultural use, I categorized grassland and forest landscapes that increased to ≥25% agricultural area during 1860, 1880, 1900, and 1920. One change point detection method identified no significant PMDI change points during the 1800s. The other method found the southern prairie province, bordering eastern forests, had change points of 1855 and 1865 during an interval of relative dryness. Only two of four grassland landscapes, and one of four forest landscapes had change points, which occurred during relative dryness or were continuous with historical variation. Inconsistent changes in moisture availability did not provide correlations with comprehensive tree increases, but land use change corresponded with tree changes based on timing, magnitude and direction of change, and mechanism. The agricultural threshold may provide the critical missing component that allows progression in analysis of land use change effects on vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to assess the dynamics of forests and the effectiveness of their management strategies, it is necessary to develop monitoring systems based on qualitative and quantitative tools for their conservation, valorization and restoration. This approach is particularly important for areas that have undergone intense anthropogenic transformations in the last century. In order to do this, it is first necessary to apply a chronological methodology based on historical GIS that allows the integration of different types of geodata. As a result of constantly evolving spatial analysis tools, the monitoring of landscape forest evolution is increasingly more effective and complete. Using as a case study a region representative of common processes of other Mediterranean areas (Southern Italy--Basilicata region), a diachronic analysis of 156 years was applied to evaluate the forest landscape dynamics. Starting from historical cartographies to remotely sensed data available online, a GIS-based approach was implemented to evaluate the spatial and statistical variations of the forest landscape. In this way, it was possible to assess how much, where and how the forest landscape has changed in order to provide a methodology to support more detailed and sectoral studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Anthropocene, humans, domesticated animals, wildlife, and their environments are interconnected, especially as humans advance further into wildlife habitats. Wildlife gut microbiomes play a vital role in host health. Changes to wildlife gut microbiomes due to anthropogenic disturbances, such as habitat fragmentation, can disrupt natural gut microbiota homeostasis and make animals vulnerable to infections that may become zoonotic. However, it remains unclear whether the disruption to wildlife gut microbiomes is caused by habitat fragmentation per se or the combination of habitat fragmentation with additional anthropogenic disturbances, such as contact with humans, domesticated animals, invasive species, and their pathogens. Here, we show that habitat fragmentation per se does not impact the gut microbiome of a generalist rodent species native to Central America, Tome's spiny rat Proechimys semispinosus, but additional anthropogenic disturbances do. Indeed, compared to protected continuous and fragmented forest landscapes that are largely untouched by other human activities, the gut microbiomes of spiny rats inhabiting human-disturbed fragmented landscapes revealed a reduced alpha diversity and a shifted and more dispersed beta diversity. Their microbiomes contained more taxa associated with domesticated animals and their potential pathogens, suggesting a shift in potential metagenome functions. On the one hand, the compositional shift could indicate a degree of gut microbial adaption known as metagenomic plasticity. On the other hand, the greater variation in community structure and reduced alpha diversity may signal a decline in beneficial microbial functions and illustrate that gut adaption may not catch up with anthropogenic disturbances, even in a generalist species with large phenotypic plasticity, with potentially harmful consequences to both wildlife and human health. Fackelmann et al. study the gut microbial composition of spiny rats across tropical forests in Panama with varying levels of protection and fragmentation in order to disentangle the relative influences of habitat fragmentation and anthropogenic disturbance on wildlife gut microbiomes. They find that habitat fragmentation on its own did not affect the gut microbiome, but the microbiomes of individuals inhabiting forest fragments affected by anthropogenic disturbance displayed a shift in community composition and structure, and were more likely to have microbiota associated with domesticated animals and their pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: The approach that we take to our science is as important as the questions that we address if we would like our research to inform management. Here, we discuss our experience of using networks of permanent forest inventory plots to support sustainable management and conservation of intact tropical forests. A key conclusion is that to maximize the use of data from such large international networks within policymaking, it is crucial that leadership is widely shared among participants. Such an approach helps to address ethical concerns surrounding international collaborations and also achieves greater policy impact. Summary: Long‐term data from permanent forest inventory plots have much to offer the management and conservation of intact tropical forest landscapes. Knowledge of the growth and mortality rates of economically important species, forest carbon balance, and the impact of climate change on forest composition are all central to effective management. However, this information is rarely integrated within the policymaking process. The problem reflects broader issues in using evidence to influence environmental management, and in particular, the need to engage with potential users beyond the collection and publication of high‐quality data. To ensure permanent plot data are used, (a) key "policy windows"—opportunities to integrate data within policy making—need to be identified; (b) long‐term relationships need to be developed between scientists and policy makers and policymaking organizations; and (c) leadership of plot networks needs to be shared among all participants, and particularly between institutions in the global north and those in tropical countries. Addressing these issues will allow permanent plot networks to make tangible contributions to ensuring that intact tropical forest persists over coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the landscape aesthetic quality assessment is more technical and quantitative in environmental management. We aimed at developing artificial neural network (ANN) modelling and multiple regression (MLR) analysis approaches to predict the perceptional aesthetic quality of forest landscapes. The methodology, followed in this paper, can be divided into six distinct parts: (i) selection of representative study sites, (ii) mapping of landscape units, (iii) quantification of naturalness indicators, (iv) visibility analysis, (v) assessment of human perceptions, (vi) ANN and MLR modelling and sensitivity analysis. The results of ANN modelling, especially its high accuracy (R2 = 0.871) in comparison with MLR results (R2 = 0.782), introduced the forest landscape aesthetic quality model (FLAQM) as a comparative model for an assessment of forest landscape aesthetic quality. According to sensitivity analysis, the values of livestock density, tree harvesting, virgin forest, animal grazing, and tree richness were identified as the most significant variables which influence FLAQM. FLAQM can be used to compare the classes of aesthetic quality of forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Lack of indicator for forest regeneration security across large forest landscapes. • A flexible forest regeneration evaluation method for large landscapes is described. • The method is applicable to diverse forests and multiple management objectives. • The method uses available science and is compatible with a national forest inventory. • Case study evaluation results illustrate the utility to assist management decisions. Abstract Securing desirable forest regeneration outcomes is an essential component of sustainable forest management. When natural reproduction is preferred over planting, achieving desirable outcomes may be the principal challenge for forest managers, as reports of struggles and even failures are common across many regions and forest ecosystems. Informing managers and policymakers of the prospects of regeneration success before practices and policies are implemented promotes long-term sustainability because rehabilitating undesirable regeneration outcomes is often lengthy, expensive, and uncertain. In 2012, the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Forest Inventory and Analysis program implemented Regeneration Indicator (RI) protocols that added detailed seedling measurements and browse impact assessments to a subsample of inventory plots across 24 states in the northern United States. The goal of this expanded sampling effort is to improve the ability to monitor broad scale regeneration trends and better inform forest management planning and policy. Modeling probable regeneration outcomes is difficult and the rarity of vetted models that can fully utilize RI inventory data highlights an immediate need for flexible methods to evaluate regeneration of different taxa at large scales. This manuscript is premised on estimation of a tree seedling mortality budget for inventoried reproduction. The method offers a transparent structure for leveraging existing literature and expert knowledge to gain provisional insight into plausible regeneration outcomes. The resulting tool provides flexibility for users to examine regeneration for multiple species, site conditions, and user-defined quantitative regeneration objectives. The approach is demonstrated by applying a suite of multispecies regeneration objectives to RI data for two case studies with different forest composition and geographic scales, the Ozark Highland Ecological Section (OHES) and the Monongahela National Forest (MNF). Within the Quercus / Carya dominated OHES, analyses indicate that desirable regeneration outcomes are more likely than not based on current plot conditions. Regeneration events were projected to produce new fully stocked forests on 76% of OHES plots, produce a sizable component of characteristic overstory species on 57%, and produce a sizable component of commercially important species on 59%. Within the Acer / Fagus / Betula and Quercus / Carya forests of the MNF, analyses indicated that difficulties in achieving desirable regeneration outcomes were likely. Only 36% of MNF plots were projected to produce new fully stocked forests following a regeneration event and only 29% were projected to regenerate a sizable component of either characteristic overstory species or commercially important species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Developed merged ET using two blending approaches over four different ET products. • Uncertainty assessment of single/merged ET products with land-use and climate conditions. • Merged ET exhibit reduced uncertainties for different climatic/biome types in Australia. • ET STS (blended) outperformed the ET Maximize R (blended) and four (single) ET products. Abstract Numerous evapotranspiration (ET) products with different spatio-temporal resolutions at continental and global scales have been developed by utilizing commonly available satellite imagery and ground-based observations. However, the developed ET products present large uncertainties that limit their operational hydro-meteorological applications, specifically in water limited regions where water consumption is competing. This study presents the uncertainties among four widely available ET (GLDAS, GLEAM, MOD16, and MERRA) products and then assesses the performance of two blending approaches (Maximize R and simple Taylor skill's score; STS)) for generating a fused ET product using combinations of the above ET datasets in a dry continent (Australia) during the period of 2005–2014. The accuracy for all four ET products compared with Australian Water Resource Assessment Landscape (AWRA-L) ET dataset demonstrated large uncertainties across seven different land cover classifications and four different climate zones, with a coefficient of correlation (R) ranging between 0.1–0.85. GLEAM and GLDAS showed better agreement (R ∼ 0.8) over forest and cropland areas, respectively, while better performance of all products was noted in tropical regions compared with other climate zones in the region. Similarly, implementation of the two blending approaches to generate merged ET products revealed an overall higher contribution (>25%) from GLEAM followed by the GLDAS, while that of MOD16 was lowest (<20%) over various climatic zones as well as all of Australia. The accuracy assessment of the two merged ET products exhibited relatively better performance by reducing the Bias toward 0 and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.2-0.4 mm/8day with an index of agreement (IOA) >0.8 compared with individual ET products under all climatic and land cover conditions. These statistical indicators explained the relatively large differences among the spatial distributions of fused ET and those of individual products. Among the two blending approaches, the STS method produced more reliable results compared to the accuracy of fused ET generated by the Maximize R method. This reason for this was the discrepancy in the number of datasets used to derive each merging method. The STS method allows combining all given datasets by providing their corresponding weights, whereas the Maximize R method employed the weights only based on the two best of the given products. Overall, the assessments made in the current study provide comprehensive insights on the quality and integration of four globally available ET products to benefit regional water users and the hydro-meteorological community on the basis of major landscape and climatic conditions over long time scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Disturbance legacies persist for decades in a temperate forest landscape. • Simulated carbon loss from a disturbance was compensated during 18–29 years. • An enhanced carbon sink following a disturbance may support forest recovery in temperate landscapes. • Warmer and drier climate slows down the recovery under climate change. • CO 2 fertilization is prominent in the forest carbon recovery under climate change. Abstract Disturbances alter composition, structure, and functioning of forest ecosystems, and their legacies persist for decades to centuries. We investigated how temperate forest landscapes may recover their carbon (C) after severe wind and bark beetle disturbance, while being exposed to climate change. We used the forest landscape and disturbance model iLand to quantify (i) the recovery times of the total ecosystem C, (ii) the effect of climate change on C recovery, and (iii) the differential factors contributing to C recovery. We reconstructed a recent disturbance episode (2008–2016) based on Landsat satellite imagery, which affected 39% of the forest area in the 16,000 ha study landscape. We subsequently simulated forest recovery under a continuation of business-as-usual management until 2100. Our results indicated that the recovery of the pre-disturbance C stocks (C payback time) was reached 17 years after the end of the disturbance episode. The C stocks of a theoretical undisturbed development trajectory were reached 30 years after the disturbance episode (C sequestration parity). Drier and warmer climates delayed simulated C recovery. Without the fertilizing effect of CO 2 , C payback times were delayed by 5–9 years, while C parity was not reached within the 21st century. Recovery was accelerated by an enhanced C uptake compared to undisturbed conditions (disturbance legacy sink effect) that persisted for 35 years after the disturbance episode. Future climate could have negative impacts on forest recovery and thus further amplify climate change through C loss from ecosystems, but the effect is strongly contingent on the magnitude and persistence of alleviating CO 2 effects. Our modelling study highlights the need to consider both negative and positive effects of disturbance (i.e., C loss immediately after an event vs. enhanced C uptake of the recovering forest) in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of disturbance effects on the forest C cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Conceptually similar indices revealed complex diversity responses to disturbance. • Functional metrics were generally more stable over five-year period than taxonomic. • Using both diversity components better assess its responses to habitat changes. Abstract Functional diversity is commonly used to assess the conservation value of ecosystems, but we have not yet established whether functional and taxonomic approaches are interchangeable or complementary to evaluate community dynamics over time and in response to disturbances. We used a five-year dataset of dung beetles from undisturbed forest, primary forest corridors, and Eucalyptus plantations to compare the sensitivity of conceptually equivalent metrics to temporal variation in different anthropogenic disturbances. We compared species richness with functional richness, Pielou's evenness with functional evenness, and Simpson's diversity with Rao's quadratic entropy. We assessed the sensitivity of the metrics to anthropogenic changes. The indices showed complex patterns among habitat types, with with similar responses in some cases and not in other, and little incongruence between the pairs within the same year. The influence of disturbance on longer-term temporal variation over the five-year period revealed lower temporal variation in functional than taxonomic metrics. Both approaches showed greater variation in plantations compared to native forests. We evaluated the variation in taxonomic and functional metrics between consecutive years and among habitats. Most metrics showed similar shifts between years in all habitats, except for species and functional richness. We demonstrate that even conceptually similar indices may not provide similar information on dung beetles responses to disturbance. However, the differences between the indices can yield key insights about the drivers of change, especially over the long-term. It is important to use taxonomic and functional diversity in tandem to better understand community responses to environmental and anthropogenic changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest landscape simulation models (FLSMs) – often used to understand and project forest dynamics over space and time in response to environmental disturbance – have rarely included realistic epidemiological processes of plant disease transmission and impacts. Landscape epidemiological models, by contrast, frequently treat forest ecosystems as static or make simple assumptions regarding ecosystem change following disease. Here we present the Base Epidemiological Disturbance Agent (EDA) extension that allows users of the LANDIS‐II FLSM to simulate forest pathogen spread and host mortality within a spatially explicit forest simulation. EDA enables users to investigate forest pathogen spread and impacts over large landscapes (> 105 ha) and long time periods. We evaluate the model extension using Phytophthora ramorum as a case study of an invasive plant pathogen causing emerging infectious disease and considerable tree mortality in California. EDA will advance the utility of LANDIS‐II and forest disease modeling in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key topic in landscape ecology and vegetation science is the quantitative analysis of changes in forest cover over time, through the use of geomatics monitoring tools. Ecologists and landscape researchers are pointing out that a full understanding of ecosystems and landscapes should be based on the analysis of their functioning over long time series. Under this perspective, a long-term historical reconstruction of forest cover is essential. This study has aimed at examining the long-term dynamics of forest landscapes in Italy, over the last century, using recent remote-sensing based map (2012) and an accurate historical map (1936). A forest-non forest approach has been followed by the computation of a variety of landscape metrics using two analysis tools, with the final objective of quantifying changes in forest cover patterns and in the composition of specific landscape elements. Results show that forest landscape structure has significantly changed across Italy, resulting in a general trend of decreasing fragmentation and patchiness, mainly through enlargement of existing forest patches, which have also assumed a more geometrically regular shape. In relative terms, the greatest expansion of forest areas has occurred mainly in lowland districts characterised by the highest level of human pressure in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was designed to examine the relationship between features of forests and the quality of forest landscapes, and to determine the strength of effect of the features in the aesthetic value of the landscape. The methodology applied to assess forest landscapes took into account the following features: forest site humidity, age of forest, terrain slope, site index of stands, species composition of the tree layer, under-story cover, colour and composition, mosaic-like, as well as horizontal structure of the tree stands. The study was conducted in temperate forests located in Central-Eastern Europe - more precisely - in south-eastern Poland. In the investigated area the dominating tree species are: Pinus sylvestris L., Abies alba Mill., Fagus sylvatica L. and Quercus L. They cover 42.2%, 20.8%, 20.4% and 6.5% of the total forest area, respectively. The findings show that nearly 1% of the area of the examined forests within the relevant territory are characterized with very high landscape value, over 67% with high, 31% with medium, and less than 0.5% with low landscape value. A strong relationship occurs between terrain slope vs. aesthetic quality of landscape as well as forest site humidity vs. aesthetic quality of landscape. Weak effect was observed for site index of stands vs. aesthetic quality of landscape, and moderate relationship was identified in the case of the remaining features. The findings show the strength of relationship between the features of forests and the aesthetic quality of landscapes, consequently providing a tool for forest managers to develop attractive forest landscapes in selected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain forests provide a wide range of ecosystem services (ES, e.g., timber production, protection from natural hazards, maintaining biodiversity) and are especially sensitive to climate change. Dynamic vegetation models are commonly used to project climate change impacts on forests, but the sensitivity of process-based forest landscape models (FLMs) to uncertainties in climate input data has received little attention, especially regarding the response of ES. Using a dry inner-Alpine valley in Switzerland as a case study, we tested the sensitivity of a process-based FLM to different baseline climate data, lapse rates, and future climate change derived from different climate model combination chains and downscaling methods. Under the current climate, different sources of baseline climate accounted for the majority of the variation at lower elevations, while differences in lapse rates caused large variability at higher elevations. Under climate change, differences between climate model chains were the greatest source of uncertainty. In general, the largest differences for species were found at their individual regional distribution limits, and the largest differences for ES were found at the highest elevations. Thus, our results suggest that the greatest uncertainty for simulating forest ES is due to differences between climate model chains, and we recommend using as many climate scenarios as possible when projecting future forest response to climate change. In addition, care should be taken when evaluating climate impacts at landscape locations that are known a priori to be sensitive to climate variation, such as high-elevation forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Alaska boreal forest has experienced some of the greatest magnitude of climate-driven change of any forest region, and adaptive management approaches are required in current management and decisions. Forest harvest management has relied heavily on natural regeneration, which generally was successful. Most harvests were small and mature white spruce near roads. Wildfires were small to very large and occurred broadly. Post-harvest regeneration is successful, but on vulnerable warm dry sites, failure is likely to occur soon. Boreal forest in some landscape positions will be resilient to additional warming or invading tundra. We offer a framework and suggest options for developing adaptive forest harvest management. The main options under climate change include (1) maintaining current species where feasible, (2) maintaining a forest landscape of any type, and (3) monitoring biome shift. We identify examples of management actions and gathered research appropriate to each of these options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst the benefits of agroforestry are widely recognised in tropical latitudes few studies have assessed how agroforestry is perceived in temperate latitudes. This study evaluates how stakeholders and key actors including farmers, landowners, agricultural advisors, researchers and environmentalists perceive the implementation and expansion of agroforestry in Europe. Meetings were held with 30 stakeholder groups covering different agroforestry systems in 2014 in eleven EU countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). In total 344 valid responses were received to a questionnaire where stakeholders were asked to rank the positive and negative aspects of implementing agroforestry in their region. Improved biodiversity and wildlife habitats, animal health and welfare, and landscape aesthetics were seen as the main positive aspects of agroforestry. By contrast, increased labour, complexity of work, management costs and administrative burden were seen as the most important negative aspects. Overall, improving the environmental value of agriculture was seen as the main benefit of agroforestry, whilst management and socio-economic issues were seen as the greatest barriers. The great variability in the opportunities and barriers of the systems suggests enhanced adoption of agroforestry across Europe will be most likely to occur with specific initiatives for each type of system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain ecosystems are among the most fragile environments on Earth. The availability of timely updated information on forest 3D structure would improve our understanding of the dynamic and impact of recent disturbance and regeneration events including fire, insect damage, and drought. Airborne lidar is a critical tool for monitoring forest change at high resolution but it has been little used for this purpose due to the scarcity of long-term time-series of measurements over a common region. Here, we investigate the reliability of on-going, multi-year lidar observations from the NASA-JPL Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) to characterize forest 3D structure at a fine spatial scale. In this study, weekly ASO measurements collected at ~1 pt/m², primarily acquired to quantify snow volume and dynamics, are coherently merged to produce high-resolution point clouds (~12 pt/m²) that better describe forest structure. The merging methodology addresses the spatial bias in multi-temporal data due to uncertainties in platform trajectory and motion by collecting tie objects from isolated tree crown apexes in the lidar data. The tie objects locations are assigned to the centroid of multi-temporal lidar points to fuse and optimize the location of multiple measurements without the need for ancillary data or GPS control points. We apply the methodology to ASO lidar acquisitions over the Tuolumne River Basin in the Sierra Nevada, California, during the 2014 snow monitoring campaign and provide assessment of the fidelity of the fused point clouds for forest mountain ecosystem studies. The availability of ASO measurements that currently span 2013-2017 enable annual forest monitoring of important vegetated ecosystems that currently face ecological threads of great significance such as the Sierra Nevada (California) and Olympic National Forest (Washington). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive outbreaks of tree-killing insects are increasing across forests in Europe and North America due to climate change and other factors. Yet, little recent research examines visitor response to visual changes in conifer forest recreation settings resulting from forest insect infestations, how visitors weigh trade-offs between physical and social forest environment factors, or how visitor preferences might differ by nationality. This study explored forest visitor preferences with a discrete choice experiment that photographically simulated conifer forest stands with varying levels of bark beetle outbreaks, forest and visitor management practices, and visitor use levels and compositions. On-site surveys were conducted with visitors to State Forest State Park in Colorado (n = 200), Lake Bemidji State Park in Minnesota (n = 228), and Harz National Park in Germany (n = 208). Results revealed that the condition of the immediate forest surrounding was the most important variable influencing visitors’ landscape preferences. Visitors preferred healthy mature forest stands and disliked forests with substantial dead wood. The number of visitors was the most important social factor influencing visitor landscape preferences. Differences in the influence of physical and social factors on visual preferences existed between study sites. Findings suggest that both visual forest conditions and visitor use management are important concerns in addressing landscape preferences for beetle-impacted forest recreation areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent methodological developments in dendro-anthracology offer many new techniques to address the historical practices associated with the exploitation of wood as a fuel and to better understand the reciprocal interests of forest landscapes and societies. The study of wood diameter in dendro-anthracology involves three fundamental stages: i) to measure the position of charcoal pieces in relation to the heart of the wood, known as charcoal-pith distance ii) to correct the data, taking into account the error associated with using measurement as a tool and wood shrinkage, iii) to interpret the data in terms of original diameters exploited. Each of these steps has been, and continues to be, the basis of numerous research projects, notably by using experimental approaches in order to perfect the pith estimation tools (used to measure the distance between the charcoal fragment and the centre of the stem, refine experimental techniques and improve methodologies. This article is focused on estimating suitable correction factors related to wood shrinkage. Although this phenomenonis very well understood for a great number of species as regards the drying process, it remains more difficult to quantify a precise correction factor for shrinkage during the wood burning process. The experimental approach presented in this study involves a comparative analysis of wood shrinkage in oak and chestnut in charring conditions close to those observed in a charcoal-making context (charring in a low-oxygen environment, at temperatures between 400 °C and 600 °C). The charring of wood sections in a muffle furnace clearly shows an increase in the difference in radial shrinkage between dried and charcoalified wood. During drying, shrinkage in oak is only 2% greater than in chestnut. By contrast, the difference in shrinkage between the two taxa is 7% after charring. In addition, these experiments highlight the significant influences of temperature and of the presence of heartwood on the extent of wood shrinkage that occurs when wood is burned. The results of this study provide a better understanding of the phenomenon of shrinkage and also enable correction factors for these two taxa, more suitable for application in an archaeological context, to be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new remote sensing vegetation parameters derived from spaceborne spectrometers and simulated with a three dimensional radiative transfer model have been evaluated in terms of their prospects and drawbacks for the monitoring of dense vegetation canopies: (i) sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), a unique signal emitted by photosynthetically active vegetation and (ii) the canopy scattering coefficient (CSC), a vegetation parameter derived along with the directional area scattering factor (DASF) and expected to be particularly sensitive to leaf optical properties. Here, we present the first global data set of DASF/CSC and examine the potential of CSC and SIF for providing complementary information on the controversially discussed vegetation seasonality in Amazon forests. A comparison between near-infrared SIF derived from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) instrument and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) (overpass time in the morning and noon, respectively) reveals the response of SIF to instantaneous photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Large-scale seasonal swings of GOME-2 SIF amount up to 21% (regarding the annual maximum) and peak in October and around February, while OCO-2 SIF peaks in February. However, both time series agree very well if SIF is normalized by overpass time and wavelength. We further examine anistropic reflectance characteristics with the finding that the hot spot effect significantly impacts observed GOME-2 SIF values. On the contrary, our sensitivity analysis suggests that CSC is highly independent of sun-sensor geometry as well as atmospheric effects. The slight annual variability of CSC (3%) shows no clear seasonal cycle, while a relatively high spatial standard deviation points to a high degree of spatial heterogeneity in our study domain within the central Amazon Basin. [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.)

Bryophytes have been used as indicators to evaluate atmospheric conditions in urban areas. However, further research is needed for their effective application. In this study, we focused on four metrics related to atmospheric problems in urban areas (nitrogen concentration [% N], isotope ratio of nitrogen [δ 15 N], index of atmospheric purity [IAP], and richness of hygrophilic life-forms [RHL]). Then, using linear and generalized linear models, we examined the influence of land use on these four metrics in urban atmospheric environments, and evaluated the usefulness and limitation of them. The % N and δ 15 N models were well explained by the influence of nitrogen sources and/or sinks. The RHL models were significantly affected by urban and forest areas, reflecting urban heat islands. Surprisingly, IAP was higher in urban areas, but comparisons of IAP are not informative in areas with narrow pollution gradients. Land use strongly affected % N and δ 15 N models in smaller areas because of a point-source influence of nitrogen pollution, whereas RHL was strongly influenced by land use at larger scales owing to drought stress in urban settings. Correlations among the metrics revealed that severe drought stress tended to occur in areas with high nitrogen pollution. The nitrogen pollution sources were diverse, with no significant correlation of δ 15 N values with % N. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied home range use, spatial activity patterns and annual survival of southern flying squirrels (SFS; Glaucomys volans) across fragmented landscapes of west-central Illinois. We calculated seasonal home range sizes and annual survival from 67 animals (36 males, 31 females) captured during 2014-2016. Home range and core area sizes were similar (P ≥ 0.46) among males and females across summer (April-September) and winter (October-March) seasons. Average distance between consecutive animal locations did not vary by sex, season, or year. Similarly, cumulative distance between consecutive locations did not vary by sex, season, or year and ranged from 1,189 to 1,661 m between summer and winter seasons. Mean annual composite home range and core area sizes were 10.39 and 1.25 ha, respectively; estimated home ranges (10.3 ha) of females are the largest documented for this species. We documented 8 deaths, all attributed to predation, the majority (63%) of which occurred during winter; annual survival was 71%. Our results underscore effects of habitat productivity on seasonal home range dynamics and space use patterns of SFS in fragmented landscapes. SFS may compensate for reduced availability of overstory mast-producing trees that characterize unproductive habitats and low-density populations by exhibiting similar movement patterns and use of available habitat by both sexes throughout the year. Winter communal nesting appears to be influenced by availability of cavity trees, thereby confirming the importance of standing snags in contributing essential habitat to flying squirrel populations in fragmented forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans have historically played a critical role in the management of Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) through traditional fire use. Although chestnut forests are widespread across the Mediterranean Basin, little is known about their historical fire regimes. Our goal here is to generate testable hypotheses about the drivers of fire regime dynamics in chestnut dominated ecosystems. To examine anthropogenic fire management we selected two sites in Spain that have similar biophysical characteristics but divergent levels of economic development and fire management policies. Fire regime-landscape feedbacks were characterized through a pilot dendroecological study, official fire statistics, aerial photography and forest inventory data. Our results suggest that fire incidence in both sites has increased since the pre-industrial era but fire season, fire size, and forest structure have changed to a greater extent in the more developed site. These changes are probably driven by the decline in annual anthropogenic burning of litterfall by local communities at the more developed site during the non-vegetative season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, research within health promoting environments is dominated by a focus on the difference between the urban and the natural environment. However, little knowledge exists regarding which qualities within the natural environment promote restoration. The aim of the paper is to identify which qualities and perceived sensory dimensions (PSD) of a forest environment are psychologically restorative. The research consists of 26 participants' ratings and experiences of psychological restoration in a forest environment called the Health Forest Octovia ® , which consists of eight different rooms designed according to previous research on PSDs, where each room represents one of the PSDs. The participants rated the restorativeness of the rooms on a scale and they were interviewed about their experiences. The interviews were analyzed by an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The results from the rating exercise show that the rooms where the PSDs serene, rich in species, refuge and nature are dominant are rated highest with regards to restoration, which supports the previous research on the subject. Further, the findings from the IPA indicate that the spatial aspects are important for the experience of restoration. An environment which includes diverse vegetation and balances enclosed dense growth with more open views is regarded as being optimal for restoration. The dense growth should have the appearance of a den and offer experiences of privacy. The results validate the potential for using the PSDs as guidelines for designing health-promoting natural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining forest landscape connectivity is one of the most effective ways to alleviate natural forest fragmentation and biodiversity loss problems. Recently, graph theory based metrics have been used as powerful tools in the assessment of landscape connectivity. However, the functional features of landscape units at different structure levels, based on which outcomes can be enriched and advice can be given for practical applications, have been overlooked. In this study, a series of graph-based connectivity indices was calculated to 1) evaluate the optimal threshold distance, 2) identify the key landscape units at the component and patch levels, and 3) classify the functional types of components and patches and analyze functional patterns at different structural levels. The relationship between patch size and patch functional performance in maintaining landscape connectivity was discussed. With a natural forest area in Minqing County of China as the study area, recommendations regarding forest conservation and connectivity enhancement were provided based on the research conclusions. This study provides a way to comprehensively analyze habitat fragmentation and functional patterns for local forest conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A great deal of biodiversity can be found in private forests, and protecting it requires taking into consideration the preferences of key stakeholders. In this study, we examine divergence in stakeholders' preferences for forest attributes across the general public, private non-industrial forest owners and public and private forest officials in Sweden by conducting a discrete choice experiment. Our results indicate that citizens have a positive valuation of biodiversity protection. Moreover, their valuation is statistically significantly higher than those of forest owners. Interestingly, our results suggest that both forest owners and forest officials have a strong orientation towards production, with higher valuation than the general public of the common management practice of even aged stands and clear felling. Even though the Swedish Forestry Act regards production and environmental goals as equally important, we find that forest officials prefer management practices that promote production rather than biodiversity protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of China's forestry resources has never been more challenging due to serious problems such as shortage, inferiority and uneven distribution of forestry resources. Therefore, the study and evaluation of China's forestry resources has a great significance to improve efficiency and ensure the sustainable development of the forestry resource. Meanwhile, the vast territory, huge population and widespread forest landscape of China have led to the numerous indexes and the huge data. To perform the research and evaluation accurately, this paper utilized the big data theory to analyze the relevant data of China's forestry resources. This study collected the data from 31 inland provinces and municipalities of China from 2005 to 2013, after which we carefully examined economic, social and ecological factors to choose assessment indexes and processed data accordingly. Firstly, we performed a cross-sectional dataset analysis using the method of data envelopment analysis to investigate the forestry resources efficiency in 31 inland provinces and municipalities of China in years 2008, 2012 and 2013. Secondly, we analyzed time series data of the 31 inland provinces and municipalities from 2005 to 2013 using the Malmquist total factor productivity index method. Our results showed the dominant factor that restraining forestry resources efficiency for the 31 inland provinces and municipalities is the implemented technology. So we suggest increasing the investment in science and technology to improve the overall efficiency of forestry resources, along with improvement of operation and management by relevant administrative departments to improve technology utilization. The innovation of this paper lies in the dynamic process of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing attention on the health benefits of a forest environment, evidence-based research is required. This study aims to provide scientific evidence concerning the physiological and psychological effects of exposure to the forest environment on middle-aged hypertensive men. Twenty participants (58.0 ± 10.6 years) were instructed to sit on chairs and view the landscapes of forest and urban (as control) environments for 10 min. Heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate were used to quantify physiological responses. The modified semantic differential method was used to determine psychological responses. Consequently, the high-frequency component of HRV, a marker of parasympathetic nervous activity that is enhanced in relaxing situations, was significantly higher and heart rate was significantly lower in participants viewing the forest area than in those viewing the urban area. The questionnaire results indicated that viewing the forest environment increased “comfortable,” “relaxed,” and “natural” feelings than viewing the urban environment. In conclusion, viewing forest landscape produces physiological and psychological relaxation effects on middle-aged hypertensive men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Brazilian Amazon, multiple logging activities are undergoing, involving different actors and interests. They shape a disturbance gradient bound to the intensity and frequency of logging, and forest management techniques. However, until now, few studies have been carried out at the landscape scale taking into account these multiple types of logging and this disturbance gradient. Here we address this issue of how to account for the multiple logging activities shaping the current forest landscape. We developed an inexpensive and efficient remote sensing methodology based on Landsat imagery to detect and track logging activity based on the monitoring of canopy openings. Then, we implemented a set of remote sensing indicators to follow the different trajectories of forest disturbance through time. Using these indicators, we emphasized five major spatial and temporal disturbance patterns occurring in the municipality of Paragominas (State of Pará, Brazilian Amazon), from well-managed forests to highly over-logged forests. Our disturbance indicators provide observable evidence for the difference between legal and illegal patterns, with some illegal areas having suffered more than three explorations in fifteen years. They also clearly underlined the efficiency of Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) techniques applied under Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) guidelines to reduce the logging impacts in terms of canopy openings. For these reasons, we argue the need to promote legal certified logging to conserve forests, as without them, many actors mine the forest resources without any concerns for future stocks. Finally, our remote tracking methodology, which produces easy to interpret disturbance indicators, could be a real boon to forest managers, including for conservationists working in protected areas and stakeholders dealing with international trade rules such as RBUE (Wood regulation of European Union) or FLEGT (Forest Law for Enforcement, Governance and Trade). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) is capable of impressive yields on a wide range of sites, but that volume is often skewed to low grade because of black knots. In this case study, we examined log and lumber yields from two contrasting sites in the Adirondacks of New York. A subsample of butt logs was isolated from each site to quantify the benefits of pruning. Lumber grade distribution was the same for both sites, with 60% represented by lower grades. As expected, stems with pruned butt logs yielded the highest quality lumber. We examined landowner returns using historical management data over a 106-year rotation from the high-quality site. At a property tax rate of between $8 and $17/acre/year, a landowner can expect a real positive return of $15,794 to $1,065, respectively, on their investment, given a real hurdle discount rate of 4%. Although these results are positive, different silvicultural regimes could have improved grade recovery and heightened financial returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assessed awareness and perceptions of forest landowners and managers in the southeastern United States regarding their stand health especially under the context of the southern pine decline (SPD) phenomenon. E-mail and paper surveys were sent to 4,670 forest landowners and managers in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina with an overall response rate of 28%. About half (51%) of respondents reported having healthy and symptom-free pine stands, and only 11% reported elevated levels of dying pine or pine mortality within the last year. Few (<30%) respondents were aware of SPD. Insects, disease, and drought were perceived as the most important threats to pine health. Respondents usually used material from state agencies, professional speakers, or research publications for information regarding pine stand management. Data indicate a favorable outlook for pine health in the southeastern United States, as landowners were engaged and willing to use recognized management prescriptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greater climate variability may profoundly impact southern forests, requiring climate-resilient management strategies to sustain them into the future. Foresters design and implement these strategies, and their perspectives on climate change may influence their receptivity to outreach on climate science and adaptation. To effectively engage this audience, communicators such as Extension agents must understand their views. We surveyed southern forestry professionals to address that need, identifying opportunities and obstacles for education about climate-resilient forestry. Demographic characteristics, particularly political ideology, correlated highly with acceptance of climate change. We also found significant relationships between climate change attitudes, experiences, perceptions, and management responses. Foresters who accept climate change are more likely to observe it in the environment, feel concerned about its impacts on forestry, and agree that it will require different management strategies. We explored multiple outreach options and ultimately recommend connecting climate change to forestry by emphasizing forest health and productivity concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat fragmentation is one of the most severe threats to biodiversity as it may lead to changes in population genetic structure, with ultimate modifications of species evolutionary potential and local extinctions. Nonetheless, fragmentation does not equally affect all species and identifying which ecological traits are related to species sensitivity to habitat fragmentation could help prioritization of conservation efforts. Despite the theoretical link between species ecology and extinction proneness, comparative studies explicitly testing the hypothesis that particular ecological traits underlies species-specific population structure are rare. Here, we used a comparative approach on eight bird species, co-occurring across the same fragmented landscape. For each species, we quantified relative levels of forest specialization and genetic differentiation among populations. To test the link between forest specialization and susceptibility to forest fragmentation, we assessed species responses to fragmentation by comparing levels of genetic differentiation between continuous and fragmented forest landscapes. Our results revealed a significant and substantial population structure at a very small spatial scale for mobile organisms such as birds. More importantly, we found that specialist species are more affected by forest fragmentation than generalist ones. Finally, our results suggest that even a simple habitat specialization index can be a satisfying predictor of genetic and demographic consequences of habitat fragmentation, providing a reliable practical and quantitative tool for conservation biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transmission of parasites can be influenced by their co-occurrence with other parasites, in some cases increasing or reducing transmission. Trypanosoma cruzi, aetiologic agent of Chagas disease, often co-occurs with Trypanosoma rangeli, a parasite not pathogenic for mammal hosts. Both parasites can reduce the fitness of their insect vectors (the triatomine bugs; Hemiptera: Reduviidae), with T. rangeli being more pathogenic for some species. Here, we study the prevalence of T. cruzi and T. rangeli in the triatomine Rhodnius pallescens across a heterogeneously transformed landscape in Panamá. We found that single T. rangeli infections were more common in contiguously forested habitats, while single T. cruzi infections predominated in anthropogenically disturbed habitats. Trypanosoma cruzi-T. rangeli co-infections were more common in contiguous forests and in peridomiciliary areas. Furthermore, adult insects were more likely to be co-infected than nymphs. Our results suggest that human-mediated landscape transformation might have increased the predominance of single infections with T. cruzi within vectors. An important mechanism driving changes in trypanosome infection patterns in triatomines at a landscape scale includes alterations in host species composition that may vary with different degrees of deforestation. Trypanosome co-infection may also confer a survival advantage for R. pallescens to and/or throughout adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim In this study, we investigate whether anthropogenic land use and habitat fragmentation lead to a process of either homogenization (decreasing spatial replacement and increasing nestedness) or divergence (increasing spatial replacement and decreasing nestedness) of dung beetle assemblages in edge-affected habitats. Location A fragmented landscape of the Atlantic forest of north-east Brazil. Methods We investigate the extent to which beta diversity of dung beetle assemblages varies in edge-affected habitats at different spatial scales (i.e. traps along an interior-exterior nonlinear gradient, within and among habitats). We compare species replacement and nestedness of dung beetle assemblages using (1) multiple dissimilarity measures accounting for compositional heterogeneity across forest (i.e. forest edges, core primary forest areas and small fragments) and matrix habitats (i.e. sugar cane plantations and pastures) and (2) distance matrices accounting for the multivariate structure of dissimilarity. Results (1) Each habitat supported a distinct dung beetle assemblage; (2) there was a strong influence of anthropogenic land use and fragmentation-related effects on dung beetle β-diversity, with species replacements increasing in edge-affected and matrix habitats providing support for the divergence hypothesis at all spatial scales; (3) edge effects enhanced species replacement across assemblages; (4) dung beetle assemblages were not randomly distributed, with habitat type leading to a strongly nested pattern of species composition; and (5) both dung beetle replacement and nestedness were not correlated with geographic distance, whereby neighbouring sites were not necessarily more similar in their community composition. Main conclusions Species replacement is strongly influenced by habitat configuration and β-diversity increases in edge-affected habitats. Accordingly, anthropogenic land use and habitat fragmentation clearly promote community-level taxonomic divergence in human-modified landscapes. Landscape-scale divergence likely results from a non-random distribution of both forest-dependent and disturbance-adapted species across all habitats, which are in marked contrast in terms of suitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of drought is expected to increase worldwide as a factor structuring forested landscapes. Ecophysiological mechanisms are being added to Forest Landscape Models ( FLMs) to increase their robustness to the novel environmental conditions of the future (including drought), but their behavior has not been evaluated for mixed temperate forests. We evaluated such an approach by assessing the ability of physiological mechanisms to predict susceptibility to tree mortality as a function of drought in the upper Midwest ( USA) through controlled site-level drought simulation experiments using the Pn ET-Succession extension of the LANDIS- II FLM. We also conducted a landscape-level experiment to study landscape response to drought treatments in the presence of the spatial processes of seed dispersal and stand-replacing disturbance. At the site level we found that net photosynthesis and carbon reserves showed a clear negative response to both the length of drought and the alternating pulses of normal precipitation and drought events, with soils holding more water moderating this response. The effect of the drought treatments varied somewhat depending on the assemblage of competitors and their specific life-history traits such as ability to compete for light, maximum photosynthetic capacity and water use efficiency. A large diversity of assemblages were simulated at the landscape level, and species abundance generally sorted by photosynthetic capacity (foliar nitrogen) and life form (deciduous vs. evergreen), with faster growing species and deciduous species suffering less decline because of drought. Soil type also had an impact on total productivity (biomass), with soils having higher available water being more productive through time. We conclude that (1) the mechanistic, first principles approach is advantageous for global change research because the combination of life-history traits of competitors interact to cause a site-specific dynamic response to fundamental drivers (e.g., precipitation, temperature), and these site-level responses interact spatially to create landscape responses that are complex and difficult to project with less mechanistic approaches, and (2) published findings that increasing drought length (rather than severity) increases tree mortality in the upper Midwest are clearly consistent with a mechanism of acute photosynthetic depression resulting in increased likelihood of carbon starvation as droughts lengthen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable debate on the role of hydroelectric reservoirs for the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. To quantify CO2 emissions from a newly created reservoir that was formed by flooding the boreal landscape we developed a daily time-step reservoir model by integrating a terrestrial and an aquatic ecosystem model. We calibrated the model using the measurements of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon (C) in a ~ 600 km² boreal hydroelectric reservoir, Eastmain-1, in northern Quebec, Canada. A major constraint we dealt with is the dearth of basic environmental data for the Boreal region so we took a parsimonious approach for required inputs. We then evaluated the model performance against observed CO2 fluxes data from an eddy covariance tower in the middle of the EM-1 reservoir for the period from 2006 to 2012 and compared internal variables such as water column respiration, chlorophyll-a concentration, and sedimentation rate to measurements from field campaigns during 2006-2008. The model predicted the seasonal and inter-annual variability of CO2 emissions reasonably well compared to the observations. Discrepancies between simulation results and observations usually occurred near ice-off dates when there was large amount of dissolved CO2 under ice-cover. We applied the model to assess the effects of reservoir creation on C dynamics over the estimated “engineeringâ€? reservoir lifetime (i.e., 100 years). We found that the reservoir acts as a net C source over its lifetime and simulated CO2 fluxes were 204 g C m-2 yr-1 in the first year after flooding, steeply declined in the first three years, and then steadily decreased to ~110 g C m-2 yr-1 with increasing reservoir age. Sensitivity analyses revealed that the amount of terrestrial organic C flooded and oxygen effects can positively enhance benthic respiration and CO2 fluxes across airâ€"water interface, but the effects on CO2 emissions were not significant. Higher temperatures dramatically stimulate CO2 emissions by enhancing CO2 production in both the water column and the sediment, and extending the duration of the open water period over which emissions can occur. Changing wind speeds had large uncertainties on annual CO2 emissions, given that wind speeds not only affect the gas transfer rate but also the open water period by affecting the surface energy balance. The model is useful for the estimation of CO2 emissions from reservoirs to the atmosphere and could be used to assist the hydro-power industry and others interested in emissions evaluate the role of boreal reservoirs as sources of greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed long-distance dispersal (LDD) events are typically rare, but are important in the population processes that determine large-scale forest changes and the persistence of species in fragmented landscapes. However, previous studies focused on species dispersed via animal-mediated LDD, and ignored those dispersed by wind. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of canopy openness, edge, seed source, and patch tree density on the LDD of seeds by wind in forest. We collected birch seeds, a typical wind-dispersed species, throughout a larch plantation. We then assessed the relationship between birch LDD and each factor that may influence LDD of seeds by wind including distance to edge, canopy openness size, distance to mature forest, and the tree density of the larch plantation. We used univariate linear regression analysis to assess the influence of those factors on birch LDD, and partial correlations to calculate the contribution of each factor to LDD. The results showed that both canopy openness and edge had significant influences on birch LDD. Specifically, a negative relationship was observed between distance to edge and birch LDD, whereas there was a positive correlation between canopy openness size and LDD. In contrast, the distance to the mature forest was not correlated with birch LDD. Our results suggest that patch tree density could potently affect the probability of LDD by wind vectors, which provides novel and revealing insights regarding the effect of fragmentation on wind dynamics. The data also provide compelling evidence for the previously undocumented effect of habitat fragmentation on wind-dispersed organisms. As such, these observations will facilitate reasonable conservation planning, which requires a detailed understanding of the mechanisms by which patch properties hamper the delivery of seeds of wind-dispersed plants to fragmented areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct and indirect effects of disturbance may cause the decline of specialist species and alter the condition of ecological communities. We characterized the community structure and niche characteristics (niche position, marginality, breadth) of upland and lowland boreal birds at scales relevant to both natural and human disturbance patterns in western boreal forests undergoing rapid and extensive multi-sector resource development. Our goal was to identify the degree of ecological specialization in order to inform activities directed at conserving a diversity of species (e.g. specialists and generalists) within the western boreal bird community. We used avian data (>5,220 point counts) and environmental variable data comprised of forest composition, stand, and landscape pattern metrics at local (7.1 ha), landscape (1,963 ha), and regional (11,310 ha) scales to determine boreal bird distribution and community-level associations using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Outlying Mean Index (OMI) analysis. OMI analysis explained a high proportion of variance in the dataset (71.8%) and separated boreal birds along two axes associated with moisture–productivity and age–structural complexity gradients. Niche position was influenced by local scale variables (height, age, area of mature-old forest, area of wet soil types), but also landscape and regional scale variables (total area of hardwood and conifer, mean nearest neighbour distance of conifer, and total core area of productive upland conifer). Only 15 of 67 species (22%) had marginal (atypical) niches and narrow niche breadths exhibiting specialization in old hardwood and white spruce forests and burned, open, and lowland habitats. Most species occupied typical or common habitats within the study area and exhibited generalist strategies typical of species in heterogeneous and disturbed habitats that undergo frequent change. Our results suggest the need to design and implement multi-species plans to conserve a diversity of western boreal bird species (e.g. specialists and generalists) at the regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is under threat in the UK from the introduced North American grey squirrel. National measures to save the species include large conifer forest reserves where management encompasses measures to bolster the native species. However, forests are multipurpose environments and foresters have to balance different timber production, amenity and conservation objectives. We present a mathematical modelling framework that examines the impacts of potential felling and restocking plans for two reserves, Kidland and Uswayford forests, in northern England. In collaboration with forest managers, we employed an iterative process that used the model to assess four forest design plans (felling and restocking scenarios) with the aim of improving red squirrel population viability. Overall, the model predicted that extinction in both forests at the same time was rare, but high in Uswayford (84%) alone. Survival could be drastically increased (from 16% to 70%) by felling and restocking adjustments, and improving dispersal between the two adjacent forests. This study provides an exemplar of how modelling can have a direct input to land management to help managers objectively balance the differing pressures of multipurpose forestry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest landscape models (FLMs) are widely used to examine the influence of disturbances on long-term and broad-scale forest ecosystem dynamics. However, FLMs are not well-suited to simulating some types of management or disturbance regimes, including land-use change. Consequently, there are situations in which a researcher may wish to estimate the timing and location of events externally, either from a different model, empirical observations, or some other source, and then incorporate them into an FLM. We present Land Use Plus (LU+), an extension for the LANDIS-II FLM that allows users to integrate externally-developed, spatially and temporally explicit representations of land use or other disturbance into simulations. LU+ allows users to model the proximate effects of these events on forest composition and biomass, as well as subsequent dynamics, including tree establishment and the potential for future management. LU+ will significantly increase the breadth of research questions for which LANDIS-II may be appropriately used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]