Ecosystem Services–Based Spatial Prioritization of Uninhabited Island Forests in South Korea

Spatial assessment of ecosystem functions and services for air purification of forests in South Korea

Forest biomass and biodiversity are the most important elements of forest functions and ecosystem services. In this study, we explore the possibilities and ways to enhance ecosystem functions and services related to biomass and biodiversity. Biotic drivers (i.e., species, phylogenetic and functional diversity, stand structural attributes, and community-weighted mean of trait values), abiotic drivers (i.e., topography and climate), and stand age were extracted as independent variables to explain aboveground biomass (AGB). Using South Korea’s 7th National Forest Inventory data, we analyzed 2,070 plots belonging to the natural forests consisting of 394 plots (19.0%) of coniferous stands, 829 plots (40.0%) of broadleaved stands, and 847 plots (40.9%) of mixed stands. Multimodel inference test and model-averaging approaches were conducted to determine the most significant control variables on AGB in each stand type, and piecewise structural equation modeling was conducted to quantify the relationships and directions between the variables. Abiotic drivers, including stand age and climate moisture index, control tree size variation in all stand types, but biotic drivers control AGB through different mechanisms depending on the stand type. Our results show that there were differences in the composition of variables for controlling AGB among stand types. Across all forest types and total stands, we found that increasing the tree size variation is the key driver of increasing AGB as stand age increases. Our study suggests that forest carbon accumulation by stand type can be enhanced if the key drivers of each stand type are properly managed across forest succession, and different forest management plans that consider different regulation factors among stand types are required. Moreover, it is important to adapt resource use patterns for each stand type with considering environmental conditions to maintain healthy and sustainable forests.

The diversity of aquatic ecosystems is being quickly reduced on many continents, warranting a closer examination of the consequences for ecological integrity and ecosystem services. Here we describe intermediate and final ecosystem services derived from aquatic biodiversity in forests. We include a summary of the factors framing the assembly of aquatic biodiversity in forests in natural systems and how they change with a variety of natural disturbances and human-derived stressors. We consider forested aquatic ecosystems as a multi-state portfolio, with diverse assemblages and life-history strategies occurring at local scales as a consequence of a mosaic of habitat conditions and past disturbances and stressors. Maintaining this multi-state portfolio of assemblages requires a broad perspective of ecosystem structure, various functions, services, and management implications relative to contemporary stressors. Because aquatic biodiversity provides multiple ecosystem services to forests, activities that compromise aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity could be an issue for maintaining forest ecosystem integrity. We illustrate these concepts with examples of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem services in forests of northwestern North America, also known as Northeast Pacific Rim. Encouraging management planning at broad as well as local spatial scales to recognize multi-state ecosystem management goals has promise for maintaining valuable ecosystem services. Ultimately, integration of information from socio-ecological ecosystems will be needed to maintain ecosystem services derived directly and indirectly from forest aquatic biota.

Most studies on island biogeography have focused on the terrestrial taxa; however, there are few studies on the drivers of diversity and community structure of intertidal organisms on islands. We evaluated the effect of landscape and marine environmental factors on the species richness (SR), functional diversity (FD), and community structure (SES.MFD) of intertidal invertebrates among the overall, inhabited, and uninhabited islands. Using the data on the intertidal organisms from 78 islands in South Korea, we implemented variable selection and piecewise structural equation modeling to determine the causal relationships between the SR, FD, and SES.MFD with four landscapes (i.e., island area, coastline length, distance from the mainland, and structural connectivity) and three marine environment factors (i.e., mean annual sea surface temperature variation, wind speed, and evapotranspiration). The coastline length had a positive effect on the SR and SES.MFD in the overall islands including inhabited and uninhabited islands. The SR and FD were negatively affected by the variation in sea surface temperature. The relative importance of the landscape and marine environmental factors differed between the inhabited and uninhabited islands. That is, the inhabited islands were mainly affected by the coastline length, whereas uninhabited islands were regulated by marine environmental factors. Our results demonstrated that the biotic factors of the island intertidal ecosystems are controlled by the interactions between the biotic and various environmental factors. Moreover, the results emphasize that the water stress on the intertidal organisms due to climate change may lead to a loss of biodiversity and functional clustering.

In 1955, after the Korean War, only 35% of the national land area in South Korea was covered by forests. In the 1960s, the Korean Government implemented the national forestation program in order to increase the extent of the forest surface and thereby counteract the negative ecological consequences from deforestation, such as erosion and ground instability. According to previous studies, this led to an increase in carbon (C) accumulated in the forest biomass of 1.48 Gt CO2 (0.40 Gt C) in the period 1954–2012. However, these studies did not take into account the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) that was accumulated during that period and the influence of management practices on soil ecosystem services. Currently, South Korean authorities are considering the idea of implementing some forest management practices in order to increase timber extraction (e.g., by reducing the cutting age of the trees or by applying thinning and tending measures). In this study, we assess the influence of these management regimes on SOC dynamics and propose a theoretical framework to assess the influence of forest management practices on three ecosystem services, namely, C sequestration, water supply, and biomass production, while considering soil functioning, and especially SOC, as a group of supporting services underpinning the three named ecosystem services. We find that, in terms of SOC sequestration, reducing the cutting age from 80 to 40 years would be suitable only in the case of high biomass production forests, whereas in the case of lower biomass production forests reducing the cutting age would achieve very low SOC levels. However, we propose that increasing tree species diversity, even though it would not lead to a direct increase in the SOC content, could help to lessen the negative effects of reducing the cutting age by improving other soil properties, which in turn positively affect soil functioning (e.g., soil biodiversity, nutrient availability) and the resilience of the forest ecosystem. Finally, we discuss potential policy approaches to incentivize sustainable management practices in South Korean forests from a soil protection perspective.

Linking forest ecosystem processes, functions and services under integrative social–ecological research agenda: current knowledge and perspectives

The existence of tradeoffs and synergies between ecosystem services emphasize the need to understand the preferences of ecosystem service beneficiaries. In this paper, the preferences of ecosystem services provided by different types of urban forests in South Korea are analyzed to provide insights on the improved distribution and supply of ecosystem services. The Delphi technique was utilized to elicit expert opinions on the categorization of ecosystem services provided by urban forests. A choice experiment on 500 Seoul citizens was then conducted to analyze the preferences for 7 types of ecosystem services – food provision, water flow regulation, noise reduction, microclimate regulation & air quality improvement, moderation & prevention of landslides, biodiversity enhancement, recreation, and health services. An AHP analysis was carried out to investigate experts’ ranking of the relative importance of these ecosystem services. The results showed that except for microclimate regulation & air quality improvement, Seoul citizens’ preferences for different types of urban forests did not differ according to the attribute level of each ecosystem service. There were also no significant differences between the preferences for urban natural parks and urban neighborhood parks, possibly indicating that Seoul citizens perceive them to be similar. Secondly, the results indicate a higher preference for urban forests with certain features, such as a higher proportion of fruit trees and deciduous trees, higher leaf area, denser tree canopy cover, wider distances between trees, and higher levels of species richness. The enhancement of biodiversity was considered the most influential service for Seoul citizens in their choice of urban forests. Seoul citizens were willing to pay 12,176 KRW/year and 21,036 KRW/year to enhance the level of biodiversity from “poor” to “average” and from “average” to “rich,” respectively. Finally, preferences and relative importance for almost all ecosystem services were different for citizens and experts. As it is impossible to maximize the provision of all ecosystem services concurrently, policymakers and urban forest managers need to consider citizens’ preferences and opinions when designing and managing urban forests in order to increase user satisfaction and welfare.

Recent social and environmental changes complicate the management of the ecosystem services (ES) provided by local forests. Local ES management requires an understanding of the supply–demand dynamics of ES preferences among stakeholders. To examine the supply and demand characteristics of local forest ES in South Korea, we compared the preferences for ES between the ES suppliers and ES users of two local forests (Gariwangsan and Yeoninsan) that differ in jurisdiction, size, ecological properties and management challenges. We surveyed the forest administrators (n = 20) as ES suppliers and local community residents (n = 47) as well as the general public (n = 1000) as ES users. We applied a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to examine the priority rankings of 10 types of forest ES in order of importance in management perceived by forest administrators and local residents. The general public’s preferences were measured using the weighted sums of each type of ES ranked based on its perceived importance. We also interviewed the forest administrators and local residents to further explore how the local context of the examined forests might have affected their ES evaluation. The results show that forest administrators and the general public prioritize regulating services while the local community opts for cultural services. Moreover, local residents in close proximity to the forests prefer provisioning services while those farther away prefer regulating services. Considering these differences in stakeholder preferences for local forest ES, local forest management policies can benefit from inclusive decision-making processes to navigate the supply–demand asymmetry.

Implementing sustainable island forest management policies requires categorizing the islands into groups based on key indicators and establishing a consistent management system. This study proposes a novel framework to support an ecosystem service-based approach to managing forested islands in South Korea. First, a typology of six forested island categories is established based on varying extents of natural vegetation cover (as a percentage of forest cover) and connectivity to the mainland. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis was conducted with island forest experts to identify priority ecosystem services (ESs) for the sustainable management of each island type. On connected islands, provisioning services (natural resources and natural medicines) are more important than regulatory (erosion control) or supporting services (genetic diversity). On unconnected islands, particularly those with a small proportion of natural vegetation, regulatory services (erosion control) require a greater emphasis on management. Since Type 3 islands require urgent management as connectivity to the mainland makes natural vegetation=sparse island forest ecosystems vulnerable to anthropogenic activities, the land-use scoring method was performed on Jin-do. Comparisons between the AHP-derived expert demand for key island ESs and the spatial distribution of ES supply potential revealed mismatches between supply and demand for erosion control, freshwater supply and habitat provision. The framework developed in this study can help guide policy and decision-making processes and indicate where interventions should be focused to achieve sustainable island management.

<p>Green
 Open Spaces (GOS) have a variety of ecosystem services which can be utilized by
 society. This study aims to identify criteria for determining ecosystem
 services in GOS, to study the conditions and distributions of potential
 ecosystem services in the Urban Area of Yogyakarta (UAY)’s GOS, and optimize
 the existing ecosystem services in GOS. The research’s locations include GOS in
 UAY consisting of urban forests, city parks, riverbanks, and greenbelts, for a
 total of twelve research locations. The identification of the criteria for GOS
 was accomplished with the expert opinion and comparative methods resulting in
 weight values. The field data and expert assessments were analyzed through a
 scoring analysis to quantify the level of ecosystem services in each research
 location. This data was further analyzed by examining the area allotments
 within the existing regulatory framework to the determine the conditions of GOS
 with optimal ecosystem services. The
 results of the study show that each of the sixteen examined criteria plays a role in ecosystem services. The values
 of ecosystem services of GOS in UAY show different values for each type of GOS.
 In general, the ecosystem services in urban forests are rated favourably in each category, while city parks
 and riverbanks moderate ratings, and greenbelts have the lowest average
 performance of any GOS. Based on the results, optimizing ecosystem services in
 UAY’s GOS can be accomplished by strengthening their performance in each criteri<span lang="IN" style="">on</span> with the most attention paid to each GOS’s
 allotment type.<br><b>
 <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br>
 <!--[endif]--></b></p>

The OptFor-EU Horizon Europe project seeks to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) that provides science-based guidance for optimizing Forest Ecosystem Services (FES) across Europe, with a focus on decarbonization and resilience in response to climate change. A cornerstone of this effort is the development of a novel set of Essential Forest Mitigation Indicators (EFMI) designed to guide forest managers in assessing and enhancing forests' carbon mitigation potential through targeted management practices in eight European case study areas but also scalable for application in other regions.The development of the EFMI set within the OptFor-EU project is a beneficial support for forest management and climate mitigation practices. This work is innovative on multiple fronts, combining methodological novelty, practical applicability, and technological integration to address previously unfulfilled needs for evidence-based visualization and decision support in forest management.The EFMI were developed using a participatory, bottom-up approach to ensure their relevance, feasibility, and applicability for stakeholders. Rooted in the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) framework, the indicators emphasize carbon storage, sequestration, and the broader impacts of forest management practices (FMPs) on decarbonization, forest resilience, and old-growth characteristics. The EFMI also incorporate indicators for regional climate regulation, enabling quantification of the effects of forest cover changes on local and regional climates.The process to define the EFMI began with an extensive review of existing literature and indicator sets, identifying 130 potential indicators. Through internal evaluation and participatory external stakeholder involvement, this list was refined to a set of 22 essential indicators. These are supported by publicly accessible data derived from advanced forest and climate modeling, satellite data, and extensive data mining. Ongoing regional forest and climate modeling experiments will further enable the simulation of FMP impacts on climate conditions and calculation of relevant EFMI.As the project advances, the EFMI set will be integrated into the DSS, tested across case study areas, and scaled from local to European level. By focusing on this stakeholder-driven set of indicators, the OptFor-EU project ensures its outcomes directly support forest managers in aligning forest management practices with European climate and forest policy goals, while enhancing the long-term sustainability and resilience of forest ecosystem services. The EFMI serve as a innovative, feasible tool for translating policy into actionable, evidence-based forest management strategies.This study was funded by the Horizon Europe Project OptFor-EU (Grant agreement n°101060554).

Forest ecosystem in islands should be managed based on site-specific management plan since it has different biological and cultural characteristics compared to inland forest ecosystem related to isolation, uniqueness, and vulnerability. There are more than 3,800 islands in South Korea and half of them have forest ecosystem. The area of forest ecosystem in island is 2,267 km2, 3.5% of total forest area in South Korea. The need for island forest management is widely recognized, but it is not cost- and time-effective to manage island forest ecosystem intensively same as inland forest ecosystem. we are conducting research to develop suitable management system for island forest ecosystem through the following process. (1) constructing island database, (2) identifying effective factors to categorize island forest type, (3) determining and quantifying key ecosystem services and funtions, (4) developing technical and silvicutural method to enhance ecosystem functions, (5) seeking to legislate for continuity and legitimacy to island forest ecosystem maintenance. Database on the island forest ecosystem with 49 fields containing socio-economical, biological and ecological information was constructed. Then islands were categorized into 6 types using 16 effective factors to categorize derived from expert delphi survey. Also, 10 key ecosystem services importantly in domestic island forests were determined as follows: natural resources, medicinal plants, watershed and freshwater, erosion control, biological control, aesthetic appreciation and inspiration, forest recreation, cultural heritage, species habitants, and maintenance of genetic diversity. The key ecosystem services in each type of island forest are expected to provide priorities and directions for forest management.

The Mediterranean Basin covers more than 2 million square kilometres and is surrounded by three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is home to more than 500 million people and is projected to reach 670 million by 2050. The basin is rich in species diversity, with a great wealth of endemism. The supply of ecosystem services is greatly challenged due to the trend of land use and land cover (LULC) change coupled with other global change drivers. The current study thoroughly reviewed the existing body of knowledge on the impacts of LULC change on forest ecosystem services. The LULC change is driven by synergetic factor combinations of urbanization, population increase, agricultural land abandonment and deforestation putting additional strain on forest ecosystem services. The review shows the potential impacts on biodiversity as well as ecosystem services such as wood and non-wood forest products, water resources, and carbon stock. Moreover, there is evidence showing the threats of LULC change to saproxylic beetle species, a key agent in the nutrient cycling process, posing a significant risk to a nutrient-deficient ecosystem. Therefore, there is a need to mitigate the challenges posed by LULC change and adapt forest management practices to impending changes to sustain the provision of ecosystem goods and services.

Pine wilt disease (PWD) severely damages the health, stability, and functions of pine forests. However, empirical evidence regarding the impact of PWD on multiple ecosystem services in these forest ecosystems remains limited. This study investigated five ecosystem services, namely carbon sequestration, water conservation, soil nutrient accumulation, biomass nutrient accumulation and understory plant diversity in subtropical Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) forests, and quantified their trade-offs along varying ages of PWD infection (uninfected (0 years), 6, 10, and 16 years). The results showed that PWD infection significantly affected ecosystem services in Masson pine forests, with decreased carbon sequestration, water conservation, and biomass nutrient accumulation in 6 years of PWD infection forests. As the duration of PWD infection increased, the composite score of ecosystem services initially decreased, then increased, and finally decreased again. In contrast, soil conservation and understory plant diversity showed an initial increase, followed by a decline. Moreover, PWD infection increased the trade-offs among ecosystem services, with the highest trade-offs for 10 years of infected forests. PWD infection altered the trade-offs between understory plant diversity and other ecosystem services from low to high levels. Our results suggest that forest management should be strengthened to accelerate the recovery of ecosystem services while controlling PWD infection in these disturbed forests.

Evaluating the relative impact of climate and economic changes on forest and agricultural ecosystem services in mountain regions