Natural Forest Areas Research Articles

Alterações de atributos químicos e físicos de vertissolo em área de produção de meloeiro

ABSTRACT Water quality and soil quality are of great importance for crop yield in the context of small-scale irrigated agriculture in the Northeast region of Brazil. In this respect, this study aimed to determine changes in soil fertility and resistance to root penetration caused by fertigated cropping, as compared to soil under native forest. In each area, a non-regular sampling grid was established, which consisted of 87 georeferenced points in the melon cultivated area and 8 points in the native forest area. At these points, samples were obtained at depths of 0-10, 10-20, 20-30 and 30-40 cm. The determinations performed included soil physical, chemical and mechanical attributes. Multivariate analysis techniques and geostatistical procedures were used to analyze and interpret the data. The cultivation of the Vertisol altered all the variables studied, compared to the area under native forest. Soil decompaction and increase in phosphorus content were positive effects, while organic matter decomposition and reductions in potassium, calcium, magnesium and cation exchange capacity were negative effects. Sodium content and porosity parameters were prominent factors in soil alterations.

Biologia de nidificação em ninhos-armadilha da vespa ectoparasitoide de aranhas Auplopus subaurarius (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): a importância de ambientes arborizados para espécies generalistas de nicho

The insect group is one of the most diverse on the planet and due to habitat degradation, many of these species are becoming extinct, leaving a lack of information on the basic biology of each one. In this study, previously unseen information about nesting biology is revealed in Auplopus subaurarius trap nests. This is a solitary ectoparasitoid spider wasp that nests in preexisting cavities. We used a trap-nesting methodology to sample A. subaurarius in two different sampling periods (2017/2018 and 2020/2021) in three types of environment (forest, grassland and Eucalyptus plantation). In our study, the A. subaurarius nest building was more frequent during the hottest months of the year (November to March), with its highest abundance found within natural forest areas and in Eucalyptus plantation than in grassland areas. In addition, the species had two development times: a short one (three months) and a delayed one (up to one year). Moreover, females were larger than males (weight and size) and the species' sex ratio had a tendency toward female production. Auplopus subaurarius presented seven natural enemy species: Ceyxia longispina, Caenochrysis crotonis, Photochryptus sp.1, Photochryptus sp.2, Messatoporus sp., Ephuta icema and Sphaeropthalma sp. We emphasize the importance of wooded environments to maintain the A. subaurarius populations and their associated interactors, both spiders and natural enemies, as these environments can provide better life conditions than grassland areas. Furthermore, other solitary wasps that may have the same lifestyle of A. subaurarius can also be improved by natural forest conservation and by good silviculture plantation planning, which should consider ecological aspects of Atlantic Forest landscapes.

Mieles del Chaco Húmedo: origen botánico y geográfico de la provincia de Formosa (Argentina)

The Humid Chaco Ecoregion of Formosa Province is characterized by a variety of native plant species with long flowering periods, some of which are used by bees for honey production. The objective of this work is to characterize the honeys by botanical and geographical origin through the palynological analysis of samples collected in 14 apiaries. Ninety six honey samples were obtained during three beekeeping periods from 2009 to 2012. The conventional methodology was used, taking into account the acetolysis technique. The pollen spectrum of the honeys allowed us to recognize 126 pollen types, belonging to 57 families of Angiosperms and comprising 65% of the floristic survey. Monofloral honeys were obtained in spring with dominant pollen of Eugenia uniflora (dominant pollen range: 45% - 85%), Neltuma sp. (45% - 61%), Geoffroea decorticans (52%) and Sarcomphalus mistol (47%). At the end of spring and beginning of summer, monofloral honeys were identified with the dominant pollen of Copernicia alba (50% - 98%), while at the end of summer with the pollen of Schinopsis balansae (45% - 68%) and Tessaria integrifolia (52%). The botanical families most represented in the honeys were: Anacardiaceae, Arecaceae, Myrtaceae, and Rhamnaceae. The pollen spectrum of Formosa honeys showed the diversity and floristic richness that characterizes the vegetation of the native forest and wetland areas.

Influence of different soil uses in the Pampa biome, southern Brazil, on fungal communities

Anthropogenic activities in any natural ecosystem cause changes that affect the physical and biological environment, causing degradation. Likewise, these activities can cause significant changes in the chemical and physical factors of the soil, also impacting the microbiological community. The study aimed to evaluate the influence of soil biochemical and physicochemical characteristics on the development of fungal communities in three different soils of the Pampa biome. The soil types selected were: native forest, Eucalyptus plantation and pasture area, in two distinct periods: hot and cold. Microbiological, physicochemical and biochemical analyses of the soils were carried out. The following genera and species of fungi were identified:Aspergillus sp., Aspergillus niger, Fusarium sp., Geotrichum sp., Isaria sp., Penicillium sp., Scedosporium sp., Trichoderma sp., Verticilliumsp. The results showed that the fungal community is being affected by soil composition characteristics, regardless of the sampled areas. Aspergillus sp. is associated with higher amounts of manganese, boron and the Ca+Mg/K ratio in the soil, while A. niger and Trichodermasp. have a negative relationship with these variables. Aspergillus sp. showed a high ability to tolerate Mn. The most diverse area was pasture in the warm period, and the least diverse was Eucalyptus plantation in the cold period. The analyzed taxa had a reduction in the cold period compared to the warm one, except for Aspergillussp. in the Eucalyptus area, which presented a greater amount in the cold period compared to the hot period. It can be seen that the use of soil in the Pampa biome for planting monocultures or for generating pastures interferes with its characteristics and distinctly affects the fungal community.

A dataset of the ecosystem service assessment in Mao’er Mountain National Forest Park during 2018–2019

Mao’er Mountain is a typical area of natural secondary forest with strong spatial heterogeneity. As a result, the scientific assessment of ecosystem service function value in Mao’er Mountain can provide data support for researches on the decision-making for forest management and the relation between supply and demand for natural forests. This paper provides a dataset of six categories of ecological indicators in Mao’er Mountain, including water conservation, soil conservation, carbon fixation and oxygen release, nutrient accumulation, atmospheric purification, biodiversity conservation, which are assessed based on the Specifications for Assessment of Forest Ecosystem Services in China (LY/T 1721-2008). The raw data mainly include GF-1 remote sensing data, meteorological data, forest resource inventory data for management, etc. The data accuracy is strictly ensured through a series of processes such as vectorization, correction, and registration. The dataset in this paper includes the physical and value quantities of 18 specific ecological indicators in the ecosystem service assessment system. The data can be divided into two types: monthly data and yearly data according to the time resolution with unified spatial resolution of 16 m. During the process of index calculation, we strictly screened and controlled the input data and model parameters in this study, so as to ensure the reliability of the dataset through comparison and verification. This dataset covers most of the indicators in the forest ecosystem service assessment system, which can provide fine-grained data support for the study on natural secondary forest in cold temperate zones in China.

Ecosystem Functioning of the Loess Plateau in China from Vegetation Restoration Relied Largely on Climate

Climate change and anthropogenic replantation are supposed to greatly change vegetation coverage and ecosystem stability and functions, e.g., net primary productivity (NPP), evapotranspiration (ET) and water use efficiency (WUE). Our study compared WUE of nature- and human-induced forest cover increase on the Loess Plateau since 2000 using satellite-derived Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF), NPP, ET. This study also applied over 30 years of model-based NPP and meteorological observations to compare the stability and changes brought up by the Grain for Green Project. The result showed that the average forest coverage fraction increased from 7.1% (~4.5 × 104 km2) in 2000 to 11.2% (~7.3 × 104 km2) in 2014. Artificial forest cover increase occupied 76.43% of the significantly increasing tree cover regions. The role of revegetation practice in NPP and ET became gradually more dominant than climate factors in artificial forests from the northern to the southern part of the Loess Plateau. For areas experiencing limited forest coverage increase, artificial forest areas showed higher WUE than natural forest areas under similar mean annual precipitation (MAP). The difference in stability was small between neighboring natural and artificial forest areas. The northwest of the Loess Plateau had an increasing resilience, whereas the south of the Plateau had an increased resistance to precipitation and temperature change. The higher dependency of the northern reforested areas on climate fluctuation indicates a growing threat of water scarcity to the sustainability of anthropogenic reforestation in semi-arid regions.

Data for Distribution of Vascular Plants (Tracheophytes) of Urban Forests and Floodplains in Tyumen City (Western Siberia)

Tyumen City is a large city in Western Siberia. This territory has ecological problems, which are typical to many cities around the world, including the loss of biodiversity and environment, habitat pollution, and others. This data paper presents for the first time the plant species composition of 11 natural forest and floodplain areas in Tyumen City. In a city, forests provide a refuge for both threatened plants and weeds (including alien species). In these ecosystems, unique communities are being formed, where both threatened and alien plants can co-occur. Within the city’s area, forests serve as separate green “islands” among urbanized landscapes. A total of 11 forest and floodplain areas have been studied based on field surveys conducted by the authors of the paper in 2020–2022. The obtained data (8742 observations representing 434 species, accepted subspecies, and hybrids belonging to 270 genera and 74 families) serve as a basis for the modern flora of Tyumen City, its conservation, and counteraction to the introduction of alien plants.

Unraveling the Differences in Landcover Patterns in High Mountains and Low Mountain Environments within the Valdivian Temperate Rainforest Biome in Chile

The Valdivian temperate rainforest (VTR) is a biome on the South American continent with high endemism that has experienced an intensive land-cover change in recent decades due to the expansion of agriculture, plantations of introduced forests, and urban growth. Today, the biome hosts key parts of the country’s agricultural and forestry industries. Previous studies focused on quantifying native forest and plantation cover area and exotic forest plantation area, among others. However, the importance of mountain areas as refuge of native forest in Chile remains unexplored. The aim of this research is to highlight the role of latitude and slope on land cover in the VTR. A new methodological approach was used combining global classified datasets. Our results indicate that high mountain areas are the core location of the remaining primary forests and endemism whereas low mountain areas are dominated by exotic forest plantations. Between 40–48° S (The Los Ríos, Los Lagos, and Aysén Regions and high-mountain areas), in general, serve as a natural reservoir where human-induced land-cover change has not occurred on a large scale. Most public and private conservation areas are in high mountain areas, whereas low mountain areas and plain areas lack conservation schemes and are more prone to land cover change towards forestry. Considering geomorphological features in land cover change analysis can reveal interesting new perspectives in this research area.

Ecological indication metrics on dung beetles metacommunities in native forests and Pinus monocultures

Beetles of the subfamily Scarabaeinae are commonly used as ecological indicators in studies about the effects of environmental changes. We analyzed the influence of the type of habitat, vegetation, mammals (as food resource), and temperature on dung beetle metacommunities in subtropical native forests and Pinus monocultures to evaluate the factors driving these assemblages. In the summer of 2018/2019, we sampled 12 areas in Southern Brazil, six Pinus monocultures and six native forests. We performed a dispersal test, applying a marking-recapture method. Some recaptures occurred in different habitats, showing low dispersal between habitats. We recorded behavioral activities confirming the use of both native forest and Pinus areas. The metrics did not reflect the difference in the environmental quality of the areas regarding species richness and diversity in different habitats. This shows that these metrics are not the best when using dung beetle assemblages as ecological indicators of biodiversity loss resulting from land-use changes, requiring complementing the analysis with composition analysis methods. When we partitioned beta diversity between habitats, we observed a dissimilarity between Pinus monocultures and native forest assemblages due to species substitution, with many species contributing to the dissimilarity between habitats. In our structural equation models, the influence of environmental factors on metacommunities showed no predictor related to dung beetle richness, but several variables influenced their abundance.

Article: Legislative Pioneer on Global Forest Protection? A Commentary on the European Union’s Proposed Deforestation-Free Product Regulation

The aim of this article is to consider recent developments in the European Union’s legal policy on combating global forestation. Specifically, it focuses on the significance of the European Commission’s recent legislative proposal of November 2021 to minimize the EU’s contribution to deforestation and forest degradation (DFD) worldwide by banning the placement on the internal market or export from the Union of certain commodities that have been produced on land that has been subject to deforestation or from wood harvested from forests inducing forest degradation (referred to in this article as the draft deforestation-free product regulation (DFPR)). Whilst for a number of years the EU’s approach towards addressing global forest depletion has been focused on combating the trade in illegally harvested timber products and more lately on biofuel sourcing for renewable energy policy purposes, the recent launch of the DFPR proposal reflects a growing awareness by the EU that its contribution to the environmental problem of DFD is more profound and far-reaching than previously recognized. EU consumption of a range of commodities constitutes an important DFD driver, through which large areas of natural forest have been depleted at an unsustainable rate for the purposes of agricultural conversion and production, with severe consequent environmental and social costs. The article explores the content and implications of this new legislative initiative, for the Union and more broadly for the international community. Given the continued absence of a global environmental agreement addressing DFD, the stakes for the Union are high economically, politically and to some extent legally for it deciding unilaterally to introduce regulatory controls on a range of commodities to address its complicity in consumption involving embedded deforestation. One thing is clear, though, namely that the EU is not afraid to act as a legislative pioneer on the international scene, in which the Union’s environmental values may be seen as trumping short-term economic considerations of international competitiveness. European Union, deforestation, forest degradation, draft deforestation-free product regulation

Nationwide native forest structure maps for Argentina based on forest inventory data, SAR Sentinel-1 and vegetation metrics from Sentinel-2 imagery

Detailed maps of forest structure attributes are crucial for sustainable forest management, conservation, and forest ecosystem science at the landscape level. Mapping the structure of broad heterogeneous forests is challenging, but the integration of extensive field inventory plots with wall-to-wall metrics derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical remote sensing offers a potential solution. Our goal was to map forest structure attributes (diameter at breast height, basal area, mean height, dominant height, wood volume and canopy cover) at 30-m resolution across the diverse 463,000 km2 of native forests of Argentina based on SAR Sentinel-1, vegetation metrics from Sentinel-2 and geographic coordinates. We modelled the forest structure attributes based on the latest national forest inventory, generated uncertainty maps, quantified the contribution of the predictors, and compared our height predictions with those from GEDI (Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation) and GFCH (Global Forest Canopy Height). We analyzed 3788 forest inventory plots (1000 m2 each) from Argentina's Second Native Forest Inventory (2015–2020) to develop predictive random forest regression models. From Sentinel-1, we included both VV (vertical transmitted and received) and VH (vertical transmitted and horizontal received) polarizations and calculated 1st and 2nd order textures within 3 × 3 pixels to match the size of the inventory plots. For Sentinel-2, we derived EVI (enhanced vegetation index), calculated DHIs (dynamic habitat indices (annual cumulative, minimum and variation) and the EVI median, then generated 1st and 2nd order textures within 3 × 3 pixels of these variables. Our models including metrics from Sentinel-1 and 2, plus latitude and longitude predicted forest structure attributes well with root mean square errors (RMSE) ranging from 23.8% to 70.3%. Mean and dominant height models had notably good performance presenting relatively low RMSE (24.5% and 23.8%, respectively). Metrics from VH polarization and longitude were overall the most important predictors, but optimal predictors differed among the different forest structure attributes. Height predictions (r = 0.89 and 0.85) outperformed those from GEDI (r = 0.81) and the GFCH (r = 0.66), suggesting that SAR Sentinel-1, DHIs from Sentinel-2 plus geographic coordinates provide great opportunities to map multiple forest structure attributes for large areas. Based on our models, we generated spatially-explicit maps of multiple forest structure attributes as well as uncertainty maps at 30-m spatial resolution for all Argentina's native forest areas in support of forest management and conservation planning across the country.

Seasonality, soil attributes and root biomass in cerrado, cerradão and forest environments, western Amazon

The Amazon rainforest region presents a phytophysiognomy that ranges from savannas to cerrados, all of them intimately associated to climate and soil characteristics. Evidence has been given that plant growth and development are affected by soil quality and seasonality, thus making it crucial to understand them and how they are related to each other in order to grasp the dynamics of the whole ecosystem. In this context, the goal of this research was to assess how seasonality, soil attributes, and root system biomass are related in natural cerrado, cerradão, and forest areas in southern Amazonas State, in Brazil. Soil samples were collected during dry (June/2018) and rainy (December/2018) seasons from three different layers 0.00–0.05m; 0.05–0.15m, and 0.15–0.30m deep. In each area ten sampling points were randomly chosen. Two kinds of soil samples were collected: the first using 4.0 cm height by 5.1cm internal-diameter soil sample rings; and the second were intact soil lumps. Physical and Chemical soil attributes assessed were macro-porosity (MaP), micro-porosity (MiP), total porosity (TP), soil density (SD), aggregates texture and stability (GMD and WAR), gravimetric humidity (HG), organic carbon (OC), exchangeable aluminum (Al3+), potential acidity (H+Al), sum of bases (SB), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and root biomass (RB). All data were analysed via Tukey t test and student T test to compare results between seasons and areas. Increasing vegetation density (cerrado < cerradão < forest) was followed by an increment in CEC and OC, showing the importance of these attributes to maintaining biodiversity in environments. In amazon cerrado, rainy season as well a sandier soil textures provided favourable conditions to the growth and development of plants’ root system. Soil attributes were little affected by seasonality, that had greater effect on MiP, TP, SD, and OC, leading to lesser values for these variables during rainy season.

Does Gap Opening and Planting to Rehabilitate the Degraded Tropical Natural Forests Affect the Forest Composition and Structure?

By 2020, there were 33.4 million ha of degraded forests in Indonesia. If it is not rehabilitated, there will be land-use changes that significantly affect its biodiversity and environment. Gap opening and planting is an important silvicultural regeneration method to rehabilitate degraded tropical natural forests. We studied the subject in a 10 ha degraded lowland tropical natural forest in Central Borneo, Indonesia. The study aims to compare the composition and structure of degraded tropical natural forests before and after gap opening and planting. The methods used consist of 1) gap opening and planting with a proportion of the total gap area to the total degraded natural forest area of 40%; 2) vegetation analysis to assess the composition and structure of forest. The results showed that the gap opening and planting activities led to a decrease in the density of seedlings, saplings, poles, and trees, and cause loss of two species at seedling level and one species at sapling level. The analysis results of the stand structure and species composition, index of species diversity, species evenness index, and community similarity index before and after gap opening and planting of the degraded forest in the study area of 10 ha showed that there is no changes of these variables. These results showed that the use of the gap opening and planting method in the rehabilitation of degraded forests is able to maintain the stability of species composition and stand structure, species diversity, species evenness, and forest communities. In conclusion, the study provided significant empirical results on the composition and structure of degraded tropical natural forests before and after gap opening and planting, which would be instrumental for the development of rehabilitation strategies. It is recommended that the rehabilitation of degraded tropical natural forests in Indonesia can be carried out using the gap opening and planting method.

Identification of Bird Species in Argowiloso Peak Mount Muria

AbstractIndonesia is a country that has abundant flora and fauna. Mount Muria, Kudus Regency, Central Java has a high potential for bird biodiversity. The area which is a natural protected forest area, is very supportive for the existing bird habitat. However, this potential is still rarely known by the general public due to the lack of publications. The aims to find out and analyze the types of birds and to find out and analyze the condition of the bird habitat found in the Mount Muria area. The research was conducted using the transect method with 3 observation stations. The observed birds were then photographed and identified based on the field guide of MacKinnon. The results showed that 22 species 18 families were identified, including: Campephagidae, Vangidae, Sittidae, Pycnonotidae, Rhipiduridae, Nectariniidae, Eurylaimidae, Pellorneidae, Hirundinidae, Cisticolidae, Dicaeidae, Pittidae, Alcedinidae, Meropidae, Megalaimidae, Apodidae, Accipitridae and Cuculidae. Habitat conditions are strongly influenced by biotic and abiotic components to support the survival and diversity of birds on Mount Muria

New two-step species-level AGB estimation model applied to urban parks

Aboveground biomass (AGB) estimation for urban parks has received less attention as an essential component of the global carbon cycle. Current studies focus on vast areas of natural or planted forests. The characteristics of these study areas make the use of homogenised vegetation grids (using remote sensing data) and plots (using field data) as the basic research unit a consensus. However, this data-level simplification can be significantly affected by buildings when applied to urban areas. Developing tree species identification methods based on remote sensing provides us with new ideas to explore urban AGB estimation methods at the species level. To this end, we developed a species-level AGB estimation model to address the AGB distribution in urban parks by combining multitemporal airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), optical remote sensing data, and field data from two urban parks in Hong Kong through a two-step strategy. First, we constructed optimal remote sensing feature-AGB mapping relationships for each sample species using sample data from the study area, the tropical allometric growth equation, and the five regression algorithms. We then explored a tree species identification method based on the annual vegetation phenological change index (AVPCI), which allowed us to quickly obtain species distribution maps for the study area. Combining these two steps allowed us to obtain AGB information for the study area based on species-level mapping relationships based on species distributions. In the model validation, the correlation between the estimated and true values of the remote sensing feature and AGB mapping relationship was 0.91, with a significantly lower normalised root mean square deviation (RMSE). The overall accuracy of the sample tree species identification was 87.5%, which was better than the results of existing studies. The final AGB obtained was also within the reasonable interval of existing studies. In addition, with the model proposed in this study, we noted that the super typhoon Mangkhut in 2018 reduced the AGB in the study area by 32.6% and demonstrated the significant underestimation of high-density urban areas in existing global biomass products. The model developed in this study addresses the problems of existing AGB estimation methods for urban vegetation represented by urban parks while effectively contributing to understanding AGB distribution and short-term carbon cycle dynamics in urban scenarios.

Using Bayesian multitemporal classification to monitor tropical forest cover changes in Kalimantan, Indonesia

ABSTRACT Significant areas of native forest in Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, have been cleared for the expansion of plantations of oil palm and rubber. In this study multisource remote sensing was used to develop a time series of land cover maps that distinguish native forest from plantations. Using a study area in east Kalimantan, Landsat images were combined with either ALOS PALSAR or Sentinel-1 images to map four land cover classes (native forest, oil palm plantation, rubber plantation, non-forest). Bayesian multitemporal classification was applied to increase map accuracy and maps were validated using a confusion matrix; final map overall accuracy was >90%. Over 18 years from 2000 to 2018 nearly half the native forests in the study area were converted to either non-forest or plantations of either rubber or oil palm, with the highest losses between 2015 and 2016. Trending upwards from 2008 large areas of degraded or cleared forests, mapped as non-forest, were converted to oil palm plantation. Conversion of native forests to plantation mainly occurred in lowland and wetland forest, while significant forest regrowth was detected in degraded peatland. These maps will help Indonesia with strategies and policies for balancing economic growth and conservation.

A review of Dutch elm disease and new prospects for Ulmus americana in the urban environment

ABSTRACT American elm (Ulmus americana) is an important cultural and historic symbol of the North American landscape. Its graceful form and resilience to harsh growing conditions made it ideal for widespread planting as an urban tree. However, with the initial introduction of Dutch elm disease (Ophiostoma ulmi) to the United States in the late 1920ʹs, and the later appearance of the more virulent O. novo-ulmi, American elm populations commenced a sudden and precipitous decline due to mortality associated with Ophiostoma spp. The absence of this tree created a gap in riparian areas of native forests and resulted in a substantial reduction in urban tree canopy cover throughout communities of the United States and Canada. Here we highlight the prevalence of the American elm in the U.S., and the affiliated impacts of Dutch elm disease (DED). We also discuss important factors including mode of DED introduction and transmission, and challenges associated with DED management in the urban environment. Results from ongoing evaluation of putatively resistant American elms are detailed.

Relationship between the Abundance of Native Honey Bee Species (<i>Apis cerana</i>) and Distance to Natural Forests in Hyuganatsu (<i>Citrus tamurana</i>) Orchards in Aya Town, Japan

This study aimed to examine the relationship between the ecosystem services of pollination offered by native honey bees (Apis cerana) and the distance to natural forests (as an indicator of landscape structure) in hyuganatsu (Citrus tamurana) orchards in Aya Town, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. Two statistical models were developed to predict the number of visits of native honey bees to hyuganatsu tree. The area-distaince model (AD-model) considered the area of natural forests and distance from natural forests and the area model (A-model) considered the total area of the surrounding natural forests, and the results of the two models were compared. The estimated parameters of both models suggested a positive effect of natural forests on pollination services. Further, the estimated effect of the landscape structure of the AD-model was greater than that of the A-model. These results suggested that the distance to natural forests is an important landscape factor for evaluating pollination services by native honey bees.

Forest ecosystem services in Norway: Trends, condition, and drivers of change (1950–2020)

Some regions like Europe have experienced a net gain in forest areas over the last decades, but intact areas of natural forests are declining worldwide, accompanied by changes in forest ecosystem functions and benefits to humans. We conduct a biophysical assessment of trends, condition, and drivers of change of forest ecosystem services in Norway from 1950 to 2020. Four main results are highlighted. First, industrial forestry, large scale measures of re- and afforestation, and infrastructure development (e.g., roads and recreational homes) have been the main direct drivers of forest transformation. Second, deep transformations in the Norwegian economy shaped trends of forest ecosystem services over the study period. Third, with the shifts towards the tertiary (service) sector and the mechanization of forestry, the economic and material relations between forests and local communities are waning. Overall, people’s primary relationships to forests have shifted from livelihood to recreation. Fourth, forest management in Norway has largely favored provisioning services at the expense of supporting services and some cultural and regulating services. Consequently, while Norwegian forests retain strong capacity to deliver provisioning services, the overall ecological condition is relatively poor. Our assessment provides an approach to identify and explain trends of ecosystem services at a national scale, over a long period of time. We argue that growth in forest area and biomass are insufficient indicators for sustainable forest management, and that future forest polices would benefit from improved knowledge on forests ecological condition, resilience against climate change, and socio-cultural contributions to human well-being.

Dragonflies (Odonata) in Cocoa Growing Areas in the Atlantic Forest: Taxonomic Diversity and Relationships with Environmental and Spatial Variables

In the south of Bahia state, a large part of the native Atlantic Forest areas has been modified for the cultivation of cocoa (Theobroma cacao). These crops are cultivated under the shade of the canopy of native trees, a system locally known as the “cabruca” agroforestry system. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship of Odonata assemblages (adults and larvae) in cocoa farming areas and to identify the relationships of these species with local and spatial environmental variables of the monitored sites. Altogether, adult and larvae were sampled at 22 sites. Physical and physicochemical water variables were recorded for each site. A total of 1336 dragonflies were collected, of which 20 were Zygoptera species and 30 were adult Anisoptera representatives. The different life stages were related to environmental variables such as conductivity, watercourse channel width, and dissolved oxygen. The space predictors were also associated with the assemblages, mainly for adults. The present study identified that cabruca areas maintain a great diversity of dragonflies, including species that are considered to be forest specialists and more sensitive to landscape changes. The characteristics of this cropping system are considered to be favorable for the conservation of the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest.