Test of a Model to Assess the Condition of Lodgepole Pine Stands

/ A predictive model for assessing stand condition as a function of suitability for achieving specified management objectives was originally developed using a data set for only 28 stands. In this study, we evaluate the model using an operational-sized data set composed of currently collected stand inventory data for 238 stands in the Snowy Range of the Medicine Bow National Forest in southern Wyoming. We compared its predictions of old growth suitability to results of a separate special old growth survey. Stands were characterized as profiles of variables derived from stand inventory data, and plotted as points in two-dimensional space where similarity between stands was reflected by the distance between their points. Results suggest the model is useful for classifying stand condition using relatively large sets of data currently collected during routine stand inventories.     

Shifting regime shifted policy—interplay of interests in sustainability discourses of forest land use

This study investigates the influence of policy interests on resource sustainability. Information on ‘colonial interest’ of the British regime and the ‘commercial interest’ of the post-colonial regimes on forest land use of Bangladesh have been drawn on to show the interplay of interests on sustainability impacts. The findings show that both colonial and commercial interests have caused intensification of forest land use for production of economic crops like teak (Tectona grandis) and cash crops like tea (Camellia sinensis), cotton (Gossypium herbaceum and G. arboreum) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). The ‘colonial interest’ has also initiated the dispute of ownership, rights and tenure of forest land and resources. The post-colonial regimes have utilized colonial legacy as the privilege for implementing ‘commercial interests’. In both the cases traditional interests of people were disregarded. As a result, peoples’ participation in forestry was discouraged and the sustainability of forest land use was impeded.     

我国森林环境修复的探讨

通过对我国森林环境现状的分析,提出了森林业当前存在的主要问题,并结合我国的国情与林情,对适合我国森林环境修复的对策与途径进行了深入的探讨.     

Forest biorefineries - A business opportunity for the Finnish forest cluster

Bioenergy and biomass-based products offer the greatest new opportunities for diversifying business in the forest cluster. In particular, biorefineries, which can be integrated into the pulp and paper industry, seem to have immense future potential. This article aims to explore the biorefinery concept and related new products and business operations, as well as new business strategies and company models, which are part of the biorefinery value chain. These factors, which contribute to the establishment and success of forest biorefineries, were examined using internet survey responses and compared between Scandinavia, North America and South America. This article looks at the results of the survey - primarily from the Finnish perspective - to help identify competitive advantages upon which successful business operations in the Finnish forest cluster can be built.According to the survey, the outlooks for technical and raw material choices, as well as barriers to biorefinery diffusion, are very similar in all the studied areas. Biorefineries and related energy products are considered the way to sustainably guarantee the forest cluster’s success. An increase in the price of oil motivates the development of forest biorefineries and wood-based biofuels; however, it is obvious that there is a need to revaluate from a fresh perspective the utilisation of wood and the wood-refining chain in the forest cluster.The survey respondents consider wood-based biofuel and chemical production a serious business opportunity for the forest cluster. In Finland, there is a strong confidence in the production of biofuels. However, all the countries included in the study trust in their own national strengths and in their chance to be a leading actor in the forest biorefinery business worldwide. The forest biorefinery business seems to have market potential, and global competition can thus be expected.     

Fragmentation effects on an endangered species across a gradient from the interior to edge of its range

Understanding how habitat fragmentation affects individual species is complicated by challenges associated with quantifying species-specific habitat and spatial variability in fragmentation effects within a species’ range. We aggregated a 29-year breeding survey data set for the endangered marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) from >42,000 forest sites throughout the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and northern California) of the United States. We built a species distribution model (SDM) in which occupied sites were linked with Landsat imagery to quantify murrelet-specific habitat and then used occupancy models to test the hypotheses that fragmentation negatively affects murrelet breeding distribution and that these effects are amplified with distance from the marine foraging habitat toward the edge of the species’ nesting range. Murrelet habitat declined in the Pacific Northwest by 20% since 1988, whereas the proportion of habitat comprising edges increased by 17%, indicating increased fragmentation. Furthermore, fragmentation of murrelet habitat at landscape scales (within 2 km of survey stations) negatively affected occupancy of potential breeding sites, and these effects were amplified near the range edge. On the coast, the odds of occupancy decreased by 37% (95% confidence interval [CI] –54 to 12) for each 10% increase in edge habitat (i.e., fragmentation), but at the range edge (88 km inland) these odds decreased by 99% (95% CI 98 to 99). Conversely, odds of murrelet occupancy increased by 31% (95% CI 14 to 52) for each 10% increase in local edge habitat (within 100 m of survey stations). Avoidance of fragmentation at broad scales but use of locally fragmented habitat with reduced quality may help explain the lack of murrelet population recovery. Further, our results emphasize that fragmentation effects can be nuanced, scale dependent, and geographically variable. Awareness of these nuances is critical for developing landscape-level conservation strategies for species experiencing broad-scale habitat loss and fragmentation.     

气态硝酸在钙质山毛榉森林中沉降通量的研究

1987年5月至12月,在联邦德国哥廷根森林中,位于树冠不同高度上完成了气态硝酸浓度分布的测定。同时,还测定了森林中大气扩散参数。用模式计算出气态硝酸的沉降速度和沉降通量。结果表明,气态硝酸沉降通量平均约为26kg HNO₃—N/a·ha,气态硝酸浓度平均约为0.88μgHNO₃—N/m3,夜间浓度下降,43m处(树冠上面)气态硝酸浓度高于33m(树冠中)。在第1至第10个实验里气溶胶中气态硝酸与硝酸盐的比值是0.3,而在第11~14个实验中约为1~3。      

林火灾变阈值

木火灾是失去人为控制,自由蔓延的森林燃烧,破坏了原有森林的结构与功能,并能在相当内难难复原有林的结构,带来的一定的经济损失。本文提出６个林火灾变的生态指标,３个火行为指标,并提出林火灾变的阈值。     

林火管理成本中几个基本要素的确定与相互关系

通过用经济学的观点分析了林火管理成本中基本要素的相互关系及这些要素的确定,研究了林火防治成本与森林火灾损失之间的关系,提出了林火管理经济学中防治可能性区域的判据。     

The forest frontier in the Global South: Climate change policies and the promise of development and equity

Halting forest loss and achieving sustainable development in an equitable manner require state, non-state actors, and entire societies in the Global North and South to tackle deeply established patterns of inequality and power relations embedded in forest frontiers. Forest and climate governance in the Global South can provide an avenue for the transformational change needed—yet, does it? We analyse the politics and power in four cases of mitigation, adaptation, and development arenas. We use a political economy lens to explore the transformations taking place when climate policy meets specific forest frontiers in the Global South, where international, national and local institutions, interests, ideas, and information are at play. We argue that lasting and equitable outcomes will require a strong discursive shift within dominant institutions and among policy actors to redress policies that place responsibilities and burdens on local people in the Global South, while benefits from deforestation and maladaptation are taken elsewhere. What is missing is a shared transformational objective and priority to keep forests standing among all those involved from afar in the major forest frontiers in the tropics.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01602-1.     

Comparing geographic boundaries in songbird demography data with vegetation boundaries: a new approach to evaluating habitat quality

To plan for the habitat needs of forest songbirds of conservation concern, managers need to understand how spatial heterogeneity in forest conditions influences habitat quality. I used difference boundary detection (wombling) and spatially constrained clustering to delineate boundaries in various combinations of four forest vegetation variables (understory height, understory density, percent deciduous vs. conifer understory, and percent canopy closure) in two Michigan northern hardwood forests. My goal was to identify vegetation boundaries that corresponded with boundaries in an understory-dependent songbird’s distribution, and with boundaries in demographic measures for this songbird that indicate habitat quality (e.g., occupancy by older vs. yearling males, reproductive success). Both forests were actively-managed, mature stands: The first site (78 ha) was heavily deer-browsed (HB), with many browse-resistant conifers in the understory, and the second (62 ha) was less-browsed (LB), with deciduous-dominated understory. I compared the vegetation difference and cluster boundaries to difference boundaries based on 6 years of distribution and demographic data for black-throated blue warblers (Dendroica caerulescens). At the HB site, warbler boundaries overlapped strongly with vegetation boundaries that included all four variables, and clustering effectively divided the habitat into areas with different warbler occupancy and demographic characteristics. At the LB site, warbler distribution showed high overlap with difference and cluster boundaries based on just the height and density of understory vegetation, and cluster boundaries again effectively partitioned the study area into sites that varied in habitat quality. Thus, geographic boundary analysis is likely to be a useful tool for identifying key vegetation variables for management, and for delineating clusters (habitat patches) within sites that capture differences in habitat quality.