Forest Categories Research Articles

What Is Secondary about Secondary Tropical Forest? Rethinking Forest Landscapes

Forests have long been locations of contestation between people and state bureaucracies, and among the knowledge frameworks of local users, foresters, ecologists, and conservationists. An essential framing of the debate has been between the categories of primary and secondary forest. In this introduction to a collection of papers that address the questions of what basis, in what sense, and for whom primary forest is ‘primary’ and secondary forest is ‘secondary,’ and whether these are useful distinctions, we outline this debate and propose a new conceptual model that departs from the simple binary of primary and secondary forests. Rather, we propose that attention should be given to the nature of the disturbance that may alter forest ecology, the forms of regeneration that follow, and the governance context within which this takes place.

Quantifying the Spatial Heterogeneity and Driving Factors of Aboveground Forest Biomass in the Urban Area of Xi’an, China

Investigating the spatial distribution of urban forest biomass and its potential influencing factors would provide useful insights for configuring urban greenspace. Although China is experiencing an unprecedented scale of urbanization, the spatial pattern of the urban forest biomass distribution as a critical component in the urban landscape has not been fully examined. Using the geographic detector method, this research examines the impacts of four geographical factors (GFs)—dominant tree species, forest categories, land types, and age groups—on the aboveground biomass distribution of urban forests in 1480 plots in Xi’an, China. The results indicate that (1) the aboveground biomass and four GFs show obvious heterogeneity regarding their spatial distribution in Xi’an; (2) the dominant tree species and age group which impacts the patterns of aboveground biomass are the primary GFs, with the independent q value (a statistic metric used to quantify the impacts of GFs in this study) reaching 0.595 and 0.202, respectively, while the forest category and land type were weakly linked to the spatial variation of aboveground biomass, with a q value of 0.087 and 0.076, respectively; and (3) the interactions among these four GFs also tend to contribute to the distribution pattern of aboveground biomass. The interactions between GFs achieved a larger impact than the sum of impacts that were independently obtained from the factors. Our results showed that the method of using a geographical detector is a useful tool in the urban area, and can reveal the driver pattern of aboveground biomass and provide a reference for city planning and management.

Temporal biodiversity change following disturbance varies along an environmental gradient

AbstractAimThe diversity and composition of natural communities are rapidly changing due to anthropogenic disturbances. Magnitude of this compositional reorganization varies across the globe, but reasons behind the variation remain largely unknown. Disturbances induce temporal turnover by stimulating species colonizations, causing local extinctions, altering dominance structure, or all of these. We test which of these processes drive temporal community changes, and whether they are constrained by natural environmental gradients. Moreover, we assess to what degree identity shifts translate to changes in dominance structure.LocationFinland.Time periodObservations 1985–2006, disturbance history > 140 years.Major taxa studiedVascular plants.MethodsWe investigated temporal turnover of boreal forest understorey in response to disturbance, here forest management, along a soil fertility gradient. We disentangle the roles of species gains, losses and abundance changes in driving temporal turnover in response to and after disturbance by comparing turnover rates in different forest age categories along a fertility gradient. We quantify temporal turnover using richness‐based complement of Jaccard’s similarity index and proportional‐abundance based dissimilarity index. We also test whether disturbance history or fertility influence the relationship between identity shifts and dominance structure.ResultsWe found that the impact of disturbance on temporal turnover depends on soil fertility. The greatest turnover occurred in the most fertile forests immediately after disturbance. There, species gains and losses strongly altered dominance structure leading to high turnover, whereas undisturbed old forests and nutrient‐poor habitats were characterized by stable dominant species even when the majority of species shifted their identity.Main conclusionsOur results suggest that human impacts on temporal biodiversity change vary along environmental gradients. In boreal forests, the fertile habitats have a higher probability than nutrient‐poor sites of changing their composition in response to anthropogenic disturbances. Resource availability and disturbance history may thus influence consequences of temporal turnover for ecosystem functioning.

Artisanal mining impacts small mammals while chainsaw milling is a more sustainable practice in Ghana

Logging and mining are widespread in most West African countries and considering their socio-economic importance, little is known about their ecological impacts. In this study, we investigated the effects of chainsaw milling (logging) and artisanal mining on terrestrial small mammal communities in a tropical forest in Ghana. For this, we compared abundance, diversity measures and community composition of small mammals active at the forest floor in logged, mined and undisturbed forest sites. We found that abundance was higher in logged and undisturbed forest sites than in mined sites. Small mammal species richness, Shannon diversity and Pielou’s evenness did not differ significantly among the three forest disturbance categories. Community composition of small mammals varied between mined and undisturbed sites as well as between mined and logged sites, suggesting differential species responses to altered environments. This may be due to the presence of pits in mined forest sites, hence a reduction in exploitable ground habitat structures for shelter, nesting or food. Overall, our results suggest that artisanal mining has strong impacts on community composition of forest floor small mammals in tropical forests while the effect of logging by chainsaw milling activities is minimal, especially when practiced at low intensity. This effect was moderated by elevation and distance to streams that equally shaped small mammal communities. More research on the effects of specific forms of logging and mining activities on small mammals are urgently needed to better protect species in forests impacted by logging and mining.

Geospatial assessment of land use and land cover dynamics in the mid-zone of Ghana

Abstract Land use and land cover (LULC) terrain in Ghana has undergone profound changes over the past years emanating mainly from anthropogenic activities, which have impacted countrywide and sub-regional environment. This study is a comprehensive analysis via integrated approach of geospatial procedures such as Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) of past, present and future LULC from satellite imagery covering Ghana’s Ashanti regional capital (Kumasi) and surrounding districts. Multi-temporal satellite imagery data sets of four different years, 1990 (Landsat TM), 2000 (Landsat ETM+), 2010 (Alos and Disaster Monitoring Constellation-DMC) and 2020 (SENTINEL), spanning over a 30-year period were mapped. Five major LULC categories – Closed Forest, Open Forest, Agriculture, Built-up and Water – were delineated premised on the prevailing geographical settings, field study and remote sensing data. Markov Cellular Automata modelling was applied to predict the probable LULC change consequence for the next 20 years (2040). The study revealed that both Open Forest and Agriculture class categories decreased 51.98 to 38.82 and 27.48 to 20.11, respectively. Meanwhile, Built-up class increased from 4.8% to 24.8% (over 500% increment from 1990 to 2020). Rapid urbanization caused the depletion of forest cover and conversion of farmlands into human settlements. The 2040 forecast map showed an upward increment in the Built-up area up to 35.2% at the expense of other LULC class categories. This trend from the past to the forecasted future would demand that judicious LULC resolutions have to be made to keep Ghana’s forest cover, provide arable land for farming activities and alleviate the effects of climate change.

Sucessional trajetories of bird assemblages in amazonian secondary forests: Perspectives from complementary biodiversity dimensions

Secondary forests occupy extensive areas in tropical regions, providing an opportunity to investigate their relevance to biodiversity restoration. However, determining the conservation value of secondary forests and evaluating their successional trajectories depends on how biodiversity is measured. Here, we explore different biodiversity dimensions to understand how bird assemblages recover from forest disturbance caused by small scale farmers in the Amazon. We sampled bird species through standard visual and auditory censuses in 24 small plots of 1-hectare distributed in a paired design of old growth forests and secondary forests from different age categories (early, middle and late succession). We used 12 biodiversity metrics to explore the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic dimensions of bird diversity. Total species richness and evenness was similar between secondary and old growth forests. In contrast, the number of passerine species and disturbance-vulnerable species were higher in the controls of old growth forests compared to secondary forests. The relative abundance of birds with distinct functional traits consistently differed between the secondary forests of different age categories and their old growth forest counterparts. Functional evenness and divergence increased with canopy height and basal area through forest regeneration. In contrast, bird phylogenetic diversity in secondary forests was higher compared to those found in old growth forests while accounting for forest types and age categories of secondary forests. Bird species tolerant to disturbances partially compensate the loss of avian taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity during the conversion of undisturbed forests to agricultural fields. Changes in functional evenness and functional divergence suggest that resources used by birds are altered along the secondary succession and that the niche complementarity among species is reduced in more intensively managed sites. Ecological succession can be highly complex in terms of taxa identity, their functional roles and evolutionary history. Therefore, measurements that explore distinct biodiversity dimensions are fundamental to understanding how species are organized in assemblages across time and space.

How will a drier climate change carbon sequestration in soils of the deciduous forests of Central Europe?

Global warming is accompanied by increasing water stress across much of our planet. We studied soil biological processes and changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in 30 Hungarian oak forest sites in the Carpathian Basin along a climatic gradient (mean annual temperature (MAT) 9.6–12.1 °C, mean annual precipitation (MAP) 545–725 mm) but on similar gently sloped hillsides where the parent materials are loess and weathered dust inputs dating from the end of the ice age. The purpose of this research was to understand how a drying climate, predicted for this region, might regulate long-term SOC sequestration. To examine the effects of decreasing water availability, we compared soil parameters and processes in three categories of forest that represented the moisture extremes along our gradient and that were defined using a broken-stick regression model. Soil biological activity was significantly lower in the driest (“dry”) forests, which had more than double the SOC concentration in the upper 30 cm layer (3.28 g C/100 g soil ± 0.11 SE) compared to soils of the wettest (“humid”) forests (1.32 g C/100 g soil ± 0.09 SE), despite the fact that annual surface litter production in humid forests was ~ 37% higher than in dry forests. A two-pool SOM model constrained to fit radiocarbon data indicates that turnover times for fast and slow pools are about half as long in the humid soil compared to the dry soil, and humid soils transfer C twice as efficiently from fast to slow pools. Enzyme activity and fungal biomass data also imply shorter turnover times associated with faster degradation processes in the soils of humid forests. Thermogravimetry studies suggest that more chemically recalcitrant compounds are accumulating in the soils of dry forests. Taken together, our results suggest that the predicted climate drying in this region might increase SOC storage in Central European mesic deciduous forests even as litter production decreases.

A New Method for Automated Clearcut Disturbance Detection in Mediterranean Coppice Forests Using Landsat Time Series

A Landsat time series has been recognized as a viable source of information for monitoring and assessing forest disturbances and for continuous reporting on forest dynamics. This study focused on developing automated procedures for detecting disturbances in Mediterranean coppice forests which are characterized by rapid regrowth after a cut. Specifically, new methods specific to Mediterranean coppice forests are needed for mapping clearcut disturbances over time and for estimating related indicators in the context of Sustainable Forest Management and Biodiversity International monitoring frameworks. The aim of this work was to develop a new change detection algorithm for mapping clearcut disturbances in Mediterranean coppice forests with Landsat time series (LTS) using a short time window. Accuracy for the new algorithm, characterized as the Two Thresholds Method (TTM), was evaluated using an independent clearcut reference dataset over a temporal period of the 13 years between 2001 and 2013. TTM was also evaluated against two benchmark approaches: (i) LandTrendr, and (ii) the forest loss category of the Global Forest Change Map. Overall Accuracy for LandTrendr and TTM were greater than 0.94. Meanwhile, smaller accuracies were always obtained for the GFC. In particular, Producer’s Accuracy ranged between 0.45 and 0.84 for TTM and between 0.49 and 0.83 for LT, while for the GFC, PA ranged between 0 and 0.38. User’s Accuracy ranged between 0.86 and 0.96 for TTM and between 0.73 and 0.91 for LT, while for the GFC UA ranged between 0.19 and 1.00. Moreover, to illustrate the utility of TTM for mapping clearcut disturbances in Mediterranean coppice forests, we applied TTM to a Landsat scene that covered almost the entirety of the Tuscany region in Italy.

МОНИТОРИНГ ПОЖАРОВ НА ТЕРРИТОРИИ ЛЕСНОГО ФОНДА РЕГИОНОВ РФ

This work is devoted to the consideration of the problems of reducing forest resources, which is largely associated with fires that occur in hard-to-reach areas and in areas with increased recreational load. In this regard, the creation of an effective fire detection system using various types of monitoring – ground, aviation, and space – is of particular relevance and importance. An important monitoring task is not only monitoring the fire situation, but also assessing the effects of fires. To determine the location of forest fires on the lands of the forest fund and other categories of lands, as well as to collect and store data, the Avialesohrana Federal State Budgetary Institution uses remote monitoring of the ISDM-Rosleskhoz system, which helps to quickly detect fires using satellites, record them, and compile information on foci and give them an assessment. According to the ISDM-Rosleskhoz data, a comparative analysis of the dynamics of the number of forest fires in the regions of the Russian Federation for 2017-2019 was carried out, as well as an analysis of the area of forest land covered by fires in 2015-2019, the results of which revealed a growing trend in the number of fires and their increase area. As a result, it was concluded that it is necessary to improve the system of remote monitoring of forest fires with the aim of preventing, timely detecting and preventing spread.

A Study on the Application of Successful Forest Greening Experience for Forest and Landscape Restoration: A Comparative Study of Two Koreas

This study examined the development, direction, and characteristics of the North Korean forest restoration policy when compared to similar restoration policies established in South Korea. The success factors of South Korea’s Forest Conservation and Afforestation Project were classified into four forest policy categories: (a) policy and system improvement, (b) evaluation and capacity building, (c) people’s participation encouragement, and (d) restoration foundation creation. Similarities in terms of these aspects were found when compared with the Forest Restoration Battle of North Korea. For policy and system improvement, South Korea established the 1st and 2nd Forest Conservation and Afforestation Plans and transferred the control of the Korea Forest Service to its Ministry of Home Affairs. Similarly, North Korea established a forest development plan and a command unit for the Forest Restoration Battle. For evaluation and capacity building, South Korea utilized a tree monitoring and forestry association. North Korea is obtaining these effects through both a socialist competition movement and agroforestry. Further, South Korea aimed to promote people’s participation through a nursery project, a tree planting movement, and a responsible afforestation system, whereas North Korea adopted agroforestry, a patriotic forest movement, and a responsible forest system. Finally, South Korea succeeded in replacing forest fuels with fossil fuels, clearing slash-and-burn fields, and performing erosion control. By comparison, North Korea is promoting the development of replacement fuels, such as ultra-high-grade anthracite coal and the formation of separate firewood forests. North Korea has revised its forest law to strengthen penalties for deforestation activities, such as anthropogenic forest fires, and replaced erosion control works with agroforestry, which allows for slope management. Among the four aspects, the largest difference was found for restoration foundation creation. Therefore, this area can provide a guideline for future inter-Korean forest cooperation.

Unprecedented pluri-decennial increase in the growing stock of French forests is persistent and dominated by private broadleaved forests

French forests exhibit the fastest relative changes across Europe. Growing stock increases faster than area, and is greatest in low-stocked private broadleaved forests. Past areal increases and current GS levels show positive effects on GS expansion, with GS increases hence expected to persist. Strong increases in growing stocks (GS) of European forests for decades remain poorly understood and of unknown duration. French forests showing the greatest relative changes across Europe form the investigated case study. The magnitudes of net area, GS, and GS density (GSD) changes were evaluated across forest categories reflecting forest policy and land-use drivers. The roles of forest areal changes, GS and GSD levels on GS changes were investigated. National Forest Inventory data were used to produce time series of area, GS and GSD across forest categories over 1976–2014, and exploratory causal models of GS changes. GS (+ 57%) increased three times faster than area, highlighting an advanced stage in the forest transition. Low-stocked private forests exhibited strong changes in GS/GSD, greatest in private broadleaved forests, stressing the contribution of returning forests on abandoned lands. Regression models demonstrated positive effects of both past areal increases and current GS, on GS expansion. Aerial C-sink in French forests is expected to persist in future decades.

Interactive classification and spatial modeling of land cover changes in the Slovak Republic in the period 1990 to 2018

Abstract. The current country is the result of changes from the original country, mainly due to human influence. The external appearance of the landscape is represented by landscape cover. Within the EU, the Copernicus program, coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA), is dedicated to Earth and environmental monitoring. The outputs of the program are information services based on satellite observations of the Earth and ground-based collection of spatial data - implemented in cooperation with individual Member States of the EU. The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) and the collection of geographical information about land cover and land cover changes, land use, vegetation status, water cycles and the energy of the Earth's surface are provided.The Slovak Republic has been involved in the program since 1990. Corine Land Cover (CLC) data are freely available for 1990, 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018. The CLC legend is a mutual combination of land cover and land use, the highest - third hierarchical level of the CLC classification identifies 44 classes. Data are available in the form of vectors and rasters, with a scale of 1 : 100 000, coordinate system: ETRS89, minimum mapping unit of 25 ha was selected.In this paper, we focus on the identification of the condition and spatial modeling of landscape changes with emphasis on forests. Forests as important carbon sinks are an environmental factor that influences the impact of emissions on the development of greenhouse gases and climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), member countries report changes in land cover categories according to the AFOLU (Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use) classification. For the purposes of estimating greenhouse gas emissions, the AFOLU methodology distinguishes six categories: forest land; cropland; grassland; wetlands; settlements; other areas.The main goal of the paper is the development and presentation of an integrated geographical database of land cover data of the Slovak Republic from CLC datasets (in the period 1990 to 2018), a tool for reclassification of the third hierarchical level CLC and creation of data structures of land use categories according to AFOLU.The specific goal is the development and presentation of an interactive tool - a web application for retrospective assessment of land cover changes from the integrated geographical database according to the CLC classification and interactive assessment of land cover changes according to the AFOLU classification. The outputs of the interactive evaluation of land cover changes will focus on the forest land cover category, evaluation of changes according to adjustable time intervals in CLC and AFOLU and the statistical evaluation of changes.The output is a freely available web application with interactive functionality for datasets, database modeling of land cover changes, statistical evaluation of changes and creation of map outputs. A case study of data processing for the area of the Bratislava region (205 270 ha) in the years 1990 to 2018 (five CLC datasets) is presented. The datasets are suitable for continuously identifying the state of land cover, modeling its changes over time and interpreting land cover change processes over time.

A Multi Sensor Approach to Forest Type Mapping for Advancing Monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Myanmar

Monitoring forests is important for measuring overall success of the 2030 Agenda because forests play an essential role in meeting many Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially SDG 15. Our study evaluates the contribution of three satellite data sources (Landsat-8, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1) for mapping diverse forest types in Myanmar. This assessment is especially important because Myanmar is currently revising its classification system for forests and it is critical that these new forest types can be accurately mapped and monitored over time using satellite imagery. Our results show that using a combination of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 yields the highest accuracy (89.6% ± 0.16 percentage point(pp)), followed by Sentinel-2 alone (87.97% ± 0.11 pp) and Landsat-8 (82.68% ± 0.13 pp). The higher spatial resolution of Sentinel-2 Blue, Green, Red, Narrow Near Infrared and Short Wave Infrared bands enhances accuracy by 4.83% compared to Landsat-8. The addition of the Sentinel-2 Near Infrared and three Vegetation Red Edge bands further improve accuracy by 0.46% compared to using only Sentinel-2 Blue, Green, Red, Narrow Near Infrared and Short Wave Infrared bands. Adding the radar information from Sentinel-1 further increases the accuracy by 1.63%. We were able to map the two major forest types, Upper Moist and Upper Dry Mixed Deciduous Forest, which comprise 90% of our study area. Accuracies for these forest types ranged from 77 to 96% depending on the sensors used, demonstrating the feasibility of using satellite data to map forest categories from a newly revised classification system. Our results advance the ongoing development of the National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) by the Myanmar Forest Department and United Nations-Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) and facilitates future monitoring of progress towards the SDGs.

Impact of wood harvesting on mangrove forest structure, composition and biomass dynamics in India

Mangrove forest are used widely for meeting fuelwood needs of local communities in the tropics. However, the implications of fuelwood extraction on mangrove ecology has received very little attention. In this study, we investigated the impact of such small-scale fuelwood harvesting practices on mangrove forest structure, composition, regeneration, and biomass and carbon stocks in a protected area on the east coast of India. We sampled vegetation plots in areas where harvesting was practised and where no harvesting was observed. We found that species composition differed across forest categories with Exoecaria aggalocha and Heriteria fomes dominating non-harvested forest types and Sonneratia apetela, Sonneratia caseolaris, Avicennia officinalis along with mangrove associates comprising a large proportion of harvested mangrove forests. Similarly, tree, sapling and seedling densities, basal area, and biomass and carbon stocks were also found to vary across forest categories, with overall lower values observed in harvested areas. Lastly, total aboveground (11%) and belowground (18%) biomass and carbon stocks were also lower in harvested forests than non-harvested forests. However, large DBH size-class trees were found in harvested areas implying selective cutting practices that conserved old-growth trees and contributed to larger mean carbon pools. As harvesting is selective, mainly for cooking fuel demands, integrated management plans are required to accommodate local cultural and economic needs of the communities in this region.

Сучасний стан дубових насаджень на притоках Ворскли у межах Сумської області та особливості їхнього природного відновлення

Подано результати досліджень щодо характеристики дубових насаджень на притоках Ворскли у межах Сумської області. Визначено, що серед загальної площі вкритих лісовою рослинністю лісових ділянок на водозборі Ворскли (40464 га), найпоширенішими є дубові насадження, частка площі яких становить 64,4 % (26052 га). Проаналізовано розподіл площі цих насаджень на 10 притоках річки Ворскли за типами лісорослинних умов, походженням, класами віку та категоріями лісів. Наведено результати досліджень природного поновлення дуба й інших порід під наметом дубових насаджень і на зрубах. Підтверджено необхідність сприяння природному відновленню й ефективного його використання для відтворення дубових лісів на водозборах річок. Розподіл дубових насаджень за типами лісорослинних умов свідчить про сприятливі умови для їх росту, оскільки 90,7 % площі становлять свіжі груди. Вікова структура досліджуваних дубняків є розбалансованою. Переважають насадження IX–XII (52,4 %) та V–VIII (35,5 %) класів віку. Природні дубові ліси займають 58,3 % (15185 га) від загальної площі, а штучні (лісові культури) – 41,7 % (10867 га). Розподіл дубових насаджень за функціональним призначенням свідчить про переважання експлуатаційних лісів, частка яких становить 53,7 % (14001 га) від загальної площі. Частка захисних лісів становить 36,1 % (9387 га), лісів природоохоронного, наукового, історико-культурного призначення – 7,1 % (1856 га) та рекреаційно-оздоровчих лісів – 3,1 % (808 га). Ці ліси, окрім задоволення потреб суспільства в цінній дубовій деревині, виконують також надзвичайно важливі та різноманітні еколого-захисні функції. Закономірності поширення дубових насаджень на притоках Ворскли доцільно враховувати під час ведення лісового господарства з метою збереження їхнього різноманіття та посилення виконання ними важливих екологічних, захисних, рекреаційних і інших функцій. Окрім цього, особливості їхньої лісівничо-таксаційної й типологічної структури можуть бути враховані для удосконалення відповідних положень водозбірно-ландшафтного районування України.

Variations in floristic composition and community structure between disturbed and undisturbed lowland forest in Aklan, Philippines

ABSTRACT Despite the notable plant biodiversity of the Philippines, the country still exhibits increasing anthropogenic activities in many forests of the archipelago that pose a threat to many floral species of the country. Hence, to test the hypothesis that there are differences in plant distributions and diversity between disturbed and undisturbed tropical forest patches, a rapid floristic assessment in Malinao, Aklan was conducted. A total of 106 species were sampled in both sites, with 68 present in the disturbed site, 53 present in the undisturbed site, and 12 present in both. Rarefied species accumulation curves and calculations of Shannon-Wiener Index (H) showed higher species richness and evenness in the undisturbed forest. Analysis of the similarities in species composition using the nonmetric dimensional scaling combined with the statistical test PERMANOVA showed clear significant difference between the two forest categories. In addition, one species (Artocarpus blancoi (Elmer) Merr.) that is classified as “Vulnerable” according to the IUCN was noted. Thus, standard calls for the establishment of priority areas for forest conservation in the country are recommended.

New JAXA High-Resolution Land Use/Land Cover Map for Vietnam Aiming for Natural Forest and Plantation Forest Monitoring

Highly detailed and accurate forest maps are important for various applications including forest monitoring, forestry policy, climate change, and biodiversity loss. This study demonstrates a comprehensive and geographically transferable approach to produce a 12 category high-resolution land use/land cover (LULC) map over mainland Vietnam in 2016 by remote sensing data. The map included several natural forest categories (evergreen broadleaf, deciduous (mostly deciduous broadleaf), and coniferous (mostly evergreen coniferous)) and one category representing all popular plantation forests in Vietnam such as acacia (Acacia mangium, Acacia auriculiformis, Acacia hybrid), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), and others. The approach combined the advantages of various sensor data by integrating their posterior probabilities resulting from applying a probabilistic classifier (comprised of kernel density estimation and Bayesian inference) to each datum individually. By using different synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images (PALSAR-2/ScanSAR, PALSAR-2 mosaic, Sentinel-1), optical images (Sentinel-2, Landsat-8) and topography data (AW3D30), the resultant map achieved 85.6% for the overall accuracy. The major forest classes including evergreen broadleaf forests and plantation forests had a user’s accuracy and producer’s accuracy ranging from 86.0% to 95.3%. Our map identified 9.55 × 106 ha (±0.16 × 106 ha) of natural forests and 3.89 × 106 ha (±0.11 × 106 ha) of plantation forests over mainland Vietnam, which were close to the Vietnamese government’s statistics (with differences of less than 8%). This study’s result provides a reliable input/reference to support forestry policy and land sciences in Vietnam.

Effects of forest structure on the interaction between avian hosts, dipteran vectors and haemosporidian parasites

BackgroundForest habitats are important biodiversity refuges for a wide variety of bird species. Parasitism may modulate host species presence and abundance, and parasite effects can change according to forest management practices. Such processes are not well studied in vector-borne avian haemosporidians. We analyzed the effects of forest management on bird-dipteran-haemosporidian interactions, using seven common bird species in managed and unmanaged beech forest habitats in northeastern Germany. We assumed that forest structural heterogeneity affects parasite population parameters in avian hosts (i.e., prevalence and parasitemia), through its effect on the condition of the avian host but also through varying vector abundances.ResultsParasite prevalence was high (about 80%) and homogeneous across different beech forest categories (i.e., young, old, unmanaged) and for all bird species, except Erithacus rubecula (35%). Parasitemia varied across bird species but not across forest categories within each avian species (lowest parasitemia were found in E. rubecula, Turdus merula, and Turdus philomelos). In our study system, we found that vector abundance was not the main driver of parasite dynamics. We found that forest structure affects parasite infection probability directly and potentially host condition via available resources that have to be used either to combat infections (i.e., high parasitemia) or to maintain a good body condition.ConclusionsThe effects of each of the predictors were bird species-specific, and we found that Diptera vectors were not the foremost influence in our host-vector-parasite system. Effects of forest habitat variables indicated that for most bird species in this study, habitat regulation of infection probability was more likely (i.e., E. rubecula, Fringilla coelebs, Sylvia atricapilla), whereas for Parus major habitat characteristics impacted first individuals' body condition and subsequently the probability of infection. Our findings emphasize the need of species-specific analyses and to use continuous forest structural parameters (e.g., the proportion of gap, south facing aspect) to better understand habitat and land use effects on host-vector-parasite dynamics.

The past, present and future of vegetation in the Central Atlantic Forest Corridor, Brazil

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is one of 34 biodiversity hotspots worldwide and is considered one of the five most important for conservation. In this context, the present study examines meteorological and biophysical variables from 2001 to 2016, on a monthly scale, to describe the past, present and future of vegetation in the Central Atlantic Forest Corridor for different land use and land cover categories. The Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model was applied to the Enhanced Vegetation Index series and its ability to simulate data from the observed (2001–2016) and future (2020–2030) time series was analyzed. The results showed an increase in fire foci in extreme climatic El Niño and La Niña years in the land use and land cover categories of Agriculture and Forest. For the Mann-Kendall analysis, soil moisture and the Enhanced Vegetation Index showed a negative trend in all land use categories and fire foci showed a positive trend, especially in the Agriculture category. The Heatmap showed that evapotranspiration (−0.73) and soil moisture (0.79) were the variables with the highest correlations with vegetation. The results of the validation of the future modeling were satisfactory with an average R2 of 0.53 for Farming, 0.64 for Forest and 0.76 for Others. The Mann-Kendall test for future data showed a significant negative trend for Forest and Others (−1.99) in all simulated future years. The eminent risks due to agricultural expansion and the dismantling of environmental inspection bodies in Brazil increase the need for studies that can assist in the management of areas such as the Atlantic Forest.

Analisis Spasial Persebaran Dan Pemetaan Kerawanan Daerah Titik Panas Di Kalimantan Timur Menggunakan Spatial Pattern Analysis Dan Flexibly Shaped Spatial Scan Statistic

The statistical method used to analyze spatial data and spatial statistics. The case study in this study is the average number of hotspots in East Kalimantan by Regency / City in 2016-2018. This study aims to analyze the presence or absence of spatial autocorrelation in the data on the number of hotspots, determine the distribution pattern of hotspots, as well as determine the level of vulnerability of potential areas for forest and land fires in East Kalimantan by Regency / City in 2016-2018. The method used to analyze spatial autocorrelation globally and determine the distribution patterns is the Moran Index. Local Indicator of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA) to analyze spatial autocorrelation locally. Spatial autocorrelation analysis results globally using the Moran Index with α = 25% shows that there is a spatial autocorrelation in the average number of hotspots in East Kalimantan in 2016-2018. The distribution pattern of hotspots in East Kalimantan is the pattern of spread which shows that in 2016-2018 the hotspots spread in each district / city of East Kalimantan. Meanwhile, the results of the local analysis using LISA showed that there were spatial autocorrelations in several districts / cities in East Kalimantan. The method used to determine the level of vulnerability of potential forest and land fires is Flexibly Shaped Spatial Scan Statistics and LISA. The results showed that the regencies / cities included in the category of forest and land fire hazard were Samarinda City, Bontang City, Kutai Kartanegara District and East Kutai.