Forest Function Research Articles

Synergistic enhancement of regeneration capacity and ecological functions of Robinia pseudoacacia L. plantations in the Loess Plateau

Contemporary forestry research prioritizes the advancement of high-quality forestry, especially in ecologically vulnerable areas. To this end, enhancing the ecological function and natural regeneration capacity of planted forest stands is crucial. This study investigated synergistic or trade-off relationships between stand regeneration capacity and the ecological functions (including water conservation, soil conservation, carbon sequestration, and understory plant diversity) of Robinia pseudoacacia L. (RP) plantations in the Caijiachuan watershed of the Loess Plateau using Root Mean Square Deviation. The results indicated that stand regeneration capacity exhibited synergistic, moderate trade-off, and high trade-off relationships with soil and water conservation, stand carbon sequestration, and understory plant diversity, respectively. Notably, stand regeneration capacity had a synergistic relationship with the overall forest ecological function (sum of the above functions), suggesting that the overall forest ecological function can be simultaneously improved by enhancing stand regeneration capacity. Redundancy analyses revealed that the regeneration capacity was primarily influenced by soil moisture content (SMC), stand density (SD), total transmitted light, herbaceous species richness, litter accumulation, and soil available phosphorus (AP). According to the stand optimization model, the highest regeneration capacity of RP was observed under the following conditions: 1742 trees·hm−2 for SD, 15.29 % for SMC (higher than the mean value of 33.53 % for the existing RP), 41.69 mg·kg−1 for AP (higher than the mean value of 15.84 %), and 1.84 for LAI (lower than the mean value of 20.0 %). Therefore, to achieve the simultaneous enhancement of the regeneration capacity and overall ecological function of RP stands, foresters should prioritize adjusting SD to an appropriate range through thinning or replanting. Additionally, regular pruning of specific branches of individual trees is essential to mitigate the adverse effects of high LAI on stand regeneration. Where feasible, soil moisture and nutrients can also be increased, but excessive levels of AP should be avoided.

Plant–soil microbial diversity and structural attributes jointly dominate the multifunctionality of the temperate forest

Biodiversity is widely recognized as a crucial factor in driving ecosystem functioning. However, the processes that sustain forest ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) through plant and soil microbial diversity are not yet fully understood. Here, we assessed eight ecosystem functions in a mixed temperate forest using averaging and weighted threshold methods to examine the associations between EMF and diversity across environmental gradients. The findings indicated that structural attributes serve as the optimal predictor of EMF. Both complementarity and selection effects had minor impacts on EMF, while the jack-of-all-trades effect drove the relationship between plant diversity and EMF. EMF was positively correlated with soil fungal diversity but negatively correlated with soil bacterial diversity. Soil microbial diversity influenced forest EMF by regulating the trade-offs between different functions. Additionally, we noted that forests situated on steep slopes may experience limitations in terms of multifunctionality, while nutrient-rich soils had a facilitative effect. This study underscores the significance of taking into account both aboveground and belowground diversity to improve forest functions. Within a certain range, more complex and diverse stand structures are effective strategies for sustainable forest management.

Changes in understory plant communities following soil scarification and amendments in a Northern Hardwood Forest

The regeneration dynamics of sugar maple-dominated stands in northeastern North America are intricately influenced by global changes such as soil acidification, invasive species, forest management, and climate shifts. A notable challenge is the expansion of American beech and its bark disease, threatening mature trees and ecosystem services. Although sylvicultural practices aim to control beech regeneration and enhance high-value species, their impact on understory plant communities remains poorly documented. In Valcartier, eastern Canada, we conducted a field experiment to assess the short-term effects of soil scarification and diverse soil amendments (nitrogen fertilization, liming, wood ash) on understory plant communities in a beech-invaded sugar maple stand. Over four years, we inventoried vegetation and measured various biotic and abiotic variables. Results showed that soil scarification significantly reduced diversity metrics like Simpson dominance, functional diversity, and redundancy (a metric correlated to community stability and resilience to disturbance). Negative effects of scarification were exacerbated by nitrogen, lime, or wood ash additions. Lime amendment without scarification enhanced diversity, suggesting its potential to support understory community stability. While scarification and amendments can promote sugar maple, yellow birch, and pin cherry seedling establishment, they have collateral effects on the understory, impacting productivity, diversity, and resilience in the short term. Land managers should exercise caution when combining these treatments, as they may transiently alter the stability and resilience of the understory and other forest functions. A more sustainable approach involves applying scarification and amendments on small, well-distributed patches within the targeted stands for treatment, avoiding extensive application over large areas.

Diverging growth trends and climate sensitivities of individual pine trees after the 1976 extreme drought

Summer droughts are affecting the productivity and functioning of central European forests, with potentially lasting consequences for species composition and carbon sequestration. Long-term recovery rates and individual growth responses that may diverge from species-specific and population-wide behaviour are, however, poorly understood. Here, we present 2052 pine (Pinus sylvestris) ring width series from 19 forest sites in south-west Germany to investigate growth responses of individual trees to the exceptionally hot and dry summer of 1976. This outstanding drought event presents a distinctive test case to examine long-term post-drought recovery dynamics. We have proposed a new classification approach to identify a distinct sub-population of trees, referred to as “temporarily affected trees”, with a prevalence ranging from 9 to 33 % across the forest stands. These trees exhibited an exceptionally prolonged growth suppression, lasting over a decade, indicating significantly lower resilience to the 1976 drought and a 50 % reduced capacity to recover to pre-drought states. Furthermore, shifts in resilience and recovery dynamics are accompanied by changing climate sensitivities, notably an increased response to maximum temperatures and summer droughts in post-1976 affected pines. Our findings underscore the likely interplay between individual factors and micro-site conditions that contribute to divergent tree responses to droughts. Assessing these factors at the individual tree level is recommended to advancing our understanding of forest responses to extreme drought events. By analyzing sub-population growth patterns, our study provides valuable insights into the impacts of summer droughts on central European forests in context of increasing drought events.

Recover of Soil Microbial Community Functions in Beech and Turkey Oak Forests After Coppicing Interventions

Forest management influences the occurrence of tree species, the organic matter input to the soil decomposer system, and hence, it can alter soil microbial community and key ecosystem functions it performs. In this study, we compared the potential effect of different forest management, coppice and high forest, on soil microbial functional diversity, enzyme activities and chemical-physical soil properties in two forests, turkey oak and beech, during summer and autumn. We hypothesized that coppicing influences soil microbial functional diversity with an overall decrease. Contrary to our hypothesis, in summer, the functional diversity of soil microbial community was higher in both coppice forests, suggesting a resilience response of the microbial communities in the soil after tree cutting, which occurred 15–20 years ago. In beech forest under coppice management, a higher content of soil organic matter (but also of soil recalcitrant and stable organic carbon) compared to high forest can explain the higher soil microbial functional diversity and metabolic activity. In turkey oak forest, although differences in functional diversity of soil microbial community between management were observed, for the other investigated parameters, the differences were mainly linked to seasonality. The findings highlight that the soil organic matter preservation depends on the type of forest, but the soil microbial community was able to recover after about 15 years from coppice intervention in both forest ecosystems. Thus, the type of management implemented in these forest ecosystems, not negatively affecting soil organic matter pool, preserving microbial community and potentially soil ecological functions, is sustainable in a scenario of climate change.

Penurunan Debit Air Danau Dendam Tak Sudah untuk Irigasi Persawahan Setelah Perubahan Status Cagar Alam Menjadi Taman Wisata Alam

Dendam Tak Sudah is a lake located in the Bengkulu Province. It is situated in the Dusun Besar Village, Singaran Pati District, Bengkulu City, Bengkulu Province. The total area of Danau Dendam Tak Sudah is 559 hectares, with a surface area of 68 hectares. Since the issuance of Decree No. 79/MENLHK/SETJEN/PLA.2/1/2019 dated January 21, 2019, regarding the strengthening of the main function within the forest function of part of the DDB Nature Reserve area, it has been designated as a Nature Tourism Park in Bengkulu City, Bengkulu Province, covering an area of approximately 88 hectares. The status of the Danau Dendam Tak Sudah area, which was previously a Nature Reserve, has now changed to a Nature Tourism Park. The purpose of this study is to analyze and understand the impact of the downgrade of the status of part of the Danau Dendam Tak Sudah area, formerly a Nature Reserve, to a Nature Tourism Park on the water condition in Danau Dendam Tak Sudah and its relation to the reduction in water discharge for rice fields. The objective of this research is to provide solutions to the government's decision-making process, emphasizing the consideration of environmental aspects and the interests of farmers, in addition to promoting tourism in Bengkulu City.

Predicting trajectories of temperate forest understorey vegetation responses to global change

Predicting forest understorey community responses to global change and forest management is vital given the importance of the understorey for biodiversity conservation and forest functioning. Though substantial effort has gone into disentangling the impact of global change on understorey communities, scarcity of information on site-specific environmental drivers across large temporal-spatial scales has limited our ability to predict global change effects at specific forest sites. In this study, using vegetation resurvey and soil data from 1363 plots across temperate Europe, we applied a machine learning approach (gradient boosting regression, GBR) to model and predict site-specific responses of four understorey properties to global change. We applied our final GBR models at 8 forest sites in Austria to validate the model performance, predict understorey trajectories, and evaluate the effect of alternative scenarios for future nitrogen(N) deposition, climate change and forest management on the projected trajectories. Our results showed that the R² value of the four final GBR models on the independent testing dataset ranged between 0.611 and 0.723 and the most important environmental drivers in predicting the trajectory of understorey properties at specific forest sites were soil pH, soil total carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, overstorey shade-casting ability and regional-scale mean annual precipitation. The out-of-sample R2 value of the four final GBR models on the Austrian data ranged between 0.224 and 0.561. The forecasted trajectories for the Austrian forest sites showed that site-specific understorey responses to near-future climate warming were expected to be weak. Under N deposition decreases, the proportion of woody species was predicted to increase, while species richness and total vegetation cover were predicted to decrease. Furthermore, under a closed canopy, the understorey community was predicted to shift towards more woody species and more forest specialists, albeit with reduced species richness and vegetation cover. Given expected warming and declining N pollution pressures, our presented GBR models allow the prediction of trajectories of understorey vegetation responses to global change and management interventions at specific forest sites. Such projections could aid forest management in addressing challenges posed by global change.

Mixed forests provide higher levels of growth and yield than monocultures across a broad range of conditions

Compared with single-species forests, mixed forests tend to provide more forest ecosystem functions and services. However, there is a lack of detailed understanding of the basic mechanisms of the impact of species diversity on tree growth and forest productivity. The main drivers of this relationship are also still under discussion. Here, we synthesized information from 93 studies to quantify the increase in tree size, crown size and stand productivity in mixed stands, and conducted a meta-analysis on the response of tree growth and forest productivity to species mixing. Tree size, crown size and stand productivity increased by 7.4 % (2.4–12.5 %), 12.6 % (5.6–20.1 %), and 33.0 % (18.7–49.0 %), respectively, in mixed stands compared with single-species stands. Our results show that when all observations are included, the mean effect sizes of tree size, crown size, and stand productivity were greater than when only the equal stand density observations were included. Stand age and stand density were the most important moderators affecting tree size in mixed forests. Stand age, shade tolerance and soil acidity were the most important moderators influencing the effect sizes of crown size, and shade tolerance was the most important moderator influencing the effect sizes of stand productivity. We found that these positive mixing effects were also modulated by tree functional traits, stand characteristics, and climatic conditions. For different growth variables, the moderators that affect their growth in the mixed forests were different. Therefore, in the afforestation practices for differing management objectives, foresters should give priority to the factors that have the most important impact on them to achieve their goals. Our results have implications for linking biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships and forest management practices and may aid the development of more appropriate afforestation strategies.

Belowground biodiversity is essential for supporting mutiple ecosystem functions of forests

Belowground biodiversity is essential for supporting mutiple ecosystem functions of forests

Response of Stand Spatial Structure to Nitrogen Addition in Deciduous Broad-Leaved Forest in Jigong Mountain

Significant influences on tree growth and forest functionality are attributed to nitrogen (N) addition. However, limited research has been conducted on the effects of N addition on forest spatial structure. In this study, we examined the effects of different N addition methods and concentrations on the stand spatial structure of a deciduous broad-leaved forest over the period 2012 to 2017. Five N addition treatments were implemented: CK (control group without N addition), CN25 (low N concentration added to the canopy), CN50 (high N concentration added to the canopy), UN25 (low N concentration added to the understory), and UN50 (high N concentration added to the understory). The results showed a moderate influence of N addition (CN25, CN50, UN25, UN50) on optimizing the stand spatial structure. CN25, CN50, and UN25 increased the mean values of the mingling degree (M) and neighborhood comparison (U), while decreasing the mean value of the uniform angle index (W), although these effects were not significant. Enhancements in the average value of the crowding degree (C) and comprehensive spatial structure index (CSSI) between 2012 and 2017 were found in all five treatments, demonstrating statistical significance. Assessing the distribution of the stand spatial structure index, CN25, CN50, and UN25 increased the proportion of M at an intensity (M = 0.75) and extreme intensity (M = 1), while decreasing the proportion at zero intensity (M = 0), weak intensity (M = 0.25), and moderate intensity (M = 0.5). A decrease in the proportion of trees was noted when U = 0 (excluding UN50), with no discernible pattern found in the frequency distribution of other values. CN50 and UN25 increased the proportion of W at a moderate level (W = 0.5), while CN25 and UN50 reduced it. No clear pattern was detected in the frequency distributions of other values. All five treatments increased the proportion of C at the maximum level (C = 1), while decreasing the proportions at levels of 0, 0.25, and 0.5 in 2017. Intriguingly, nitrogen addition treatments appeared to optimize the stand spatial structure to some extent and stimulated the growth of trees with larger diameters. Nevertheless, the short duration of the data collection period, spanning only five years, may have influenced the significance of the outcomes, underlining the requirement for extended studies. Conclusively, N deposition adjusted and enhanced the stand spatial structure to various degrees within the research region, providing valuable insights for further optimization of forest management.

Structure and Function of Urban Forests and Green Spaces in a Changing World

Green infrastructures (e.g., forests, parks, and other types of green spaces) in urban areas provide people with a huge volume of ecosystem benefits. However, the quality of urban green infrastructure varies among cities in different countries/regions, and key ecological processes, maintaining mechanisms, and policy decision routes remain unclear. Here, we recognize four themes that link studies from the Asia-Pacific and European regions presented in this Editorial: (1) indicators and services of urban green spaces; (2) assembly of and changes in diverse plant communities; (3) utilization and evaluation of urban forest landscape; and (4) patterns and drivers of urban agro-forestry systems. These investigations enlarge our understanding on the theoretical exploration and methodological innovation of urban forestry studies in response to the changing environment, and shed some light on routes to achieve sustainable development goals in the context of rapid urbanization.

Regional-scale biogeographical patterns of soil extracellular enzyme activities across eight Chinese fir plantation locations

Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) is the most important conifer tree species in plantations in subtropical China. Soil extracellular enzyme activities (EEAs) play key roles in mediating multiple forest ecosystem functions, such as organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, and plant productivity. In this study, the activities of five soil extracellular enzymes and their stoichiometric (EES) features were investigated at eight Chinese fir plantation locations. The results showed that the soil EEAs exhibited distinct biogeographic differences and were primarily affected by the spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrients. We found that the soil EES was strongly influenced by soil pH and mean annual temperature. Moreover, soil properties were found to be more important than climatic factors in influencing changes in soil microbial nutrient restrictions based on vector length (0.43 vs. −0.1). Random forest analysis indicated that changes in microbial nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) limitations were mainly affected by soil NO3−-N and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), whereas soil microbial C limitation was largely influenced by pH, DOC, and total C content. This study sheds light on how soil and climatic factors affect soil EES in subtropical Chinese fir plantation ecosystems and provides useful insights for the development of management strategies to improve the productivity of Chinese fir forests.

Treegraph: tree architecture from terrestrial laser scanning point clouds

AbstractAccurate quantification of tree architecture is critical to interpreting the growth, health and functioning of trees and forests. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) offers millimetre‐level point cloud data, but current approaches to 3D tree reconstruction from TLS point clouds primarily focus on retrieving total volume at tree scale for aboveground biomass (AGB) estimation. Few methods have been designed specifically to provide tree architectural properties, including branch‐level morphology and topology, rather than AGB; derived topological traits have tended to be a compromise, and of secondary importance to volume. We present Treegraph, a new approach explicitly designed to retrieve the architectural traits of trees at multiple scales, from the whole tree scale down to individual branches and internodes, using TLS data with limited assumptions about tree form. It provides morphological traits such as branch length and diameter, alongside topological traits including parent–daughter connections of branches and internodes, furcation (branching) number and branch order. We compare Treegraph‐derived morphological and topological traits with manual measurements of branches from eight destructively harvested trees, yielding RMSE values of 0.60 m (5.96%) for branch length, 2.99 cm (33.45%) for branch diameter, 0.46 (19.38%) for furcation number and 0.08 m (33.16%) for internode length, respectively. In a broader application to 603 trees from tropical, temperate and urban forests, we demonstrate that the derived morphological and topological traits support testing of structure‐related metabolic scaling theories. Testing branches over 10 cm in diameter across 18 657 branching nodes shows that Treegraph‐derived branch‐level scaling exponents deviate from WBE predictions, exhibiting area‐preserving behaviour while displaying asymmetry in length and diameter of daughter branches. Available as open‐source Python software, Treegraph provides fine‐level branching network information, promoting improved insights into tree structure and function. This data‐driven approach reduces the need for empirical heuristic parameters, which has the potential for advancing large‐scale ecological studies on tree architecture.

Global pattern of organic carbon pools in forest soils.

Understanding the mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in forests is vital to ecosystem carbon budgeting and helps gain insight in the functioning and sustainable management of world forests. An explicit knowledge of the mechanisms driving global SOC sequestration in forests is still lacking because of the complex interplays between climate, soil, and forest type in influencing SOC pool size and stability. Based on a synthesis of 1179 observations from 292 studies across global forests, we quantified the relative importance of climate, soil property, and forest type on total SOC content and the specific contents of physical (particulate vs. mineral-associated SOC) and chemical (labile vs. recalcitrant SOC) pools in upper 10 cm mineral soils, as well as SOC stock in the O horizons. The variability in the total SOC content of the mineral soils was better explained by climate (47%-60%) and soil factors (26%-50%) than by NPP (10%-20%). The total SOC content and contents of particulate (POC) and recalcitrant SOC (ROC) of the mineral soils all decreased with increasing mean annual temperature because SOC decomposition overrides the C replenishment under warmer climate. The content of mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) was influenced by temperature, which directly affected microbial activity. Additionally, the presence of clay and iron oxides physically protected SOC by forming MAOC. The SOC stock in the O horizons was larger in the temperate zone and Mediterranean regions than in the boreal and sub/tropical zones. Mixed forests had 64% larger SOC pools than either broadleaf or coniferous forests, because of (i) higher productivity and (ii) litter input from different tree species resulting in diversification of molecular composition of SOC and microbial community. While climate, soil, and forest type jointly determine the formation and stability of SOC, climate predominantly controls the global patterns of SOC pools in forest ecosystems.

Relationships between ecosystem services provided by forest ecosystems and human well-being

Current climate change trends significantly influenceing the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems, including forest ecosystems, which directly or indirectly affects human well-being. The present study consists in reviewing the specialized literature on the effects of the relationships between ecosystem services provided by forest ecosystems and human well-being, describing the following aspects: the definition of the concept of ecosystem services, their history, categories of ecosystem services and the relationship between them and human well-being. The concept of ecosystem services has become an important model of the link between forest ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Understanding this linkage is essential for a wide range of decision-making contexts for the sustainable management of forest ecosystems. We conclude that humanity’s dependence on nature for well-being and survival is complex.

Inundation dynamics in seasonally dry floodplain forests in southeastern Brazil

AbstractFloodplains are one of the most threatened ecosystems. Even though the vegetation composition in floodplain forests is expected to reflect the variation in groundwater levels and flood duration and frequency, there is little field data on the inundation dynamics (e.g., the variability in flood duration and flood frequency), especially for the understudied seasonally dry tropics. This limits our understanding of these ecosystems and the mechanisms that cause the flooding. We, therefore, investigated six floodplain forests in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil for 1.5 years (two wet seasons): Capivari, Jacaré, and Aiuruoca in the Rio Grande basin, and Jequitaí, Verde Grande, and Carinhanha in the São Francisco basin. These locations span a range of climates (humid subtropical to seasonal tropical) and biomes (Atlantic forest to Caatinga). At each location, we continuously measured water levels in five geomorphologically distinct eco‐units: marginal levee, lower terrace, higher terrace, lower plain, and higher plain, providing a unique hydrological dataset for these understudied regions. The levees and terraces were flooded for longer periods than the plains. Inundation of the terraces lasted around 40 days per year. The levees in the Rio Grande basin were flooded for shorter durations. In the São Francisco basin, the flooding of the levees lasted longer and the water level regime of the levees was more similar to that of the terraces. In the Rio Grande basin, flooding was most likely caused by rising groundwater levels (i.e., “flow pulse”) and flood pulses that caused overbank flooding. In the São Francisco basin, inundation was most likely caused by overbank flooding (i.e., “flood pulse”). These findings highlight the large variation in inundation dynamics across floodplain forests and are relevant to predict the impacts of changes in the flood regime due to climate change and other anthropogenic changes on floodplain forest functioning.

Forests for Health Promotion: Future Developments of Salutogenic Properties in Managed Boreal Forests

Visits to forests can improve human health and well-being through various mechanisms. They can support the immune system, promote physical activity, and restore stress and attention fatigue. Questions remain about how perceived qualities in forests important to support such salutogenic, i.e., health-promoting, benefits can be represented in forest simulation tools to allow quantitative analyses, e.g., long-term projections or trade-off analyses with other forest functions, such as biodiversity conservation, wood production, etc. Questions also remain about how different forest management regimes might impact such perceived qualities in forests. Here, we defined three types of salutogenic forest characteristics (SFCs), referred to as Deep, Spacious, and Mixed forest characteristics, respectively. We did so by using the perceived sensory dimension (PSD) model, which describes and interrelates more fundamental perceived qualities of recreational outdoor environments that are important to support people’s health and well-being. We identified proxy variables for the selected PSD models in boreal forest stands and compared the effect of five different management regimes on both individual PSD models and the derived SFCs when projecting a forest landscape 100 years into the future. Our results suggest combinations of protection (set-aside) and variations of continuous cover forestry as the most promising strategies to achieve these salutogenic properties in the long-term future. Depending on the SFC in focus and the specific management regime used, between 20% and 50% of the landscape could support associated properties in the long term (100 years). This might impact how forests should be managed when salutogenic outcomes are considered alongside, e.g., wood production and other forest contributions.

Coupling the PROSAIL Model and Machine Learning Approach for Canopy Parameter Estimation of Moso Bamboo Forests from UAV Hyperspectral Data

Parameters such as the leaf area index (LAI), canopy chlorophyll content (CCH), and canopy carotenoid content (CCA) are important indicators for evaluating the ecological functions of forests. Currently, rapidly developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) equipped with hyperspectral technology provide advanced technical means for the real-time dynamic acquisition of regional vegetation canopy parameters. In this study, a hyperspectral sensor mounted on a UAV was used to acquire the data in the study area, and the canopy parameter estimation model of moso bamboo forests (MBF) was developed by combining the PROSAIL radiative transfer model and the machine learning regression algorithm (MLRA), inverted the canopy parameters such as LAI, CCH, and CCA. The method first utilized the extended Fourier amplitude sensitivity test (EFAST) method to optimize the global sensitivity analysis and parameters of the PROSAIL model, and the successive projections algorithm (SPA) was used to screen the characteristic wavebands for the inversion of MBF canopy parameter inversion. Then, the optimized PROSAIL model was used to construct the ‘LAI-CCH-CCA-canopy reflectance’ simulation dataset for the MBF; multilayer perceptron regressor (MLPR), extra tree regressor (ETR), and extreme gradient boosting regressor (XGBR) employed used to construct PROSAIL_MLPR, PROSAIL_ETR, and PROSAIL_XGBR, respectively, as the three hybrid models. Finally, the best hybrid model was selected and used to invert the spatial distribution of the MBF canopy parameters. The following results were obtained: Waveband sensitivity analysis reveals 400–490 and 710–1000 nm as critical for LAI, 540–650 nm for chlorophyll, and 490–540 nm for carotenoids. SPA narrows down the feature bands to 43 for LAI, 19 for CCH, and 9 for CCA. The three constructed hybrid models were able to achieve high-precision inversion of the three parameters of the MBF, the model fitting accuracy of PROSAIL_MLRA reached more than 95%, with lower RMSE values, and the PROSAIL_XGBR model yielded the best fitting results. Our study provides a novel method for the inversion of forest canopy parameters based on UAV hyperspectral data.

Dispersal‐related plant traits are associated with range size in the Atlantic Forest

AbstractAimThe efficiency of animal‐mediated seed dispersal is threatened by the decline of animal populations, especially in tropical forests. We hypothesise that large‐seeded plants with animal‐mediated dispersal tend to have limited geographic ranges and face an increased risk of extinction due to the potential decline in seed dispersal by large‐bodied fruit‐eating and seed‐dispersing animals (frugivores).LocationAtlantic Forest, Brazil, South America.TaxonAngiosperms.MethodsFirst, we collected dispersal‐related traits (dispersal syndrome, fruit size, and seed size), growth form (tree, climber, and other) and preferred vegetation type (open and closed) data for 1052 Atlantic Forest plant species. Next, we integrated these with occurrence records, extinction risk assessments, and phylogenetic trees. Finally, we performed phylogenetic generalised least squares regressions to test the direct and interactive effects of dispersal‐related traits and vegetation type on geographical range size.ResultsLarge‐seeded species had smaller range sizes than small‐seeded species, but only for species with animal‐mediated dispersal, not for those dispersed by abiotic mechanisms. However, plants with abiotic dispersal had overall smaller range sizes than plants with animal‐mediated dispersal. Furthermore, we found that species restricted to forests had smaller ranges than those occurring in open or mixed vegetation. Finally, at least 29% of the Atlantic Forest flora is threatened by extinction, but this was not related to plant dispersal syndromes.Main ConclusionsLarge‐seeded plants with animal‐mediated dispersal may be suffering from dispersal limitation, potentially due to past and ongoing defaunation of large‐bodied frugivores, leading to small range sizes. Other factors, such as deforestation and fragmentation, will probably modulate the effects of dispersal on range size, and ultimately extinction. Our study sheds light on the relationship between plant traits, mutualistic interactions, and distribution that are key to the functioning of tropical forests.

Today's Shifting Cultivation and its Impact on Forest and Environmental Damage in Routa, Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi

This article is intended to explore and analyze some of the impacts of shifting cultivation to the forest environmental degradation in Routa today. This study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches, especially with the rational equation methods where the results of statistical calculations are then culturally interpreted. The results of this study indicate that current shifting cultivation has contributed greatly to the increasing damage to the forest environment and decreased hydro-urologic functions of forests in Routa as well as other ecological functions, including conversion of primary and secondary forest land to shifting cultivation areas, restoration of areas ex-shifting cultivation that are ongoing slower than usual, increased surface water flow, increased erosion, and sedimentation, increased local air temperature and decreased humidity and the potential for large carbon losses.