Diversity Of Forest Ecosystems Research Articles

Estimating the amount of British Columbia’s “big-treed” old growth: Navigating messy indicators

British Columbia’s (BC) diverse forest ecosystems include highly productive old growth with global importance for carbon storage and biodiversity. Current estimates of the remaining amount of “big-treed” old growth vary 10-fold, creating uncertainty that challenges provincial attempts to shift management policy toward ecological integrity. This uncertainty arises from using different remotely sensed indicators and definitions of tree size. No ideal indicator exists. We attempt to improve clarity by evaluating the reliability of candidate indicators, calibrating selected indicators to improve consistency, and generating multiple estimates of the amount of big-treed old growth using calibrated indicators. To evaluate reliability, we compared inventory estimates of tree size and site productivity with measured tree size in 1,945 ground plots. To assess the amount of big-treed old growth, we determined an equivalent “big” size threshold for each indicator and calculated the area of old growth above the size threshold. Stand volume, tree density, basal area, and diameter estimates performed poorly; we selected tree height and two measures of site productivity for further analysis. Estimated tree height best indicated the current old growth size, followed by inventory-based site index and finally ecosystem-based site index. The calibrated indicators agreed that very little remaining old growth supports large trees (1.5–3.3% for the biggest trees; 6–13% including medium-sized trees that represent the largest growing trees in lower productivity interior ecosystems). Tree height cannot be used to compare the remaining area of big-treed old growth to the area expected naturally, an important input for ecological risk assessment and conservation planning because height data are lost from the inventory after harvest. The two calibrated site productivity indicators agreed that the amount remaining is less than 30% of the expected historical amount, posing a high risk to biodiversity and resilience. We recommend using estimated height to identify the biggest remaining old-growth stands for regional planning and calibrated inventory-based site index for risk assessment until a detailed ecosystem mapping has been verified to represent old-growth variability. To reduce uncertainty, we suggest that planning groups compare several indicators and analysis approaches, adjusted to ensure equivalence, and use precaution to avoid any unknowingly increasing risks.

Floristički diverzitet veštački podignutih sastojina različitih vrsta četinara na području Kosmaja (Srbija)

One of the causes of decrease of species diversity of forest ecosystems could be inadequate selection of tree species for afforestation and ameliorations. It is known that by establishing new forest ecosystem habitat conditions change, and thus, edaphic and hydrological conditions and light regime also change, which directly or indirectly reflects on plant species. The research included four artificially established stands (pure or mixed) in the area of Kosmaj, where various coniferous species were introduced in the process of substitution of autochthonous forests of Hungarian oak and Turkey oak. The largest total number of plant species was recorded in artificially established stand of common spruce, Atlas cedar, and Douglas-fir (41). The highest Shannon-Wiener diversity index was recorded in stand of Douglas-fir (3.22), and the lowest in pine stands (2.95-2.97). It was determined by cluster analysis that stand of Austrian pine and stand of Austrian pine and Scots pine have the largest degree of mutual floristic similarity.

Contrasting Responses of Alien and Ancient Forest Indicator Plant Species to Fragmentation Process in the Temperate Lowland Forests.

Fragmentation is one of the major threats to biodiversity. In a fragmented landscape, forest specialists are losing suitable forest habitats with specific site and microclimate conditions, which results in their local extinction. Conversely, the invasion of alien species is facilitated by open forest areas and increased boundaries between forest fragments and adjacent land. We studied the effect of fragmentation in terms of fragment size impact on overall plant species richness and on selected ecologically important groups' richness, composition, and diversity. We surveyed vegetation in the interior of 47 fragments of various sizes and one unfragmented reference forest. Our results reveal that the effect of fragmentation is complex and differs for studied plant groups. Decreasing fragment size negatively affects the overall plant richness and richness of native and ancient forest indicator plants as well as their diversity, while the effect is positive for alien plants. The highest proportion of ancient forest indicator plant species and the lowest proportion of alien plants in the unfragmented forest underline the great conservation value of forest fragments. At the same time, our results reveal that large and diverse forest ecosystems are susceptible to biological invasions as well.

Rapid assessment of feeding traces enables detection of drivers of saproxylic insects across spatial scales

Knowledge of habitat requirements of saproxylic insects and their response to habitat changes is critical for assessing the ecological impacts of forest management. Several studies have demonstrated a positive relationship of tree-species richness, deadwood volume, or structural diversity with saproxylic species diversity, while the relationship with the abundance of potential pest species have often been negative. A better understanding of which factors drive saproxylic insects’ occurrence is therefore essential for deriving urgently needed thresholds for key habitat conditions. We tested a rapid assessment method applicable at large scale based on recorded feeding galleries and boreholes assessed during the Austrian National Forest Inventory to investigate the drivers and habitat thresholds of different saproxylic insect families; i.e. Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, Curculionidae, Siricidae, at multiple spatial scales; i.e. at the object, forest stand and landscape level. We modelled the relative abundance of all insects and these families considering nineteen explanatory variables using ordinal logistic regression models. Key habitat characteristics were identified using recursive partitioning. Our results revealed complex interactions among influencing factors at different spatial scales. We showed that deadwood volume was of surprisingly little importance. Instead, individual tree characteristics were of major importance, demonstrating the value of resource quality and variability. The abundance of all saproxylic insect families increased with advancing decomposition, on trees taller than 18 m, and above a living stand volume of 41 m3ha−1. Aiming to guide forest management, not only forest type-specific, but tree species-specific deadwood management is needed, taking into account site-specific conditions, including temperature and precipitation. For assessing temporal trends in insect colonization and habitat dynamics as well as the effects of forest management, we propose a continuous monitoring of insect traces, including living but weakened trees. This will allow for further thresholds that are urgently needed for maintaining biological diversity in forest ecosystems in the face of climate change.

Assessing tree species diversity in forest ecosystems: A new approach

The significance of biodiversity research is to understand the structure and function of the community, and then to protect and monitor the community. The metric of biodiversity is the base of biodiversity conservation. Species richness and evenness are the most common descriptors of biodiversity. Whether it is diversity information measure, probability measure or geometric measure, they all express the combination of species richness and evenness in different ways. This study presents a new biologically meaningful measure of species diversity, which evaluates species richness and evenness independently, designated as DRE. The novelty of our method is to use “absolute discrepancy” to express the dissimilarity between the observed community and the uniform distribution community with the same species composition and same abundance of each species, and then measure the species evenness. The logarithmic transformation of the species number is used to measure species richness with values ranging between 0 and 1. We test the performance of this measure using simulated data and observations of natural and planted forests in different climatic zones. The results showed that the new diversity index (DRE) has superior statistical qualities compared with the traditional indices. Especially, in extremely uneven communities, the new measure describes the causes of diversity changes than the traditional DRE. In addition, DRE is more sensitive to the abundance changes of rare species in the simulated community, and the interpretation of the results is more intuitive and meaningful. It is an improved method to evaluate the species diversity of any ecosystem.

Forest management practices in Spain: Understanding past trends to better face future challenges

Because forests provide a myriad of essential services to society, sustainable forest management that considers and promotes the multifunctional role of forests is of key importance. Understanding how forests have been and are being managed is essential to learn how current forest landscapes have been shaped and how management could be improved to better address all societal needs. Spain makes for an interesting case study due to its dramatic expansion in forest cover over the last 150 years following ambitious national reforestation and afforestation initiatives, as well as for its diversity of forest ecosystems and management approaches. However, a national-level assessment of such a development is currently missing. Therefore, our objective was to document and analyse the development of forest management practices in Spain since the mid-20th century. We developed narratives to describe the trends in 11 indicators of forest management decision-making and practices. Results show that while some decisions have evolved towards promoting multifunctionality (e.g., soil cultivation), others have intensified to maximize production at the expense of other ecosystem services (e.g., naturalness of tree species) and others have not changed much during the past 80 years (e.g., type of regeneration). The analysis also showed that some of the indicators have been conditioned by technological innovations (e.g., machine operation) and by the development of certain policies and legislation (e.g., the application of chemical agents). Based on these trends, we identified the main challenges that forest management in general, and in Spain in particular, may face as well as some decisions that may have to be reconsidered (cutting regime, tree maturity, naturalness of tree species) if the country wants to transition towards alternative silvicultural approaches that promote multifunctionality. In addition, a transition towards mixed-species, uneven-aged forests alongside with genetic improvement of tree species would also facilitate rising to one of the main challenges that forest management faces: to develop a climate-smart forestry that contributes to the mitigation of and adaptation to global change.

Soil fungal communities show more specificity than bacteria for plant species composition in a temperate forest in China

BackgroundSoil microbiome is an important part of the forest ecosystem and participates in forest ecological restoration and reconstruction. Niche differentiation with respect to resources is a prominent hypothesis to account for the maintenance of species diversity in forest ecosystems. Resource-based niche differentiation has driven ecological specialization. Plants influence soil microbial diversity and distribution by affecting the soil environment. However, with the change in plant population type, whether the distribution of soil microbes is random or follows an ecologically specialized manner remains to be further studied. We characterized the soil microbiome (bacteria and fungi) in different plant populations to assess the effects of phytophysiognomy on the distribution patterns of soil microbial communities in a temperate forest in China.ResultsOur results showed that the distribution of most soil microbes in different types of plant populations is not random but specialized in these temperate forests. The distribution patterns of bacteria and fungi were related to the composition of plant communities. Fungal species (32%) showed higher specialization than bacterial species (15%) for different types of plant populations. Light was the main driving factor of the fungal community, and soil physicochemical factors were the main driving factor of the bacterial community.ConclusionThese findings suggest that ecological specialization is important in maintaining local diversity in soil microbial communities in this forest. Fungi are more specialized than bacteria in the face of changes in plant population types. Changes in plant community composition could have important effects on soil microbial communities by potentially influencing the stability and stress resistance of forest ecosystems.

Plant diversity and community analysis of Sele-Nono forest, Southwest Ethiopia: implication for conservation planning

BackgroundStudying the floristic diversity of a certain forest is a basic aspect of the design and management of forest vegetation; and consequently this study focused on the plant diversity and community analysis of the Sele-Nono forest. For the current study, plants were sampled from 90 plots using a stratified random sampling technique along the established strata of the study forest. In all the plots, both floristic and environmental data that were relevant to the study were collected following the state of the art. Based on the collected data, the community types, ordination, floristic diversity, and threats to the forest were analyzed using R-package and SPSS software.ResultsCluster analysis produced seven distinct community types which significantly differed among themselves (Cophentic correlation coefficient = 0.785, P < 0.001) of which community types 2 and 6 were relatively poor; whereas communities 1 and 4 were rich in terms of their species richness and diversity. In addition, Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) suggests that a number of environmental factors such as altitude and slope (topographic factor), OM and N (edaphic factors) and disturbance were the main drivers for the current distribution of plant species and disparity in plant community composition in Sele-Nono forest. Moreover, the study revealed high beta diversity ({beta }_{w} >12) of plant species at the landscape level (i.e., throughout the study forest). Deforestation for agricultural land expansion and degradation through selective logging are the main threats to the Sele-Nono forest.ConclusionsThe present study revealed that the Sele-Nono forest is a large and heterogenous forest at the landscape level (150, 325.27 ha; {beta }_{w} >12). Moreover, it is one of the richest and diverse forest ecosystems in terms of plant biodiversity, and it could qualify to be labeled as a keystone ecosystem. However, currently it is exposed to a variety of threats. We recommend the forest to be developed into a biosphere reserve. We also recommend the prioritization of areas belonging to community types 2 and 6 of the forest for any possible conservation actions so as to maximize species richness and diversity of the native plants of the area.

Responses of tree growth and biomass production to nutrient addition in a semi-deciduous tropical forest in Africa.

Experimental evidence of nutrient limitations on primary productivity in Afrotropical forests is rare and globally underrepresented yet are crucial for understanding constraints to terrestrial carbon uptake. In an ecosystem-scale nutrient manipulation experiment, we assessed the early responses of tree growth rates among different tree sizes, taxonomic species, and at a community level in a humid tropical forest in Uganda. Following a full factorial design, we established 32 (eight treatments × four replicates) experimental plots of 40 × 40 m each. We added nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), their combinations (NP, NK, PK, and NPK), and control at the rates of 125 kg N ha-1 year-1 , 50 kg P ha-1 year-1 and 50 kgK ha-1 year-1 , split into four equal applications, and measured stem growth of more than 15,000 trees with diameter at breast height (dbh) ≥1cm. After 2 years, the response of tree stem growth to nutrient additions was dependent on tree sizes, species and leaf habit but not community wide. First, tree stem growth increased under N additions, primarily among medium-sized trees (10-30 cm dbh), and in trees of Lasiodiscus mildbraedii in the second year of the experiment. Second, K limitation was evident in semi-deciduous trees, which increased stem growth by 46% in +K than -K treatments, following a strong, prolonged dry season during the first year of the experiment. This highlights the key role of K in stomatal regulation and maintenance of water balance in trees, particularly under water-stressed conditions. Third, the role of P in promoting tree growth and carbon accumulation rates in this forest on highly weathered soils was rather not pronounced; nonetheless, mortality among saplings (1-5cm dbh) was reduced by 30% in +P than in -P treatments. Although stem growth responses to nutrient interaction effects were positive or negative (likely depending on nutrient combinations and climate variability), our results underscore the fact that, in a highly diverse forest ecosystem, multiple nutrients and not one single nutrient regulate tree growth and aboveground carbon uptake due to varying nutrient requirements and acquisition strategies of different tree sizes, species, and leaf habits.

Recolonization of epiphytic bryophytes after decades of air pollution in forest ecosystems in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) shows the importance of deciduous trees for the diversity of this species group

In recent decades, great efforts have been made in Central Europe to convert homogeneous conifer stands into mixed stands. One major goal of this measure is to promote the biodiversity of forest ecosystems. Research on forest biodiversity is mostly limited to the spatial scale of the stand (alpha diversity), and only few studies focus on the landscape level (gamma diversity). In our study, we investigate the recolonization of epiphytic bryophytes after decades of air pollution on different host tree species. The study area is the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains, eastern Germany), a low mountain range in which very high SO2 inputs from industrial emissions caused severe damage to the vegetation up to the end of the 20th century. We selected twelve plots each of the tree species Picea abies, Fagus sylvatica, Acer pseudoplatanus and Sorbus aucuparia and recorded the occurrence of all epiphytic bryophytes on trunk and branches at a height between approx. 0.5 and 2.0 m. We recorded a total of 84 species, finding a significantly higher species richness and number of species of conservation concern as well as a larger regional epiphytic species pool (RESP) on F. sylvatica, A. pseudoplatanus and S. aucuparia compared to P. abies. In contrast, there were only minor differences in epiphytic species diversity and composition between the studied deciduous tree species. The dominance of colonists in the current species composition shows that these epiphyte communities are still in the early stages of succession, supported by the observation that species with small range sizes are still very rare. Compared to other studies, the species pool of the examined tree species is relatively large. This is an indication of the much improved environmental conditions for epiphytes in the Erzgebirge. We also recorded Ulota drummondii in the stands, providing its first record in Germany since 1886. In general, we conclude that changing tree species composition from monospecific coniferous to broadleaved stands will lead to an increase in the epiphytic bryophyte diversity of forest ecosystems.

Patterns of species diversity and its determinants in a temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest

Biodiversity conservation has long been a subject of extreme interest to community ecologists, with a particular focus on exploring the underlying causes of species diversity based on niche and neutral theories. This study aims to identify the potential determinants of species diversity in a deciduous broad-leaved forest in the transitional region from subtropical to temperate climate in China. We collected woody plant data and environmental variables in a fully mapped 25-ha permanent forest plot, partitioned the beta-diversity into local contributions (LCBD) and species contributions (SCBD), and then applied multivariate linear regression analysis to test the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on alpha-diversity, LCBD, and SCBD. We used variation partitioning in combination with environmental variables and spatial distance to determine the contribution of environment-related variations versus spatial variations. Our results showed that the indices of alpha-diversity (i.e., species abundance and richness) were positively correlated with soil available phosphorus (P) and negatively with slope. For the beta-diversity, environment and space together explained nearly half of the variations in community composition. Approximately 60% of the variation of LCBD in the understory layer, 40% in the substory layer, and 29% in the canopy layer were jointly explained by topographic, soil and biological variables, with biotic factors playing a dominant role in determining the beta-diversity. Species abundance accounted for a large proportion of the variations in SCBD in each vertical stratum, and niche position (NP) was the ecological trait that significantly affected the variations in SCBD in the substory and canopy layers. Our findings help to gain better understanding on how species diversity in forest ecosystem responds to environmental conditions and how it is influenced by biotic factors and ecological traits of species.

Assessing forest governance innovations in Europe: Needs, challenges and ways forward for sustainable forest ecosystem service provision

This Special Issue provides insights into conceptual approaches, methodological procedures and practice findings for the development and assessment of governance innovations for the sustainable provision of forest ecosystem services (FES) in Europe. We depart from the observation that the sustainable and balanced provision of FES requires novel policy, management and business approaches that need to overcome challenges in order to emerge, develop and flourish. These challenges are rooted in the diversity of forest ecosystems and institutional contexts, a lack of system understanding, of innovation dynamics, the public good character of many FES, and a production-oriented reference frame for forest management. We use a set of good governance innovation practices in form of new actor alliances and payment schemes as a basis for assessment and learning how to promote different kinds or bundles of FES. The contributing authors of the SI combine several methodological approaches to understand the working conditions of such innovations, including integrated mapping, stakeholder and governance analysis, and a forward-looking scenario approach for innovation assessment. Applying multi-methods and multi-actor approaches fruitfully orchestrated a constructive debate among stakeholders on the chances and challenges of governance innovations in Europe, to allow for their uptake in forest policy, business and practice.

Herbaceous plant diversity in forest ecosystems: patterns, mechanisms, and threats

Herbaceous plant diversity in forest ecosystems: patterns, mechanisms, and threats

Testing the Height Variation Hypothesis with the R rasterdiv Package for Tree Species Diversity Estimation

Forest biodiversity is a key element to support ecosystem functions. Measuring biodiversity is a necessary step to identify critical issues and to choose interventions to be applied in order to protect it. Remote sensing provides consistent quality and standardized data, which can be used to estimate different aspects of biodiversity. The Height Variation Hypothesis (HVH) represents an indirect method for estimating species diversity in forest ecosystems from the LiDAR data, and it assumes that the higher the variation in tree height (height heterogeneity, HH), calculated through the ’Canopy Height Model’ (CHM) metric, the more complex the overall structure of the forest and the higher the tree species diversity. To date, the HVH has been tested exclusively with CHM data, assessing the HH only with a single heterogeneity index (the Rao’s Q index) without making use of any moving windows (MW) approach. In this study, the HVH has been tested in an alpine coniferous forest situated in the municipality of San Genesio/Jenesien (eastern Italian Alps) at 1100 m, characterized by the presence of 11 different tree species (mainly Pinus sylvestris, Larix decidua, Picea abies followed by Betula alba and Corylus avellana). The HH has been estimated through different heterogeneity measures described in the new R rasterdiv package using, besides the CHM, also other LiDAR metrics (as the percentile or the standard deviation of the height distribution) at various spatial resolutions and MWs (ALS LiDAR data with mean point cloud density of 2.9 point/m2). For each combination of parameters, and for all the considered plots, linear regressions between the Shannon’s H′ (used as tree species diversity index based on field data) and the HH have been derived. The results showed that the Rao’s Q index (singularly and through a multidimensional approach) performed generally better than the other heterogeneity indices in the assessment of the HH. The CHM and the LiDAR metrics related to the upper quantile point cloud distribution at fine resolution (2.5 m, 5 m) have shown the most important results for the assessment of the HH. The size of the used MW did not influence the general outcomes but instead, it increased when compared to the results found in the literature, where the HVH was tested without MW approach. The outcomes of this study underline that the HVH, calculated with certain heterogeneity indices and LiDAR data, can be considered a useful tool for assessing tree species diversity in considered forest ecosystems. The general results highlight the strength and importance of LiDAR data in assessing the height heterogeneity and the related biodiversity in forest ecosystems.

Spatial patterns of correlation between conspecific species and size diversity in forest ecosystems

Recently correlations between spatial species and size diversity have been found in many forest ecosystems around the world. They are likely to play a prominent role in nature's mechanisms of maintaining species and size diversity. In this study, we analysed the species population means of spatial species-mingling and size-inequality indices in 36 large forest monitoring plots from the temperate and subtropical zones in China. Based on the literature we included eleven diversity-index combinations and considered their correlations for increasing numbers of nearest neighbours. Generally, positive correlations are related to between-species population size differences whilst negative correlations reflect within-species population size differences. Our results showed that the selected species-mingling and size-inequality indices produced different correlation patterns in one and the same monitoring site. We therefore defined a species-mingling size-inequality correlation space by computing the 0.025 and the 0.975 quantiles from the correlation data of the eleven index combinations. We noticed that each observed correlation space included 1–3 combinations of five basic geometric types and can be interpreted as the unique signature of a forest ecosystem in time. The correlation space allowed us to understand more clearly at which spatial scale within-species correlation was more influential than between-species inequality and vice versa. The shape of the correlation space is interpretable and gives important clues about the forest development stage of a forest ecosystem.

Ground-dwelling spider families and forest structure variables for monitoring ecologically sustainable logging operations

SummaryApproximately 80% of neotropical forests are subject to unsustainable economic practices, such as logging. Spiders are a megadiverse taxonomic group with a particularly great diversity in forest ecosystems and could help indicate the sustainability of logging operations. At six sites at 400–700 m altitude in the piedmont forest of north-western Argentina, spiders collected using pitfall traps and forest structure and spider assemblage structure variables were quantified in order to examine the association between them and to identify indicator spider families. Logging changes forest structure and seems to generate an unsuitable habitat for spiders associated with mature forests. The family taxonomic level is a good surrogate for spider morphospecies. The Mysmenidae, Nemesiidae, Theridiidae, Pholcidae, Hahniidae and Tetragnathidae families were associated with upper canopy cover of 20% or more and with more than two dead fallen trees per 0.1 ha and &gt;15 live trees per 0.1 ha, found in unlogged forests. Bearing in mind that the piedmont forest of north-western Argentina is being logged in the absence of sustainability criteria, we suggest including spiders in monitoring schemes to complement the information obtained from more readily used groups, such as charismatic vertebrates.

Contribution of biological soil crusts to soil organic matter composition and stability in temperate forests

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) play an important role in the biogeochemical C-, N- and P-cycles but there is limited knowledge about their effect on the composition and stability of organic matter (OM) in soil. In pine and beech dominated temperate forests, the different compartments of biocrust, crust-adhering soil and crust-free soil were analysed by pyrolysis field ionization mass spectrometry (Py-FIMS) and C K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. Phototrophic biocrust communities had been determined morphologically. Predominant tree species affected OM composition and stability but an overriding effect of biocrust organisms was observed. In biocrusts, the OM mineralization potential was high due to a high carbohydrate/ketone ratio and a high proportion of the fatty acid C22:0. A high proportion of free fatty acids in combination with a high carbohydrate proportion was identified as a relative marker for biocrusts and additional high proportions of lignin dimers were specific for samples under pine. In biocrust under pine, OM in soil compartments was characterized by large proportions of long-chain aliphatics from plant cuticular material. In A-horizon substrate under beech, OM compound classes were not affected by phototrophic species richness, suggesting functional redundancy of these biocrust organisms with regard to OM composition. In contrast to A-horizon substrate, OM in C-horizon substrate was characterized by a higher proportion of easily decomposable material. Under pine, forest management intensity (SMI) affected OM by stand age and density due to effects on phototrophic biocrust species. We conclude that compartment, vegetation, horizon substrate and SMI affected OM composition and stability, and biocrusts hence contributed to soil OM diversity in forest ecosystems.

Using Artificial Intelligence to Estimate the Probability of Forest Fires in Heilongjiang, Northeast China

Although low-intensity forest fires are a necessary part of healthy echo system, high-intensity forest fires continue to affect the diversity of forest ecosystems and species. Therefore, it is necessary to study the driving factors of forest fires and explore their possible locations and probabilities in complex forest terrain. In this article, we determined the relative influences of different types of factors on the occurrence of forest fires in Heilongjiang forest areas and compared the performance of artificial neural networks and logistic regression for wildfire prediction. By analyzing Heilongjiang forest fire data from 2002 to 2015 and constructing a model, we found that climate factors, topographical factors, and vegetation type factors play a crucial role in Heilongjiang’s wildfires. During the fire prevention period, temperature and wind speed have a more significant influence than other factors. According to the variable screening that we conducted, the model built by the variables that we used can predict 84% of forest fires in Heilongjiang Province. For recent wildfires (2019–2020) in most areas, we can use artificial neural networks for relatively accurate verification (85.2%). Therefore, artificial neural networks are very suitable for the prediction of forest fires in Heilongjiang Province. Through the prediction results, we also created a probability distribution map of fire occurrence in the study area. On this basis, we also analyzed the changes in the probability of natural fires under the weather changing trend, which can effectively aid in fire prevention and extinguishment.

Effect of Soil Diversity on Forest Plant Species Abundance: A Case Study from Central-European Highlands

Plant distribution is most closely associated with the abiotic environment. The abiotic environment affects plant species’ abundancy unevenly. The asymmetry is further deviated by human interventions. Contrarily, soil properties preserve environmental influences from the anthropogenic perturbations. The study examined the supra-regional similarities of soil effects on plant species’ abundance in temperate forests to determine: (i) spatial relationships between soil property and forest-plant diversity among geographical regions; (ii) whether the spatial dependencies among compared forest-diversity components are influenced by natural forest representation. The spatial dependence was assessed using geographically weighted regression (GWR) of soil properties and plant species abundance from forest stands among 91 biogeographical regions in the Czech Republic (Central Europe). Regional soil properties and plant species abundance were acquired from 7550 national forest inventory plots positioned in a 4 × 4 km grid. The effect of natural forests was assessed using linear regression between the sums of squared GWR residues and protected forest distribution in the regions. Total diversity of forest plants is significantly dependent on soil-group representation. The soil-group effect is more significant than that of bedrock bodies, most of all in biogeographical regions with protected forest representation &gt;50%. Effects of soil chemical properties were not affected by protected forest distribution. Spatial dependency analysis separated biogeographical regions of optimal forest plant diversity from those where inadequate forest-ecosystem diversity should be increased alongside soil diversity.

Host specificity and species colouration mediate the regional decline of nocturnal moths in central European forests

The high diversity of insects has limited the volume of long‐term community data with a high taxonomic resolution and considerable geographic replications, especially in forests. Therefore, trends and causes of changes are poorly understood. Here we analyse trends in species richness, abundance and biomass of nocturnal macro moths in three quantitative data sets collected over four decades in forests in southern Germany. Two local data sets, one from coppiced oak forests and one from high oak forests included 125K and 48K specimens from 559 and 532 species, respectively. A third regional data set, representing all forest types in the temperate zone of central Europe comprised 735K specimens from 848 species. Generalized additive mixed models revealed temporal declines in species richness (−38%), abundance (−53%) and biomass (−57%) at the regional scale. These were more pronounced in plant host specialists and in dark coloured species. In contrast, the local coppiced oak forests showed an increase, in species richness (+62%), while the high oak forests showed no clear trends. Left and right censoring as well as cross validation confirmed the robustness of the analyses, which led to four conclusions. First, the decline in insects appears in hyper diverse insect groups in forests and affects species richness, abundance and biomass. Second, the pronounced decline in host specialists suggests habitat loss as an important driver of the observed decline. Third, the more severe decline in dark species might be an indication of global warming as a potential driver. Fourth, the trends in coppiced oak forests indicate that maintaining complex and diverse forest ecosystems through active management may be a promising conservation strategy in order to counteract negative trends in biodiversity, alongside rewilding approaches.