Abstract: In the boreal forests of Fennoscandia, over 99% of forest area has been altered by forestry practices, which has created forest with age structures and stand characteristics that differ from primary forest stands. Although many researchers have investigated how forestry affects species abundance, few have assessed how forestry practices affect fitness correlates of species living in altered habitats, and this has negatively affected management efforts. We experimentally addressed the effect of standard forestry practices on fitness correlates of an open-nesting, long-lived bird species typical to boreal forests of Eurasia, the Siberian Jay ( Perisoreus infaustus ). We used a before-after comparison of reproductive data on the level of territories and found that standard forestry practices had a strong negative effect on the breeding success of jays. Both partial thinning of territories and partial clearcutting of territories reduced future breeding success by a factor of 0.35. Forestry practices reduced territory occupancy. Thus, over the 15 years of the study, productivity of the affected population declined over 50% as a result of territory abandonment and reduced breeding success. Results of previous studies on Siberian Jays suggest that the strong effect of forest thinning on fitness is explained by the fact that most common predators of nests and adults are visually oriented and thus thinning makes prey and nests more visible to predators. The consequences of thinning we observed are likely to apply to a wide range of species that rely on understory to provide visual protection from predators. Thus, our results are important for the development of effective conservation management protocols and for the refinement of thinning practices. 相似文献
China has the fifth largest forest area in the world and any change in China's forestry development will have inevitable impacts on global ecological sustainability. China has undergone excessive logging of natural forests and also made tremendous efforts in afforestation during the past half century. China's forestry is now going through a variety of transitions and several forestry programs have been implemented to drive forestry transitions. The goal of these actions is to protect ecological services of forests and sustain China's forestry development. These forestry programs are spatially sophisticated and cannot be successfully implemented without accurate and transparent forest/forestry information. A variety of digital technologies, including forest modeling, remote sensing, geographic information systems, global positioning systems, and visualization, have been applied in handling diverse information in China's forestry. Digital forestry is not just a theoretical concept in China. Our digital forestry experience in northeast China suggests that digital technology is both usable and useful in China's forestry development. Digital technology is playing an important interactive role in China's top-down forestry administration system. The analog-to-digital transition in technology is expected to lead to the success of forestry programs and forestry transitions in China. 相似文献
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) expects forestry plantations to contribute to biodiversity conservation. A well‐developed understory in forestry plantations might serve as a surrogate habitat for native species and mitigate the negative effect of plantations on species richness. We experimentally tested this hypothesis by removing the understory in Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) plantations in central Chile and assessing changes in species richness and abundance of medium‐sized mammals. Frequency of occurrence of mammals, including kodkods (Leopardus guigna), culpeo foxes (Pseudalopex culpaeus), lesser grisons (Conepatus chinga), and Southern pudu deer (Pudu puda), was low in forest stands with little to no understory relative to stands with well‐developed undergrowth vegetation. After removing the understory, their frequency of occurrence decreased significantly, whereas in control stands, where understory was not removed, their frequency did not change. This result strongly supports the idea that facilitating the development of undergrowth vegetation may turn forestry stands into secondary habitats as opposed to their containing no habitat for native mammals. This forestry practice could contribute to conservation of biological diversity as it pertains to CBD targets. Proporcionando Hábitat para Mamíferos Nativos Mediante el Mejoramiento del Sotobosque en Plantaciones Forestales 相似文献
Abstract: Logging is considered the most important threat to species in boreal forests. In contrast to eastern Canada, where most boreal forests remain largely untouched, in Fennoscandia it is possible to assess the cumulative, long-term effects of intensive forestry on wildlife. But harvesting of stands is rapidly changing Canadian boreal forests, which represent an important proportion of the world's boreal forests. We show that Fennoscandia and eastern Canada present striking similarities in terms of forest-age structure, natural-disturbance regime, and structure of bird assemblages, and we provide an assessment of the long-term effects of forestry on eastern Canadian birds of the boreal forest. We used life-history traits from habitat, nesting site, and geographical range to calculate an index of sensitivity to changes induced by modern forestry for boreal species of each region. Tropical migrants commonly found in eastern Canadian boreal forests have life-history traits that are not threat factors in relation to changes caused by modern forestry. Therefore, the general belief that tropical migrants in North America are more sensitive to landscape changes than those in Europe may not hold for species found in the boreal coniferous forests of eastern Canada. Nine Fennoscandian species present high levels of sensitivity, and at least eight eastern Canadian species are of similar concern. In both regions, most of the sensitive species are resident cavity nesters. Given the important similarities between the two regions, the northern expansion of commercial forestry in eastern Canada is likely to result in the significant decline of several resident species, as has occurred in Fennoscandia. 相似文献
The dynamics of agricultural and forestry biomass are highly sensitive to climate change, particularly in high latitude regions. Heilongjiang Province was selected as research area in North-east China. We explored the trend of regional climate warming and distribution feature of biomass resources, and then analyzed on the spatial relationship between climate factors and biomass resources. Net primary productivity (NPP) is one of the key indicators of vegetation productivity, and was simulated as base data to calculate the distribution of agricultural and forestry biomass. The results show that temperatures rose by up to 0.37°C/10a from 1961 to 2013. Spatially, the variation of agricultural biomass per unit area changed from -1.93 to 5.85 t·km–2·a–1 during 2000–2013. More than 85% of farmland areas showed a positive relationship between agricultural biomass and precipitation. The results suggest that precipitation exerts an overwhelming climate influence on agricultural biomass. The mean density of forestry biomass varied from 10 to 30 t·km–2. Temperature had a significant negative effect on forestry biomass in Lesser Khingan and northern Changbai Mountain, because increased temperature leads to decreased Rubisco activity and increased respiration in these areas. Precipitation had a significant positive relationship with forestry biomass in south-western Changbai Mountain, because this area had a warmer climate and stress from insufficient precipitation may induce xylem cavitation. Understanding the effects of climate factors on regional biomass resources is of great significance in improving environmental management and promoting sustainable development of further biomass resource use.
