Integrating forage,wildlife, water,and fish projections with timber projections at the regional level: A case study in southern United States

The impact of timber management and land-use change on forage production, turkey and deer abundance, red-cockaded woodpecker colonies, water yield, and trout abundance was projected as part of a policy study focusing on the southern United States. The multiresource modeling framework used in this study linked extant timber management and land-area policy models with newly developed models for forage, wildlife, fish, and water. Resource production was integrated through a commonly defined land base that could be geographically partitioned according to individual resource needs. Resources were responsive to changes in land use, particularly human-related, and timber management, particularly the harvest of older stands, and the conversion to planted pine.     

Termite assemblages in a West-African semi-deciduous forest and teak plantations

Responses of termite assemblages to the conversion of semi-deciduous forest into teak plantations were studied in the Lama Forest Reserve in Benin, West Africa. Four belt transect surveys were run in each of the two forest types, adopting a modified termite diversity assessment protocol. Termite assemblages were remarkably species-poor in both forest types, with only 19 species encountered altogether. The low species richness was due to the rarity of soil-feeders of the soil/humus interface and the absence of true soil-feeders in the compact vertisol soil. Species richness was significantly higher in semi-deciduous forest than in teak plantations, but termite encounters were significantly lower. Termite assemblage and feeding group structure differed significantly among forest types. Wood-feeders were recorded only in semi-deciduous forest. In contrast, fungus-growers were more species-rich and about four times more abundant in teak plantations, mainly due to one Ancistrotermes species. The humification score, which depicts the position of termite assemblages along a gradient of increasing humification of their food substrate, was significantly higher in teak plantations, due to the absence of wood-feeders and the preponderance of fungus-growers. Combined principal components and multiple regression analysis identified two significant predictors of termite assemblages, soil water content and leaf litter biomass. The abundance of fungus-growers in teak plantations seemed to be mainly related to the high leaf litter biomass. Indirect evidence also suggests that lower predation pressure by ants on termites in teak plantations may have contributed to the abundance of termites.     

Optimizing carbon sequestration in commercial forests by integrating carbon management objectives in wood supply modeling

This paper provides a methodology for generating forest management plans, which explicitly maximize carbon (C) sequestration at the forest-landscape level. This paper takes advantage of concepts first presented in a paper by Meng et al. (2003; Mitigation Adaptation Strategies Global Change 8:371–403) by integrating C-sequestration objective functions in existing wood supply models. Carbon-stock calculations performed in Woodstock^TM (RemSoft Inc.) are based on C yields generated from volume table data obtained from local Forest Development Survey plots and a series of wood volume-to-C content conversion factors specified in von Mirbach (2000). The approach is used to investigate the impact of three demonstration forest-management scenarios on the C budget in a 110,000 ha forest in south-central New Brunswick, Canada. Explicit demonstration scenarios addressed include (1) maximizing timber extraction either by clearcut or selection harvesting for greatest revenue generation, (2) maximizing total C storage in the forest landscape and in wood products generated from harvesting, and (3) maximizing C storage together with revenue generation. The level of clearcut harvesting was greatest for scenario 1 (≥15 × 10⁴ m³ of wood and ≥943 ha of land per harvesting period), and least for scenario 2 (=0 m³ per harvesting period) where selection harvesting dominated. Because softwood saw logs were worth more than pulpwood ($60 m⁻³ vs. $40 m⁻³) and were strategic to the long-term storage of C, the production of softwood saw logs exceeded the production of pulpwood in all scenarios. Selection harvesting was generally the preferred harvesting method across scenarios. Only in scenario 1 did levels of clearcut harvesting occasionally exceed those of selection harvesting, mainly in the removal of old, dilapidated stands early in the simulation (i.e., during periods 1 through 3). Scenario 2 provided the greatest total C-storage increase over 80 years (i.e., 14 × 10⁶ Mg C, or roughly 264 Mg ha⁻¹) at a cost of $111 per Mg C due to lost revenues. Scenarios 3 and 1 produced reduced storage rates of roughly 9 × 10⁶ Mg C and 3 × 10⁶ Mg C, respectively; about 64% and 22% of the total, 80-year C storage calculated in scenario 2. The bulk of the C in scenario 2 was stored in the forest, amounting to about 76% of the total C sequestered.     

有关森林公园环境容量预测的探讨

提出了预测森林公园环境容量的临界准则，进而就环境容量的预测方法、指标等结合实例进行了探讨。     

南岳森林群落生物多样性研究(Ⅱ)广济寺森林群落植物物种多样性测定

本文根据实地调查资料及其统计分析结果,选用了24个物种多样性指数公式,并采用重要值、株数或鲜重以及优势度或盖度等作为测度指标,对南岳广济寺森林群落植物物种多样性进行了研究。结果表明,南岳广济寺森林属落多样性较高,接近山地季雨林的水平;此外,不同测度指标对物种多样性指数计算值并无明显的规律性。     

南岳森林群落生物多样性研究(Ⅲ)广济寺森林群落植物物种相对多度分布格局

本文选用几何级数分布、分割线段、对数级数分布和对数正态分布等模型研究了南岳广济寺森林群落植物物种相对多度的分布格局。结果表明,对数级分布模型适于拟合南岳广济寺森林群落乔木层和灌木层物种相对多度的分布格局;分割线段中的序列一多度模型仅适合于乔木层;对数正态分布模型仅适合于草本层;几何级数分布模型完全适合于拟合任何层次。此外,α指数值亦显示出本群落接近山地季雨林的多样性水平。     

Long series relationships between global interannual CO2 increment and climate: evidence for stability and change in role of the tropical and boreal-temperate zones

Interannual variability in global CO₂ increment (averaged from the Mauna Loa and South Pole Stations) shows certain strong spatial relationships to both tropical and temperate temperatures. There is a fairly strong positive year-round correlation between tropical mean annual temperatures (leading by 4 months) and annual CO₂ throughout the time series since 1960, agreeing with the generally held view that the tropics play a major role in determining inter-annual variability in CO₂ increment, with a major CO₂ pulse following a warm year in the tropics. This ‘almost no lag’ climatic response is very strong during winter and relatively stable in time. However, the correlation with tropical temperature appears to have weakened in the first years of the 1990s in correspondence of the Pinatubo eruption and the positive phase of the AO/NAO. A secondary concurrent temperature signal is linked to summer variations of north temperate belt. Northern summer temperatures in the region 30–60 °N—and especially in the land area corresponding to the central east USA—have become relatively more closely correlated with CO₂ increment. This trend has become increasingly stronger in recent years, suggesting an increasing role for growing season processes in the northern midlatitudes in affecting global CO₂ increment. Once non-lagged annual tropical temperature variations are accounted for, terrestrial ecosystems, especially the temperate-boreal biomes, also show a coherent large scale lagged response. This involves an inverse response to annual temperature of preceding years centered at around 2 years before. This lagged response is most likely linked to internal biogeochemical cycles, in particular N cycling. During the study period north boreal ecosystems show a strengthening of the lagged correlation with temperature in recent years, while the lagged correlation with areas of tropical ecosystems has weakened. Residuals from a multiple correlations based on these climatic signals are directly correlated with SO, confirming an additional important role of upwelling in interannual variability of CO₂ increment. Cooler summers following the Pinatubo eruption and the possible influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO/AO) are discussed as factors responsible for the shift in the relative importance of different regions over time during the series of data.     

Modelling dynamics of managed tropical rainforests—An aggregated approach

The overuse of rainforests in the last century and its consequences necessitate a rethinking of logging policies. To this end models have been developed to simulate rainforest dynamics and to allow optional management strategies to be evaluated. Parameterisation of presently existing models for a certain site needs a lot of work, thus the parameterisation effort is too high to apply the models to a wide range of rainforests. Hence, in this paper we introduce the simplified model FORREG using the knowledge we have gained from a more complex model, FORMIX3-Q.     

Susceptibility of a Northern Hardwood Forest to Exotic Earthworm Invasion

Abstract:  Numerous exotic earthworm species are colonizing northern hardwood forests of North America, where no native earthworms exist. Upon invasion, earthworms have been shown to alter the surface soil environment and plant populations and communities. We sought to identify land-use factors in the Ottawa National Forest (ONF), Michigan (U.S.A.), that contribute to earthworm invasion in forest dominated by sugar maple ( Acer saccharum Marsh.) so that the susceptibility to additional colonization could be evaluated. We sampled earthworm communities in Sylvania Wilderness Area, a unique old-growth hardwood forest, and nonwilderness sites influenced by recreational fishing, recent timber harvesting, or roads. All the nonwilderness sites contained one to five species of exotic earthworms. In contrast, only 50% of wilderness sites contained exotic earthworms, all of a single species. Nonwilderness sites also had thinner litter and duff layers, higher soil C and N content, and higher nitrogen mineralization potentials than Sylvania sites. Two central differences between Sylvania and nonwilderness sites were that all nonwilderness sites were in close contact with roads and had a history of timber harvest, whereas these factors were not present in Sylvania Wilderness Area. Using average rates of colonization, we constructed two geographic information system models to estimate the percentage of sugar maple on the ONF falling within a theoretical 100-year invasion distance of roads and of second-growth sugar maple as relative indices of susceptibility to invasion. Both models indicated high susceptibility to invasion, with 91.7% and 98.9% of sugar maple habitat falling within a theoretical 100-year invasion distance of roads or historical harvests, respectively.     

广西亚热带森林及空旷地土壤温度的比较研究

运用对比研究的方法,于1980—1991年,对广西亚热带不同地理区域主要森林类型及空旷地的土壤温度进行了定位观測研究。揭示了这些区域的森林土壤温度的生态效应,为森林土壤的生态效益评估及合理开发利用提供了科学依据。