Forest-dominated Landscape Research Articles

Drivers of anticoagulant rodenticide exposure in fishers (Pekania pennanti) across the northeastern United States

Studies in parts of Europe, New Zealand, and North America indicate uptake of anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) by predatory mammals to be widespread and common, with proximity to urban and agricultural areas being an important driver of exposure. Yet, little is known regarding the patterns and drivers of AR exposure in predatory mammals within more forest-dominated landscapes. Across the forest-dominated northeastern United States (US), a region spanning Pennsylvania to Maine, we tested livers from 597 fisher (Pekania pennanti) obtained from the legal harvest for 11 anticoagulant rodenticide compounds. We used kriging to determine potential hot zones (within or among states) and used regression models to test agricultural land use, developed landscapes, and protected areas as potential drivers of exposure patterns. We detected 8 AR compounds, with 78.6% of sampled individuals testing positive for ≥1 compound. The highest rate of exposure was observed in New Hampshire and Vermont at 93.3 and 100.0% and the lowest in Maine at 52.8%. The majority of individuals (55.3%) tested positive for 2-6 different compounds rather than a single compound (23.3%) or none (21.4%), indicating repeated and chronic levels of exposure among fisher. Spatial interpolation revealed a hot region of exposure spanning southern New Hampshire, Vermont, and southeastern New York. Regression models indicated the proportion of wildland-urban intermix (low density buildings within a largely forest-dominated landscape) as a consistent and strong predictor of AR exposure, with marginal and inconsistent relationships observed between AR exposure and the amount of agricultural land use, and with no apparent benefit conferred by protected areas in the region. Given that northeastern states support the highest rural human population density in the nation, with individual homes interspersed throughout a forested matrix, residential use of ARs is implicated as potentially the main driver of exposure for forest carnivores in this region. However, surveillance of a broader suite of species, and greater knowledge of AR use in commercial forestry operations, will be necessary to understand the generality of our observations.

Home range sizes of red deer in relation to habitat composition: a review and implications for management in Sweden

Knowledge about deer spatial use is essential for damage mitigation, conservation, and harvest management. We assess annual and seasonal home range sizes in relation to habitat composition for red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Sweden, using GPS-data from two regions with different management systems. We compare our findings with reviewed data on red deer home range sizes in Europe. Annual and seasonal home ranges during calving, hunt, and winter-spring, decreased with increasing proportion forest. Female annual home ranges in a mixed agricultural-forest landscape were three times larger than in a forest-dominated landscape. Core areas (50% Kernels) were approximately 1/5 of the full annual and seasonal home ranges (95% Kernels) regardless of habitat composition. Home range size in the forest-dominated landscape showed little inter-seasonal variation. In the agricultural-forest landscape, home ranges were larger during calving, hunt, and winter-spring compared to summer and rut. In the forest-dominated landscape, management areas are large enough to cover female spatial use. In the agricultural-forest landscape, female spatial use covers several license units. Here, the coordinated license system is needed to reach trade-offs between goals of conservation, game management, and damage mitigation. Males had in general larger home ranges than females, and the majority of the males also made a seasonal migration to and from the rutting areas. The license system area in the agricultural-forest landscape is large enough to manage migrating males. In the forest landscape, a coordination of several management areas is needed to encompass male migrations. We conclude that management needs to adapt to deer spatial use in different types of landscapes to reach set goals.

Landscape Metrics and Land-Use Patterns of Energy Crops in the Agricultural Landscape

Energy crops are a new player in the traditional agricultural landscape. The present paper analyses the land uses surrounding and the spatial characteristics of the main energy crops in Sweden (willow, poplar, hybrid aspen and reed canary grass) compared to traditional agricultural crops during the period 2006–2018. Spatial metrics (number of shape characterising points, shape index and rectangularity ratio) are calculated for each field, as well as the nearby land uses at varying distances, at radius: 500 m, 1000 m, 2000 m and 5000 m. A total of 1560 energy crop fields are studied in the 2006 dataset and 3416 fields in the 2018 dataset, which are compared to 58,246 fields with cereal crops in 2006 and 131,354 fields in the 2018 dataset. Results show that, despite being established on previous agricultural land, energy crops present a different spatial profile compared to traditional agricultural crops. Field shapes present less complexity than before, and the overall spatial features become more regular with time in both cases of energy crops and cereals, suggesting an increasing trend in cost-efficient agricultural practices and planning. Important differences concerning land use diversity at different scales are found between plantations versus grasses. In general, willow plantations are located in agriculture-dominated areas (> 70% at 500 m, > 50% at 2000 m), whereas reed canary grass is in forest-dominated landscapes (> 30% at 500 m, > 60% at 2000 m); both contribute to diversifying existing land uses although with varying effects. The results of this study are a basis to assess the impacts of energy crops at landscape level and can translate into applications in energy policy and planning.

Local and landscape environmental heterogeneity drive ant community structure in temperate seminatural upland grasslands.

Environmental heterogeneity is an important driver of ecological communities. Here, we assessed the effects of local and landscape spatial environmental heterogeneity on ant community structure in temperate seminatural upland grasslands of Central Germany. We surveyed 33 grassland sites representing a gradient in elevation and landscape composition. Local environmental heterogeneity was measured in terms of variability of temperature and moisture within and between grasslands sites. Grassland management type (pasture vs. meadows) was additionally included as a local environmental heterogeneity measure. The complexity of habitat types in the surroundings of grassland sites was used as a measure of landscape environmental heterogeneity. As descriptors of ant community structure, we considered species composition in terms of nest density, community evenness, and functional response traits. We found that extensively grazed pastures and within-site heterogeneity in soil moisture at local scale, and a high diversity of land cover types at the landscape scale affected ant species composition by promoting higher nest densities of some species. Ant community evenness was high in wetter grasslands with low within-site variability in soil moisture and surrounded by a less diverse landscape. Fourth-corner models revealed that ant community structure response to environmental heterogeneity was mediated mainly by worker size, colony size, and life history traits related with colony reproduction and foundation. We discuss how within-site local variability in soil moisture and low-intensity grazing promote ant species densities and highlight the role of habitat temperature and humidity affecting community evenness. We hypothesize that a higher diversity of land cover types in a forest-dominated landscape buffers less favorable environmental conditions for ant species establishment and dispersal between grasslands. We conclude that spatial environmental heterogeneity at local and landscape scale plays an important role as deterministic force in filtering ant species and, along with neutral processes (e.g., stochastic colonization), in shaping ant community structure in temperate seminatural upland grasslands.

Land-use patterns of energy crops in the agricultural landscape

Lignocellulosic energy crops can produce substantial amounts of biomass for energy purposes, but their introduction implies land-use changes as they are mainly cultivated in agriculturally dominated landscapes. This thesis presents a land-use analysis of lignocellulosic energy crops in the agricultural landscape in Sweden, specifically aiming to i) assess different energy crops’ regarding production, location and climatic profiles, ii) characterise and define the surrounding agricultural landscape, and iii) study the overall land-use changes derived from the establishment of energy crops in the country. The analysis is based on empirical data from commercial fast-growing tree plantations (willow, poplar, and hybrid aspen) and energy grasses (reed canary grass) at multiple spatial scales from field to landscape level, during the period 1986-2018. At field level, there is a trend for smaller and more regular fields dedicated to energy crops, with cultivation patterns moving towards more productive lands, reflecting an intensification in the land-use management. Willow was initially established mainly on fallow lands, but many plantations were subsequently replaced by cereals due to changes in global cereal prices. In the case of grasses, this pattern was similar, although changes appeared later and not so markedly. At landscape level, energy crops significantly diversify the agricultural landscape, as fast-growing tree plantations are largely introduced in cereal areas and grasses in forest-dominated landscapes. The methods and analysis of this thesis contribute to a better understanding of land-use changes associated to energy crops, and help define their contribution to diversifying the agricultural landscape.

Effects of landscape composition on hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in mass-flowering crop fields within forest-dominated landscapes

Agricultural intensification has led to structurally simplified landscapes with reduced and fragmented resources for farmland insects. However, studies on the effects of landscape composition on farmland insects have mainly been performed in areas dominated by open arable land and semi-natural grasslands, while studies from forest-dominated landscapes are scarce. This research examined the effects of landscape composition on hoverfly species richness and abundance in arable land in boreal forest-dominated landscapes. Hoverflies were sampled in 22 mass-flowering caraway (Carum carvi) fields in Central Finland using pan traps. The effects of landscape composition on species richness and abundance were examined for all hoverflies, and for species groups with different adult habitat preferences. Landscape composition was measured as proportions of land cover classes within two different radii. Species richness and abundances of all hoverflies, forest species and open-habitat species increased with decreasing arable land cover and/or increasing forest cover within a 500 m radius (the two land cover classes strongly negatively correlated). Wetland species were most abundant in landscapes with an intermediate cover of arable land and forest, and most species-rich in landscapes with intermediate (10%) water cover. The species richness and abundance of mixed-habitat species increased with increasing cover of transitional woodland.Implications for insect conservationOur results show that most hoverfies in arable land benefit from increasing surrounding forest cover even in relatively heterogeneous, forest-dominated landscapes. Preserving or increasing the area of forests and other non-arable habitats is needed to safeguard a diversity of resources for hoverflies, and associated ecosystem services in farmland.

The effect of landscape, transmission mode and social behavior on disease transmission: Simulating the transmission of chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations using a spatially explicit agent-based model

We developed a spatially explicit agent-based model (ABM), DeerLandscapeDisease (DLD), to investigate the effects of landscape structure, disease transmission, and management alternatives on dynamics of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). We fitted biased random walk models to data from GPS-collared deer to simulate movements of individual deer and deer groups in an agricultural landscape with fragmented forest patches and a forest-dominated landscape. We estimated behavioral and demographic parameters from field data and published literature of deer ecology. We considered both direct and indirect transmission routes and assumed that bioavailability of infectious pathogens deposited in the environment decreased exponentially over time. We tuned transmission parameters to match observed trajectories of CWD prevalence in Wisconsin, and assumed that infection probability during an encounter was equal for all age classes. Thus, infection prevalence varied with sex- and age-specific behavior.DLD simulations demonstrated significant effects of landscape structure, social behavior and transmission mode on temporal changes in prevalence. Prevalence rose faster and reached higher levels in fragmented forest landscapes due to aggregation of deer within small forest patches. Furthermore, simulation results suggested that CWD might be driven through a mix of frequency- and density-dependent processes, potentially facilitating coexistence of CWD and deer populations. These results demonstrate the utility of ABMs and the importance of including spatial and behavioral heterogeneity when modeling disease transmission.

Importance assessment and conservation strategy for rural landscape patches in Huang-Huai plain based on network robustness analysis

With increasing landscape fragmentation, forest-dominated landscape patches between villages play a highly important role in connecting important urban habitats. Unlike urban environments, these rural landscape patches lack targeted protection strategies and face a significant risk of destruction. This study investigates the philosophy of green infrastructure while considering the rural ecological landscape. Specifically, the connectivity of the rural landscape patches was chosen as the research focus. Taking Xuzhou as a case study, potential ecological corridors and stepping stones were identified through the circuit theoretical model and a multi-level green infrastructure network was constructed. Two important stepping-stone networks were selected from the multi-level green infrastructure network and robustness analysis was performed under three scenarios (centrality destruction， risk destruction， random destruction). By comparing the changes in network indices (connectivity robustness, global efficiency, articulation vertices, assortativity), the more important landscape patches in villages were screened out and corresponding protection strategies were developed. The results revealed that forest landscape patches near rivers had high centrality and were at risk of destruction; accordingly, in the process of village construction and development, the protection of these patches should be prioritised. The results also reflect the importance of forest patches in some villages. This result provides support for rural planning and site selection in concentrated residential areas.

Habitat management for stopover and breeding songbird communities along rights-of-way in forest-dominated landscapes.

The proliferation of energy rights-of-way (pipelines and powerlines; ROWs) in the central Appalachian region has prompted wildlife management agencies to consider ways to use these features to manage and conserve at-risk songbird species. However, little empirical evidence exists regarding best management strategies to enhance habitat surrounding ROWs for the songbird community during stopover or breeding periods. We used a before-after-control-impact design to study cut-back border (linear tree cuttings along abrupt forest edges) harvest width (15, 30, and 45 m wide into the forest), and harvest intensity (14 and 4.5m2 /ha basal area retention) prescriptions along ROWs and assessed their effects on mature forest and young forest songbird species and avian guilds (forest gap habitat, forest interior habitat, young forest habitat, and species of regional conservation priority) up to 2 years after treatment throughout West Virginia. Species richness during the spring stopover period initially decreased at the 1-year post-treatment period but returned to pre-treatment levels by 2 years post-treatment. Breeding season responses to cut-back border treatments varied across harvest width, harvest intensity, and time, but all responses of focal species abundance and guild richness were neutral or positive. Cut-back border harvest intensity had a stronger influence (i.e., more positive responses) than harvest width on breeding focal species abundances and guild richness. For harvest intensity, the more intense, 4.5m2 /ha retention treatment had a stronger influence (i.e., more positive responses) than the less intense, 14 m2 /ha retention treatment. For harvest width, the narrowest treatment (15-m wide) had the strongest influence (i.e., more positive responses) of all width treatments, followed by the widest (45-m wide treatment) with the least influence from the 30-m wide treatment. Abundances and richness increased from pre-treatment to 2 years post-treatment across all species and guilds that exhibited a response. These results suggest that cut-back borders increase breeding season habitat suitability along ROWs for the mature forest and young forest songbird community as well as for species of regional conservation priority in the short-term. These findings can aid the development of management guidelines for the forest songbird community along abrupt forest edges of man-made habitat features in forest-dominated landscapes.

Flies are important pollinators of mass-flowering caraway and respond to landscape and floral factors differently from honeybees

Non-bee insects have been identified as important crop pollinators globally. However, strategies to protect pollinators and enhance crop pollination usually focus on supporting bees. This study examined the effects of landscape structure, location within field, and floral resources on pollinators’ visits on mass-flowering caraway (Carum carvi L.) in boreal farmland, and the effects of the visits on caraway yield. Pollinator visits on caraway flowers were monitored and caraway yield measured in 30 fields at landscapes ranging from field-dominated to forest-dominated landscapes. Hoverflies were the most abundant flower-visitors of caraway, followed by honeybees. Hoverflies and other flies made more flower visits on caraway than all bee species combined. Pollinator groups differed in their responses to landscape and local factors. Flies were most abundant near field edges and in landscapes with high forest cover. Non-syrphid flies and solitary bees responded positively to the cover of flowering herbs in the adjacent field margins. Flower visits by honeybees, instead, were positively related to the flowering crop cover in the study fields. Caraway seed yield increased with increasing number of flower visits by honeybees, hoverflies and all pollinators together. Pollinator exclusion reduced caraway fruit set (i.e. the number of fruits per flower) by 13% and seed yield by 40%. Our study is the first to report the high importance of flies to crop pollination in boreal farmland, where caraway is an important export crop. The results highlight the need of taking flies and their habitat requirements into account when developing strategies to enhance crop pollination.

Habitat Selections of Himalayan Insectivorous Bats in Forest-Dominated Landscapes

The alteration of landscape by anthropogenic activity has reduced the foraging habitats of insectivorous bats. Thus it is important to understand the habitat selections of insectivorous bats and patterns of prey availability, especially in human-altered environments. We investigated bat activity in five classified habitats, namely: old-growth forest, remnant forest, citrus orchard, cornfield and paddy field in the forest-dominated Himalayan country of Bhutan. We monitored bat activity acoustically across 120 sites from May to November 2018. Thirteen different taxa and one unknown QCF bat were identified from 2,558 bat passes. Overall bat activity was dominated by open-space foragers such as Scotophilus kuhlii, Taphozous sp., Otomops wroughtoni and Nyctalus leisleri, showing comparative variations in habitat selection. But, Rhinolophus specifically, R. luctus was rarely present in open habitats such as cornfield and paddy fields, and was found to be one of the most abundant species in cluttered habitats, e.g., old-growth forest and remnant forest. Bat activity was higher in old-growth forest compared to paddy and remnant forest, but was not significantly different from cornfield and citrus orchard. Insect biomass positively correlated with bat activity. Our findings suggest that the habitat selection of insectivorous bats is influenced by prey abundance and habitat types. Although remnant forest was poorly associated with insect prey, the species richness of bats found there was almost equal to that of old-growth forest. Thus, remnant forest was found to be an important habitat, apparently serving as a corridor for the narrow-space foragers in the study landscape in Bhutan.

Long-term climate-influenced land cover change in discontinuous permafrost peatland complexes

Abstract. The discontinuous permafrost zone is undergoing rapid transformation as a result of unprecedented permafrost thaw brought on by circumpolar climate warming. Rapid warming over recent decades has significantly decreased the area underlain by permafrost in peatland complexes. It has catalysed extensive landscape transitions in the Taiga Plains of northwestern Canada, transforming forest-dominated landscapes to those that are wetland dominated. However, the advanced stages of this landscape transition, and the hydrological and thermal mechanisms and feedbacks governing these environments, are unclear. This study explores the current trajectory of land cover change across a 300 000 km2 region of northwestern Canada's discontinuous permafrost zone by presenting a north–south space-for-time substitution that capitalizes on the region's 600 km latitudinal span. We combine extensive geomatics data across the Taiga Plains with ground-based hydrometeorological measurements collected in the Scotty Creek basin, Northwest Territories, Canada, which is located in the medial latitudes of the Taiga Plains and is undergoing rapid landscape change. These data are used to inform a new conceptual framework of landscape evolution that accounts for the observed patterns of permafrost thaw-induced land cover change and provides a basis for predicting future changes. Permafrost thaw-induced changes in hydrology promote partial drainage and drying of collapse scar wetlands, leading to areas of afforestation forming treed wetlands without underlying permafrost. Across the north–south latitudinal gradient spanning the Taiga Plains, relatively undisturbed forested plateau–wetland complexes dominate the region's higher latitudes, forest–wetland patchwork are most prevalent at the medial latitudes, and forested peatlands are increasingly present across lower latitudes. This trend reflects the progression of wetland transition occurring locally in the plateau–wetland complexes of the Scotty Creek basin and informs our understanding of the anticipated trajectory of change in the discontinuous permafrost zone.

Spatiotemporal variations of albedo in managed agricultural landscapes: inferences to global warming impacts (GWI)

Albedo can be used to quantify ecosystem and landscape contributions to local and global climate. Such contributions are conventionally expressed as radiative forcing (RF) and global warming impact (GWI). We contextualize our results within landscape carbon production and storage to highlight the importance of changes in albedo for landscape GWI from multiple causes, including net ecosystem production (NEP) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To examine the spatiotemporal changes in albedo (Δα) in contrasting managed landscapes through calculations of albedo-induced RF (RFΔα) and GWI (GWIΔα) under different climatic conditions. We selected five contrasting landscapes within the Kalamazoo River watershed in southern Michigan USA as proof of concept. The daily MCD43A3 MODIS (V006) product was used to analyze the inter- and intra-annual variations of growing season albedo. In addition, the variations of RFΔα and GWIΔα were computed based on landscape composition and climate. The RFΔα (− 5.6 W m−2) and GWIΔα (− 1.3 CO2eq ha−1 year−1) were high in forest-dominated landscapes, indicating cooling effects and CO2eq mitigation impacts similar to crops. The CO2eq mitigation of cropland-dominated landscapes was on average 52% stronger than forest-dominated landscapes. In the landscape with the highest proportion of forest, under dry and wet conditions CO2eq mitigation was reduced by up to 24% and ~ 30%, respectively; in one cropland-dominated landscape wet conditions reduced CO2eq mitigation by 23%. Findings demonstrate that quantifying spatiotemporal changes in albedo in managed landscapes and under different climatic conditions is essential to understand how landscape modification affects RFΔα and GWIΔα and thereby contributes to ecosystem-level GWI.

Economic Comparison between Pasture-Based Beef Production and Afforestation of Abandoned Land in Swedish Forest Districts

Large areas of agricultural land have been abandoned or are at risk of being abandoned such as small scattered fields and pastures in forest-dominated landscapes are unsuitable for modern mechanized agriculture and cost-efficient grazing. These areas have therefore become unprofitable to cultivate and graze. Spruce planting has been seen as the obvious alternative on these lands but is today questioned from landscape points of view. Now most abandoned land is left for natural afforestation. This study aims to compare the profitability in use of abandoned or marginal agricultural land in Swedish forest districts for spruce planting, natural birch afforestation, or organic beef cattle grazing large pasture-forest mosaics. The pastures consist of remaining semi-natural pastures, abandoned and marginal agricultural land, and adjacent forest land. Calculations of contribution to land, management, and risk suggest that, given present supports and environmental payments, organic beef production with herds of more than 20 suckler cows in large pasture-forest mosaics could be more profitable than forestry, except for in the most fertile areas of southern Sweden, where spruce planting has the highest contribution. Future tree breeding progress and possible decrease of livestock-related support and environmental payments would however increase the competitiveness of resumed afforestation relative to beef production.

The distribution and frequency of detection of woodland birds after selective logging of a small woodland remnant in an agricultural landscape in inland southern Australia

The majority of studies into the response of birds to logging in Australian forests has been done in forest-dominated landscapes or relatively large forest blocks, where the surrounding landscape can ameliorate impacts. This is the first study to examine the response of birds to logging of a small, relatively isolated woodland remnant in a landscape dominated by agriculture, with a focus on declining woodland birds. Approximately two thirds of a 120 ha cypress-eucalypt woodland remnant was selectively logged. Eighty bird species in total were recorded 2–3½ years after logging, including 18 recognised as declining woodland birds. Sixty-four species were recorded in the unlogged area and 72 in the logged area. Of the 31 species recorded sufficiently frequently for analysis, 19 showed no statistical difference in occurrence between logged and unlogged areas at the power of the study, nine were more prevalent in unlogged areas and three more prevalent in logged areas. Declining woodland birds comprised 22½% of overall species and 33% of those more prevalent in unlogged areas. Mapping of records enabled the response of a subset of species to be examined in greater detail. Four species illustrate the range of responses by declining woodland birds: Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsaltria australis was confined to unlogged areas, White-browed Babbler Pomatostomus superciliosus favoured unlogged areas, Varied Sittella Daphoenositta chrysoptera favoured proximity to unlogged areas and Red-capped Robin Petroica goodenovii was widely distributed in both logged and unlogged areas. The likelihood of recovery of local woodland bird populations is discussed in the context of limited landscape connectivity and the recent colonisation of the remnant by the hyper-aggressive Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala. White-browed Babbler and Eastern Yellow Robin are considered to be at high risk of local extinction in the remnant.

Landscape associations of farmland bird diversity in Germany and Japan

Spatial heterogeneity of landscapes is a key factor for the diversity of biota. There are a rich variety of agricultural landscapes around the globe that differ with respect to composition and spatial configuration of land-use types, reflecting different levels of human impacts. To test whether landscape structure influences biodiversity in similar ways in different geographical regions, our study explored the relationship between landscape characteristics and farmland bird diversity in Germany and Japan. The two countries represent regions with similar Palearctic avifauna, but with contrasting climatic, biogeographical, and socio-economic conditions. We used distribution data for 31 (Germany) and 29 (Japan) species of farmland birds and applied multiple regression analysis to examine the effect of landscape structure on species richness of total farmland birds and of several ecological groups. In both regions, farmland cover was the key variable determining species numbers. Species numbers also increased with increasing proportion of semi-natural habitats up to a maximum and then decreased if semi-natural habitat became more abundant. Optimum landscape structure for each ecological group differed according to their respective habitat needs, but the direction of shifts toward their preferred habitats was similar in both regions, suggesting common ecological mechanisms underlying the patterns of farmland bird diversity. Significant interactions of structural characteristics with the region variable indicated that associations between species richness and landscape structure varied regionally. In Germany, where landscapes are covered by a large extent of farmland, woodland edge density had a pronounced effect on species numbers. By contrast, associations with woodland edges were weak in Japan, where forest is the dominant form of land-use. The differences in landscape associations imply that different conservation strategies should be taken according to the landscape context. In farmland-dominated landscapes, edge habitats provided by forest patches are an important feature for maintaining farmland bird diversity, whereas maintaining open habitats is crucial in forest-dominated landscapes. The importance of maintaining grassland, paddy fields, and semi-natural habitats as part of agricultural landscapes was also underlined by the results of our study. Measures for conserving farmland bird diversity should focus on maintaining heterogeneity of agricultural landscapes.

Studying land use dynamics using decadal satellite images and Dyna-CLUE model in the Mahanadi River basin, India.

Population growth rate indicates the proportional rate of settlement expansion and landscape modification in any river basin. The Mahanadi River basin (MRB), which is a densely populated, cropland and forest-dominated landscape, is selected as a case study area for studying the nature of built-up expansion and the corresponding land cover modifications. Satellite data-derived land use/land cover (LU/LC) maps for the years 1995, 2005, and 2015 were used for identification of landscape changes during the past three decades. One of themajor LU/LC changes are observed in terms of increase in the water, which may be attributed to construction of new dams at the cost of the croplands and forest areas. Conversion of forest to cropland and expansion and densification of built-up areas in and around the existing built-up areas are also identified as a major LU/LC change. The geostatistical analysis was performed to identify the relationship between LU/LC classes with drivers, which showed that built-up areas were more in topographically flat terrain with higher soil depth, and expanded more around the existing built-up areas; cropland areas were more at lower elevation and less sloppy terrain, and forest areas were more at higher elevation. The LU/LC scenario of 2025 was projected using a spatially explicit dynamic conversion of land use and its effects (Dyna-CLUE) modeling platform with the LU/LC change trends of past 10 years (2005-2015) and 20 years (1995-2015). The major LU/LC changes observed during 2005-2015 were built-up expansion by 36.53% and deciduous forest and cropland reduction by 0.35% and 0.45%, respectively. Thus, the corresponding predicted change during 2015-2025 estimated built-up expansion by 25.70% and deciduous forest and croplands loss by 0.43% and 0.35%, respectively. On the other hand, during 1995 to 2015, the total built-up expansion and deciduous forest and cropland reduction were observed 50.79%, 0.45%, and 0.73%, respectively. Thus, the predicted changes during 2015-2025 were estimated as 18.48% built-up expansion and 0.22% and 0.21% deciduous forest and cropland loss. However, with the conditions of restricted deforestation and less landscape modification, the LU/LC projections show less built-up area expansion, reducing the cropland, fallow land, plantation, and waste land. The reduced numbers of land cover conversions types during 2005-2015 compared with 1995-2005 indicate more stabilized landscape. The input LU/LC maps and statistical analysis demonstrated the landscape modifications and causes observed in the basin. The model projected LU/LC maps are giving insights to possible changes under multiple pathways, which will help the agriculture, forest, urban, and water resource planners and managers in improved policy-making processes.

High critical forest habitat thresholds of native bird communities in Afrotropical agroforestry landscapes

Our knowledge on the relationship between tropical forest cover and biotic communities is still limited. Understanding the relationship between forest cover and bird functional guilds may serve as a valuable tool to assess how much forest is necessary to conserve significant portions of typical forest assemblages. We sampled birds (198 species, 6883 encounters) along a full gradient of deforestation across 4000 km2 of forest-dominated landscapes in Southwest Cameroon and applied multivariate adaptive regression splines to model α-, β- and γ-richness of guilds in relation to forest cover. Overall, β- and γ-richness remained constant above 42% forest cover. However, total α-richness as well as all richness partitions of Guinea-Congo biome-restricted, large-bodied arboreal foliage gleaning, tree nesting, and frugivorous species declined when forest cover was below 74%. Moreover, ant-followers and terrestrial insectivores showed their highest diversity at zero deforestation. In contrast, open-land, granivorous, opportunistic insectivorous and widespread species strongly increased below 42% forest cover. High β-diversity at intermediate deforestation conditions indicate that the sharp decline of original forest bird diversity may only be compensated by habitat and foraging generalists, which benefit from high habitat heterogeneity. Our study implies that Afrotropical forest bird diversity decreases non-linearly with forest loss. Critical habitat thresholds estimated by us at above 70% are much higher than those previously reported and highlight the need to integrate substantial proportions of natural vegetation within wildlife friendly farming schemes.

‘Leopards’ under the pines: An account of continuity and change in the integration of forest land-uses in Landes de Gascogne, France

The historical record of the definition of forest management and policy principles is a contentious one, characterized by tensions and conflicts between and among public authorities, private stakeholders and citizens. This paper is an empirical and analytical contribution to the understanding of the political and socio-economic factors influencing the integration of stakes in forest-dominated landscapes. Based on a case study of the ‘Landes de Gascogne’ forest region (southwestern France), it explores an apparent paradox that sees local landowners, following a massive storm damage, re-afforesting a Pinus pinaster plantation on a technical basis they know to be vulnerable. The authors highlight how, on which basis and by whom discourses and practices on forest integration have been sustained over decades in ‘Landes’, albeit being in fact reinvented on very different grounds—in a setting similar to the famous quote of the novel Il Gattopardo. The idea of a forest massif is identified as the object of most efforts, enabling the strategical use of three entwined perspectives: as a cultivated forest, a multifunctional land-use and an integrated chain. Ending with an analysis of the interplays of these dimensions, the paper further demonstrates the relevance of landscape and relational approaches to grasp the determinants of forest land-use conflicts.

Landscape trajectory of natural boreal forest loss as an impediment to green infrastructure.

Loss of natural forests by forest clearcutting has been identified as a critical conservation challenge worldwide. This study addressed forest fragmentation and loss in the context of the establishment of a functional green infrastructure as a spatiotemporally connected landscape-scale network of habitats enhancing biodiversity, favorable conservation status, and ecosystem services. Through retrospective analysis of satellite images, we assessed a 50- to 60-year spatiotemporal clearcutting impact trajectory on natural and near-natural boreal forests across a sizable and representative region from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Scandinavian Mountain Range in northern Fennoscandia. This period broadly covers the whole forest clearcutting period; thus, our approach and results can be applied to comprehensive impact assessment of industrial forest management. The entire study region covers close to 46,000km2 of forest-dominated landscape in a late phase of transition from a natural or near-natural to a land-use modified state. We found a substantial loss of intact forest, in particular of large, contiguous areas, a spatial polarization of remaining forest on regional scale where the inland has been more severely affected than the mountain and coastal zones, and a pronounced impact on interior forest core areas. Salient results were a decrease in area of the largest intact forest patch from 225,853 to 68,714ha in the mountain zone and from 257,715 to 38,668ha in the foothills zone, a decrease from 75% to 38% intact forest in the inland zones, a decrease in largest patch core area (assessed by considering 100-m patch edge disturbance) from 6114 to 351ha in the coastal zone, and a geographic imbalance in protected forest with an evident predominance in the mountain zone. These results demonstrate profound disturbance of configuration of the natural forest landscape and disrupted connectivity, which challenges the establishment of functional green infrastructure. Our approach supports the identification of forests for expanded protection and conservation-oriented forest landscape restoration.