Forest Categories Research Articles

Use of Google Earth Engine for the estimation and variation of the vegetable cover of the amazon forest generated by anthropic activity in Huepetuhe period 2016 to 2022

The estimation and variation of the vegetation cover of the Amazon forest generated by anthropic activity in Huepetuhe had the purpose of estimating the loss of vegetation and the deforestation rates for an Amazon forest, the study was carried out using Landsat 8 satellite images, the treatment of the raster images was made using the ERDAS software, the images were subjected to geometric and radiometric corrections, for this purpose control points were taken on the ground, for the analysis four categories of forest degradation were established: Forest with null vegetation with presence of bare soil, forest with sparse vegetation, forest with moderate vegetation and total area of deterioration. The results from the analysis of the multispectral images and the NDVI show that compared to 2016, 30.1 ha increased in the forest category with no vegetation, 28.8 ha in forests with sparse vegetation, 236.9 ha for forests with moderate vegetation and the area of global deterioration increased by 295.8 ha. The annual deforestation rate was 5% (6.02 ha/year) for forests with no vegetation and presence of bare soil and 9% (59.16 ha/year) for global degradation, the coefficient of determination for forests with no vegetation and area naked was R2=0.9704, and for global deterioration of the forest R2=0.957.

Eurasian aspen (Populus tremula L.): Central Europe's keystone species 'hiding in plain sight'.

Knowledge of Eurasian aspen's (Populus tremula L.) ecological and growth characteristics is of high importance to plant and wildlife community ecology, and noncommercial forest ecosystem services. This research assessed these characteristics, identified aspen's habitat optimum, and examined causality of its current scarce distribution in central Europe. We analyzed a robust database of field measurements (4,656,130 stands) for forest management planning over 78,000 km2 of the Czech territory. Our analysis we used GIS techniques, with basic and multivariate statistics such as general linear models, ordination, and classification. Results describe a species of broad ecological amplitude that has heretofore attracted little research attention. Spatial analysis showed significant differences between aspen and other forest non-forest cover types. Additionally, we found significant association between the proportion of aspen in a stand, the size of forest property, and the forest category. The results demonstrate historic reasons for aspen's widespread presence, though contemporary occurrence is limited. This study advances the concept of a quantitatively based aspen ecological optimum (niche), which we believe may be beneficial for numerous aspen associates in the context of anticipated warming. Irrespective of local ecology (i.e., the realized aspen niche), the study confirms that profit-driven policy in forestry is chiefly responsible for historic aspen denudation in central Europe. Even so, we demonstrate that ample habitat is present. Further solutions for improving aspen resilience are provided to support these keystone systems so vital to myriad dependent flora and fauna.

Dieback of managed spruce stands in western Germany promotes beetle diversity

Biodiversity loss is a significant problem at a global scale and may be amplified by climate change. In recent years, coniferous forests have had substantial dieback across Europe due to drought and subsequent bark-beetle outbreaks. As many studies on the consequences of disturbance and subsequent management have focused on natural stands, management implications for managed spruce stands are not well understood, even though such stands are widespread throughout Europe. In this study, beetle taxonomy, conservation value, and community composition are compared among spruce plantations and four post-disturbance management approaches: standing deadwood, lying deadwood, clear cuts, and long-term succession. Diversity and community composition differed significantly among management categories, while different beetle families responded similarly. Intact spruce stands harbored the lowest beetle diversity while the highest taxonomic diversity and conservation value was on clear cuts and stands with lying or standing deadwood. The proportion of forest specialists was highest in successional forests. In summary, different forest management categories harbored distinct beetle communities at the family-, species-, and ecological guild levels. Therefore, post-disturbance management should consider the landscape scale and include different management types. This enhances landscape heterogeneity and thus overall biodiversity but could also mitigate negative impacts of natural disturbances on ecosystem services.

Development of an Evaluation Index for Forest Therapy Environments.

Most research on forest therapy has examined the therapeutic effects of forest activity development. There has been insufficient research identifying and evaluating the forest therapy environment. This study aimed to derive a representative forest therapy environment from each of the four evaluation sites, comprising national luxury forests; Scopus, PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, RISS, and DBpia were searched, and 13 studies evaluating forest therapy environments were analyzed and synthesized. After conducting a Conformity Evaluation, one layer of items, comprising anions with low conformity scores, was excluded, and six field measurements, phytoncide, oxygen, illuminance, UV-rays, sound, and anion, were added to increase objectivity. Finally, five forest therapy environment categories and 25 detailed items were derived. Analytic Hierarchy Process-based importance was evaluated to calculate the weight between the final evaluation items. According to the site evaluations, the categories of landscape, forest air, sunlight, sound, and anions appeared, in that order. This study is significant as it developed evaluation items and rating criteria for forest therapy environments, applied these in the field, and derived representative forest therapy environments for each location. This study developed indicators, provided basic data for establishing a therapy environment management plan, and there recommendations were made for an environment suitable for visitors and customizing forest welfare and therapy services.

Decentralized Forest Governance and Resource Management: Assessing Community Dependence and Conservation Effectiveness in Broad-Leaved and Coniferous Forest Stands

Globally decentralized forest governance is being promoted to conserve and sustainably manage forest resources along with meeting local livelihoods. In the Central Himalayan region of India, it came into existence in 1931, long before the time when the concept of decentralized forest governance became popular globally, and the aim was to accomplish the subsistence needs of the smallholders in the region. This article discusses whether the species types (broadleaved and coniferous) affect biophysical conditions, species richness, and conservation effectiveness of community-owned forests (locally called Van Panchayat forests), and what could be done to improve their management in the near future. The findings are based on a household survey covering 16 villages as well as a biophysical assessment of 18 community forest stands (9 per forest type) covering an area of 1778 ha and 341 ha in both forest categories. It was found that farmers across the villages are intricately dependent on forest resources to support their livelihoods that are governed by a village institution (Van Panchayat) to maintain equity of benefit-sharing among all stakeholders. Both forest categories exhibited high dependence, however, there was a considerable difference in resource quality, viz. quality of fodder, fuel, and litter in broadleaved forests, therefore the community has more preference for such stands. The broadleaved Banj-oak stands revealed better biophysical status in terms of species diversity, tree density, total basal area, and regeneration than the coniferous Chir-pine stands. Although the local government has taken up selective policy initiatives to encourage decentralized forest governance, more needs to be done to strengthen it on the ground level, particularly in Chir-pine stands. It is suggested that the community management of forests needs to be improved in relation to leadership development, rationale use of bio-resources, and adopting site-specific management strategies. In areas with Chir-pine forests community need to be educated to reduce forest fire and promote the plantation of broad-leaved species. Also, the scope of community forests needs to be broadened by adopting and involving smallholders in various forest enterprise development and climate action programs. For this, developing proper alliances of village institutions with civil society groups and other partner institutions along with virtuous support from local government can lead to enhance social and environmental resilience of communities.

Macrofungi diversity in a tropical wet evergreen forest of Eastern Himalayan foothills: A case study of Dihing Patkai National Park, Assam, India

Dihing Patkai National Park (DPNP) is situated in the Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts of Assam, India. The forest type of the park is Assam Valley Tropical Wet Evergreen Forest (category 1B/C1). In order to explore the fungal diversity, different randomly selected belt transects of size 0.1 ha were laid in the park. Overall, 159 species of macrofungi representing 81 genera, 43 families, 14 orders, 5 classes, and 2 phyla under the kingdom fungi have been recorded from the Park. Maximum species were found in the family Polyporaceae (34 spp.) followed by Mycenaceae (14 spp.), Omphalotaceae (11 spp.), Marasmiaceae (14 spp.), Russulaceae (10 spp.), Tricholomataceae, Hymenochaetaceae, Amanitaceae, Agaricaceae, Xylariaceae (5 spp. each) and so on. The values of the Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index, Simpson diversity index, and Brillouin’s index were found to be 3.54, 0.94, and 3.49 respectively, which means the level of diversity of macrofungi was in the higher category. The evenness index was found to be 0.22 or only 22% of species were common or shared among plots within the DPNP. The four diversity indices proved that the DPNP has high species diversity and a healthy forest ecosystem. Maximum species of macrofungi (22%) were found associated with Dipterocarpus retusus followed by Castanopsis indica (13%), Shorea assamica (11%), Vatica lanceaefolia (9%), Mesua ferrea (8%), and the rest of macrofungal species associated with the plant species ranged from 5% to 1%. The present study is an attempt to document the fungal diversity in the tropical wet evergreen forest of the Eastern Himalayan foothills that will be helpful to the scientific community for further study.

Scale dependence of forest fragmentation and its climate sensitivity in a semi-arid mountain: Comparing Landsat, Sentinel and Google Earth data

Landscape fragmentation is generally viewed as an indicator of environmental stresses or risks, but the fragmentation intensity assessment also depends on the scale of data and the definition of spatial unit. This study aimed to explore the scale-dependence of forest fragmentation intensity along a moisture gradient in Yinshan Mountain of North China, and to estimate environmental sensitivity of forest fragmentation in this semi-arid landscape. We developed an automatic classification algorithm using simple linear iterative clustering (SLIC) and Gaussian mixture model (GMM), and extracted tree canopy patches from Google Earth images (GEI), with an accuracy of 89.2% in the study area. Then we convert the tree canopy patches to forest category according to definition of forest that tree density greater than 10%, and compared it with forest categories from global land use datasets, FROM-GLC10 and GlobeLand30, with spatial resolutions of 10 m and 30 m, respectively. We found that the FROM-GLC10 and GlobeLand30 datasets underestimated the forest area in Yinshan Mountain by 16.88% and 21.06%, respectively; and the ratio of open forest (OF, 10% < tree coverage < 40%) to closed forest (CF, tree coverage > 40%) areas in the underestimated part was 2:1. The underestimations concentrated in warmer and drier areas occupied mostly by large coverage of OFs with severely fragmented canopies. Fragmentation intensity of canopies positively correlated with spring temperature while negatively correlated with summer precipitation and terrain slope. When summer precipitation was less than 300 mm or spring temperature higher than 4 °C, canopy fragmentation intensity rose drastically, while the forest area percentage kept stable. Our study suggested that the spatial configuration, e.g., sparseness, is more sensitive to drought stress than area percentage. This highlights the importance of data resolution and proper fragmentation measurements for forest patterns and environmental interpretation, which is the base of reliable ecosystem predictions with regard to the future climate scenarios.

Country-wide assessment of biodiversity, naturalness and old-growth status using national forest inventory data

Assessing forest biodiversity, naturalness and old-growth status (B-N-OG) is crucial for supporting sustainable forest planning, yet comprehensive monitoring networks specifically designed for such purposes are lacking in many countries. National Forest Inventories (NFIs) are the official source of statistics on status and trends of forests. While initially designed for wood production assessment, NFI data may be pivotal for ecological forest monitoring, thanks to their robust sampling protocols—enabling statistical inference—and regular field campaigns that ensure continuous information updates. As a consequence, in this study we explore the potential of NFIs for estimating B-N-OG indexes, aiming to establish compatible, scientifically relevant, and cost-effective indicators using existing NFI data at a European level. Based on data from the 2005 Italian NFI collected from 6563 plots, 18 indicators were selected following previous experiences and then used to estimate B-N-OG aggregated indexes. Relationships between the 18 indicators and the three indexes were investigated, along with comparisons of their relationships relative to forest type categories, management types and protected versus non-protected areas. Results confirm that NFI data offer valuable insights into specific B-N-OG indexes, especially concerning forest structure and deadwood. Moreover, the indexes contribute to developing meaningful relationships across geographic regions, forest categories and types of management. However, limitations in NFI field protocols are evident, as they are not explicitly designed for certain indicators. The study suggests the potential for NFIs to evolve into accessible, harmonized European reference networks for B-N-OG assessment for better supporting sustainable forest management, planning and conservation decisions related to forest ecosystems.

가상가치평가법(CVM)을 이용한 원주 성황림 보존가치평가

This study aims to estimate the economic value of tutelary forest of Seongnam-ri in Wonju, Gangwon-do, using the Continental Valuation Method (CVM), which is widely used to estimate the use value and non-use value of natural resources. For empirical analysis, an on-site survey (n=304) was conducted on visitors to Seonghwanglim and local residents in Wonju from May 23 to June 2, 2023. The results of the logit model confirmed the statistical significance of payment amount, household income, sustainable intelligence, and conservation consciousness. Sustainable intelligence was an important variable influencing willingness to pay (WTP). Also, on the basis of truncated mean, the WTP was estimated to be KRW 56,569 per household. Considering the total number of households in Wonju, the preservation value was estimated at about KRW 9.3 billion won. Evaluating the conservation value classified three categories of tutelary forest of Seongnam-ri and found that the respondents rated it in the order of heritage value(51%), selection value(25%), and existence value(24%). It can be seen that the most important value of tutelary forest of Seongnam-ri is its value as a legacy to be passed on to future generations.

Assessment of Forest Ecological Function Levels Based on Multi-Source Data and Machine Learning

Forest ecological function is one of the key indicators reflecting the quality of forest resources. The traditional weighting method to assess forest ecological function is based on a large amount of ground survey data; it is accurate but costly and time-consuming. This study utilized three machine learning algorithms to estimate forest ecological function levels based on multi-source data, including Sentinel-2 optical remote sensing images and digital elevation model (DEM) and forest resource planning and design survey data. The experimental results showed that Random Forest (RF) was the optimal model, with overall accuracy of 0.82, recall of 0.66, and F1 of 0.62, followed by CatBoost (overall accuracy = 0.82, recall = 0.62, F1 = 0.58) and LightGBM (overall accuracy = 0.76, recall = 0.61, F1 = 0.58). Except for the indicators from remote sensing images and DEM data, the five ground survey indicators of forest origin (QI_YUAN), tree age group (LING_ZU), forest category (LIN_ZHONG), dominant species (YOU_SHI_SZ), and tree age (NL) were used in the modeling and prediction. Compared to the traditional methods, the proposed algorithm has lower cost and stronger timeliness.

Relationships among livestock, structure, and regeneration in Chilean Austral Macrozone temperate forests

A Macrozone is a socioecological region with shared geographic and demographic characteristics. Within the Chilean Austral Macrozone (43° to 56° SL), the native temperate forests serve as a crucial resource, offering multiple ecosystem services to local communities. These forests significantly support animal husbandry practices involving cattle, horses and sheep. However, introducing these exotic species affects natural regeneration and compromises their long-term sustainability. This study proposes a new classification of the temperate forests in the Chilean Austral Macrozone based on structure parameters and determine their relationships with animal husbandry and natural regeneration. Data were obtained from Chile's National Forest Inventory (NFI) (2001–2010), including 195 inventory plots (500 m2) with 21 tree species. We redefined the forest categories described in NFI according to the proportional basal area of each tree species at each plot. We used two levels of analysis: forest composition (Level 1), which includes general categories such as mono-specific (dominated by a single tree species), bi-specific (dominated by two tree species), and multi-specific forests (dominated by multiple tree species), and forest type (Level 2), which includes specific species (e.g., Nothofagus pumilio) or species groups (e.g., N. pumilio - N. dombeyi) with economic relevance. We evaluated the data using univariate and multivariate analyses. We found 18 forest types in the Austral Macrozone, in contrast to the three traditionally recognized forest types used in the NFI (e.g., lenga, evergreen, coihue de Magallanes). Livestock was observed in all forest types, where Nothofagus forests showed that regeneration in N. antarctica and N. pumilio were higher with livestock than without livestock breeding (Hedges' g > 0.51). The natural regeneration of the studied forests was influenced by animal husbandry, environmental variables (bioclimatic and topographic factors), and forest structure. Our data suggested the importance of using more forest types than the three classics to generate tools or recommendations that are more focused on the particularities of each one. The classification must be based on forest parameters obtained during NFI. The proposed forest type classification reflects the complexity and richness of the forests in a better way, which could improve forest management and the development of public policies related to climate change and sustainability. Finally, although livestock pressure was observed in all forest types, the impact over some areas (e.g., N. antarctica) needs special attention in the forest management and conservation planning for the Chilean Austral Macrozone.

An Analysis of CMAQ Gas Phase Dry Deposition over North America Through Grid-Scale and Land-Use Specific Diagnostics in the Context of AQMEII4.

The fourth phase of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII4) is conducting a diagnostic intercomparison and evaluation of deposition simulated by regional-scale air quality models over North America and Europe. In this study, we analyze annual AQMEII4 simulations performed with the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) version 5.3.1 over North America. These simulations were configured with both the M3Dry and Surface Tiled Aerosol and Gas Exchange (STAGE) dry deposition schemes available in CMAQ. A comparison of observed and modeled concentrations and wet deposition fluxes shows that the AQMEII4 CMAQ simulations perform similarly to other contemporary regional-scale modeling studies. During summer, M3Dry has higher ozone (O3) deposition velocities (Vd) and lower mixing ratios than STAGE for much of the eastern U.S. while the reverse is the case over eastern Canada and along the West Coast. In contrast, during winter STAGE has higher O3 Vd and lower mixing ratios than M3Dry over most of the southern half of the modeling domain while the reverse is the case for much of the northern U.S. and southern Canada. Analysis of the diagnostic variables defined for the AQMEII4 project, i.e. grid-scale and land-use (LU) specific effective conductances and deposition fluxes for the major dry deposition pathways, reveals generally higher summertime stomatal and wintertime cuticular grid-scale effective conductances for M3Dry and generally higher soil grid-scale effective conductances (for both vegetated and bare soil) for STAGE in both summer and winter. On a domain-wide basis, the stomatal grid-scale effective conductances account for about half of the total O3 Vd during daytime hours in summer for both schemes. Employing LU-specific diagnostics, results show that daytime Vd varies by a factor of 2 between LU categories. Furthermore, M3Dry vs. STAGE differences are most pronounced for the stomatal and vegetated soil pathway for the forest LU categories, with M3Dry estimating larger effective conductances for the stomatal pathway and STAGE estimating larger effective conductances for the vegetated soil pathway for these LU categories. Annual domain total O3 deposition fluxes differ only slightly between M3Dry (74.4 Tg/year) and STAGE (76.2 Tg/yr), but pathway-specific fluxes to individual LU types can vary more substantially on both annual and seasonal scales which would affect estimates of O3 damages to sensitive vegetation. A comparison of two simulations differing only in their LU classification scheme shows that the differences in LU cause seasonal mean O3 mixing ratio differences on the order of 1 ppb across large portions of the domain, with the differences generally largest during summer and in areas characterized by the largest differences in the fractional coverages of the forest, planted/cultivated, and grassland LU categories. These differences are generally smaller than the M3Dry vs. STAGE differences outside the summer season but have a similar magnitude during summer. Results indicate that the deposition impacts of LU differences are caused both by differences in the fractional coverages and spatial distributions of different LU categories as well as the characterization of these categories through variables like surface roughness and vegetation fraction in look-up tables used in the land-surface model and deposition schemes. Overall, the analyses and results presented in this study illustrate how the diagnostic grid-scale and LU-specific dry deposition variables adopted for AQMEII4 can provide insights into similarities and differences between the CMAQ M3Dry and STAGE dry deposition schemes that affect simulated pollutant budgets and ecosystem impacts from atmospheric pollution.

Comparative Valuation of Three Ecosystem Services in a Canadian Watershed Using Global, Regional, and Local Unit Values

Economic valuations of ecosystem services often transfer previously estimated global unit values to the geographical setting of interest. While this approach produces quick results, its reliability depends on how representative the large-scale average unit values are for the given local context. Here, we estimate the values of three ecosystem services (ES)—water filtration, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration—in the Grand River watershed (GRW) of southern Ontario, Canada. The watershed covers nearly 7000 km2, has a humid continental climate and a population of close to one million people. Land cover is dominated by agriculture. We compare ES valuations using locally derived (i.e., GRW-specific) unit values to valuations based on unit values from a regional database and those compiled in the global Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD). The regional database includes mean unit values from three case studies within southern Ontario and one boreal watershed in British Columbia. As expected, the regional database yields average monetary values for the three ES that are close to those obtained using the local unit values but with larger associated uncertainties. Using the ESVD, however, results in significantly higher monetary values for the ES. For water filtration, the ESVD value is more than five times higher than the regional and local estimates. We further illustrate the effect of the extent of aggregation of forested and agricultural land categories on the ES values. For example, by subdividing the forest category into three subcategories (deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forest), the estimated value of the carbon sequestration service from forested areas within the GRW decreases by 7%. Overall, our results emphasize the importance of critically assessing the origin of unit values and the land cover resolution in ES valuation, especially when ES valuation is used as a policy-guiding tool.

Rationale for the creation and planning organization of the national nature park within the boundaries of the Borzhava mountain range

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; To date, Transcarpathian region is where the conservation indicator in Ukraine is the highest (15.52%). However, the network of natural geosystems includes areas that – due to absence of well-established mechanisms of nature protection – are being harmed by by excessive economic development and use of outmoded environmental management approaches. One such important natural complex requiring protection of its biotic and landscape diversity is the Borzhava range. In this paper, the authors provide a rationale for the creation of the National Nature Park (NNP) within the boundaries of the Borzhava mountain range, taking into account the landscape and bioecological approaches, as well as accounting for the limiting factors of the existing manage- ment of natural resources. We determined the optimal location for the park, delineated its configuration, boundaries, and total area, and proposed a cartographic model of its functional zoning. We identified the NPP’s role in the regional econetwork and the main negative anthropogenic factors that must be regulated. In order to solve the aforesaid tasks, the authors clarified the boundaries of the Borzhava mountain range and high-landscape areas. We charted a schematic map and a supporting table «Existing environmental preservation territories within the Borzhava physical-geographical sub-district in the landscape areas» to the scale scale of 1: 500,000. To identify the functional and regime zones of the proposed park, we have compiled the «Species and age structure of forests, vegetation groups of meadows and other non-forest lands within the projected Borzhava NNP» map. In particular, it identifies species and age charac- teristics of forests, groups of shrubs and herbal phytocenoses in the meadows within the previously outlined NNP territory. To analyze the anthropogenic factors, economic and other functional zones influencing the park’s ecosystems, the authors charted the additional schematic maps of «Functional purposes and forms of ownership of land proposed to be included in the boundaries of the Borzhava NNP» and «Categories of land and forests suggested for inclusion in the Borzhava NNP». The authors believe that the research presented in this article gives ample reason for designing a Park’s project with further submission of necessary materials to be reviewed by the Department of ecology and natural resources of Transcarpathian region.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Ecological and geographical peculiarities of the forests current state in state-owned forest enterprise “Berehiv forestry”

Purpose. To analysis of the current state of the forests on the territory of Berehiv forestry, geospatial features of their functional and age structure, species composition with the aim of optimizing forest use. Methods. Observation, systematic approach, analysis and synthesis, generalization, system-structural, comparative-geographical, cartographic, mathematical Results. The peculiarities of the geospatial distribution of forest areas on the territory of the state-owned forestry enterprise “Berehiv forestry”, their age structure, species composition, and distribution within forestry have been analyzed. Based on the primary materials, a map of forest categories in terms of forestry has been constructed and analyzed: “The categories of forest of the state-owned forestry enterprise “Berehiv forestry” in the context of forestry”. It has been defined that the forests perform the following functions: nature protecting, recreational and health-improving, and protective on the territory of the forestry. Despite the fact that the level of forest cover in the region is low and the forest areas are fragmented the production forests dominate here. Spatial analysis of the age structure and species composition in the forests of the State Enterprise "Berehiv Forest Farm" has been carried out. It has been found out that hardwood plantations dominate among the species composition of forest tracts. The leading place belongs to oak and beech stands. Conifers did not become widespread due to the peculiarities of local growth conditions. Tiny areas of low-value soft-leaved stands show the active and successful work of foresters. It has been clarified that the age structure of forests is dominated by medieval plantations. They are located mainly in the central and eastern parts of the territory that has been under the research. Mature and overmature stands dominate in the northern part. Conclusions. It has been identified that, the area, which has been under the research is the least forested in Thanscarpathia region. The production forests are located in the most forested central and northern parts of the forestry, while the other categorizes dominate in the eastern and western outskirts. The area of Berehiv forestry requires a set of measures to be done to grow forests on infertile acidic soils and optimization of the age structure of existing forest areas.

State of forest fund and planning in forestry

State of forest fund and planning in forestry

Forest inventory and its importance for sustainable forestry development

In modern forestry, comprehensive analyzes are necessary when planning and making decisions. Each decision, directly or indirectly, affects the forest, reflecting through different economic, environmental and social criteria. There is a growing number of elements that planners and decision makers need to consider. This is especially pronounced in the XXI century when forests are endangered by various harmful influences, primarily of anthropogenic origin (direct or indirect), while at the same time functional sustainability and sustainability are imposed as management imperatives. Between these extremes, planners must find such solutions that will increase the degree of forest cover, protect existing forests, improve their quality and functional capacity, while permanently satisfying the increasingly complex requirements of modern society towards forests. The starting point for their action is comprehensive and reliable information on forests at various levels, from local to global. In that sense, the forest inventory is gaining more and more importance and is rapidly developing in the methodological and technological sense, as well as in terms of merging national inventories into various regional and global associations dealing with forests. The aim of these associations is to exchange experiences and create functional databases, which would enable experts to make detailed analyzes and monitoring of forest ecosystems, and politicians, based on these expertises, to make binding decisions for member states. In the time to come, forests have been recognized as a condition for the survival of human civilization, so that forestry is increasingly taking on supranational significance. The forest inventory of BiH, ie the Republika Srpska, until the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century, had all the features of a modern inventory, based on statistical principles. The war and political circumstances after the mentioned period, the lack of finances, scientific research and personnel closely specialized in forest inventory, influenced the decades-long stagnation of the forest inventory of the Republic of Srpska. Stagnation is multidirectional with negative implications for the process of planning and decision-making in forestry, ie with negative impacts on the condition of the forests of Republika Srpska. Forest inventory for the needs of forest management, which is the basic planning document for regulating forest management in the spirit of the principle of continuity of forest management, often does not provide the prescribed accuracy of assessment for broader categories of high forests with natural regeneration at the level of forest areas. Inventory data for lower unit units (departments and sections) are burdened with large estimation errors, so that the executor of the plan at this level is left with the freedom to work, with the management plan prescribed for the management class being executed in full. Reliability and control of the implementation of plans on this concept of forest inventory are debatable. The results of forest inventory on large areas (DIŠ-1 and DIŠ-2) are incomparable due to the different concepts of samples used, improvisation of field work and poor data processing procedures, unrealistic increases in area, volume and volume increment in DIŠ-2, so that relevant conclusions about the forest fund trend over a 40-year period are impossible to draw. A number of measures are proposed in order to overcome this situation, and the RS forest inventory is methodologically, technologically and functionally improved and in line with modern European inventories. The imperative measure is to provide scientific staff specialized in forest inventory, which would deal with scientific research and professional work in this area, as well as education of staff for the needs of RS forestry. Only after that can we talk about methodological corrections of small-area and national inventory, application of modern technologies and automation of data collection, transfer and processing, creation of information system and inclusion of RS forest inventory in regional and global associations that focus on forests. Without the implementation of these and other measures, the RS forest inventory will continue to stagnate at the level of the 1980s and will be less and less able to meet the numerous demands imposed on modern forestry.

Coverage changes of pine trees at risk in collection sites in northern Mexico

Objective: To analyze the changes in land-use and vegetation (LUV), from 1985 to 2014, in the sites in northern Mexico where 16 pine trees listed in the NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 are collected. Design/Methodology/Approach: Based on consultations in botanical collections, a georeferenced database of the species under study was developed. A point coverage was created to which LUV vector information from Series I (1985) and VI (2014) was added. Subsequently, LUV class changes were identified during the evaluation period through spatial analysis and geoprocessing. Results: A total of 2,242 georeferenced records of pine species were obtained. Fifty percent of the pine records consulted in collections with Series I information belong to other non-primary forest categories of LUV, while with Series VI information with this condition rose to 58.7%. Consequently, in the study period major changes occurred in the conversion of primary forests to agricultural lands, pasture, secondary vegetation in coniferous and oak forests, and mainly urban areas. Limitations/Implications: The availability of larger-scale cartographic material limited the generation of a risk analysis study about the changes and threats to forest conservation. Findings/Conclusions: The number of collection sites registered in coniferous forest, scrubland, and primary oak forest in Series I —which are now agricultural lands, water bodies, pastures, and urban areas— was significantly lower than in Series VI.

A modified U-net-based architecture for segmentation of satellite images on a novel dataset

The remote-sensing-based satellite images have been providing a wealth of information to the scientists for study of environmental changes caused by climate changes or human activities such as destructive cyclones and earthquakes etc. This paper proposes a deep learning-based segmentation model for agriculture images captured from satellites and a novel agriculture-based satellite dataset. The segmentation has been performed on the satellite images into five categories of cultivated land, uncultivated land, residences, water, and forest. The dataset has been created using Sentinel-2 satellite data over the Panipat district in Haryana, India having diversity in crops and land usage. The dataset consists of 16,720 images and their corresponding masks over the years ranging from 2018 to 2020. The proposed model consists of a six-phase encoder-decoder network with a total of 33 convolution layers. The proposed segmentation model has been evaluated on proposed dataset and obtained an efficient metric of 72% IoU score which is better than state-of-the-art models such as U-Net, Link-Net, FPN and DeeplabV3+ score 51%, 46%, 49%, 67% IoU respectively.

Genetic diversity and structure in wild Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora A. Froehner) populations in Yangambi (DR Congo) and their relation to forest disturbance.

Degradation and regeneration of tropical forests can strongly affect gene flow in understorey species, resulting in genetic erosion and changes in genetic structure. Yet, these processes remain poorly studied in tropical Africa. Coffea canephora is an economically important species, found in the understorey of tropical rainforests of Central and West Africa, and the genetic diversity harboured in its wild populations is vital for sustainable coffee production worldwide. Here, we aimed to quantify genetic diversity, genetic structure, and pedigree relations in wild C. canephora populations, and we investigated associations between these descriptors and forest disturbance and regeneration. Therefore, we sampled 256 C. canephora individuals within 24 plots across three forest categories in Yangambi (DR Congo), and used genotyping-by-sequencing to identify 18,894 SNPs. Overall, we found high genetic diversity, and no evidence of genetic erosion in C. canephora in disturbed old-growth forest, as compared to undisturbed old-growth forest. In addition, an overall heterozygosity excess was found in all populations, which was expected for a self-incompatible species. Genetic structure was mainly a result of isolation-by-distance, reflecting geographical location, with low to moderate relatedness at finer scales. Populations in regrowth forest had lower allelic richness than populations in old-growth forest and were characterised by a lower inter-individual relatedness and a lack of isolation-by-distance, suggesting that they originated from different neighbouring populations and were subject to founder effects. Wild Robusta coffee populations in the study area still harbour high levels of genetic diversity, yet careful monitoring of their response to ongoing forest degradation remains required.