Large Forest Areas Research Articles

Designing tools to predict and mitigate impacts on water quality following the Australian 2019/2020 wildfires: Insights from Sydney's largest water supply catchment.

The 2019/2020 Australian bushfires (or wildfires) burned the largest forested area in Australia's recorded history, with major socio-economic and environmental consequences. Among the largest fires was the 280 000 ha Green Wattle Creek Fire, which burned large forested areas of the Warragamba catchment. This protected catchment provides critical ecosystem services for Lake Burragorang, one of Australia's largest urban supply reservoirs delivering ~85% of the water used in Greater Sydney. Water New South Wales (WaterNSW) is the utility responsible for managing water quality in Lake Burragorang. Its postfire risk assessment, done in collaboration with researchers in Australia, the UK, and United States, involved (i) identifying pyrogenic contaminants in ash and soil; (ii) quantifying ash loads and contaminant concentrations across the burned area; and (iii) estimating the probability and quantity of soil, ash, and associated contaminant entrainment for different rainfall scenarios. The work included refining the capabilities of the new WEPPcloud-WATAR-AU model (Water Erosion Prediction Project cloud-Wildfire Ash Transport And Risk-Australia) for predicting sediment, ash, and contaminant transport, aided by outcomes from previous collaborative postfire research in the catchment. Approximately two weeks after the Green Wattle Creek Fire was contained, an extreme rainfall event (~276 mm in 72 h) caused extensive ash and sediment delivery into the reservoir. The risk assessment informed on-ground monitoring and operational mitigation measures (deployment of debris-catching booms and adjustment of the water supply system configuration), ensuring the continuity of safe water supply to Sydney. WEPPcloud-WATAR-AU outputs can prioritize recovery interventions for managing water quality risks by quantifying contaminants on the hillslopes, anticipating water contamination risk, and identifying areas with high susceptibility to ash and sediment transport. This collaborative interaction among scientists and water managers, aimed also at refining model capabilities and outputs to meet managers' needs, exemplifies the successful outcomes that can be achieved at the interface of industry and science. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:1151-1161. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Community structure in different successional stages in north temperate forests of Changbai Mountains, China.

Aims The Changbai Mountains had a large area of undisturbed temperate old-growth forest that was partly destroyed by large-scale industrial logging at the turn of the 20th century and replaced by secondary forests and plantations. Our objective was to further understand ecosystem devel-opment,community composition and structure,and spatial distribution of major tree populations. Methods Three long-term 5.2 hm2 forest plots were established in secondary Populus davidi-ana-Betula platyphylla forest (PBF),secondary conifer and broadleaved mixed forest (SCBMF) and Tilia amurensis-Pinus koraiensis mixed forest (TPMF) in the Changbai Mountains following the proto-cols of the Center for Tropical Forest Science forest dynamic plot. We tagged and recorded the species,diameter at breast height (DBH),height and crown diameter of all live and dead trees with DBH 1 cm. We determined the spatial distribution of five dominant canopy tree species by pair-correlation g(r) function and performed variation partitioning analysis to estimate the environmental effect on spatial distribution. Important findings We recorded 20 949,14 725 and 12 062 live individuals and basal areas of 24.74,32.07 and 56.64 m2.hm–2 in PBF,SCBMF and TPMF,respectively. Tilia amurensis,with the overall highest importance value and basal area,was the major dominant tree species in SCBMF,P. davidianaand B. platyphylla dominated PBF and P. koraiensis dominated TPMF. In the secondary forests BPF and SCBMF,the size-class distribution of Pinus koraiensis,Acer mono,Abies nephrolepis,Picea jezoensis and Tilia amurensis showed the reverse J-shape form,whereas P. koraiensis and T. amurensis showed normal distributions in TPMF. Paired-correlation g(r) function showed that the main tree species had aggregated distributions,and the aggregation intensity decreased with the increasing distances. Environment variables had a strong effect on tree distribution,but the interpretation power of environment variables was very low in TPMF.

Sustainable forest management is vital for the persistence of sun bear Helarctos malayanus populations in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

With large mammals in Southeast Asia facing a host of threats such as forest loss and poaching, one important strategy in supporting conservation interventions is to understand local trends in species distributions. In Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, selective logging has both historically (conventional selective logging) and currently (reduced impact logging) impacted large areas of forest. Furthermore, the impact of poaching remains difficult to assess, potentially leading forest managers to underestimate its effects on large mammals. Our study focused on the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), a forest dependent species threatened by poaching across its range. We used camera trap data collected in 2014 and 2018 from 127 camera trap stations in two adjacent forest blocks in Sabah. One of these blocks is a complex of degraded protected areas (formerly logged using conventional selective logging), interspersed with two areas of forest plantations (Tangkulap), while the other block is an active production forest logged using reduced impact logging techniques (Deramakot). We ran single-season occupancy models using covariates representing both habitat quality and poaching pressure to understand what factors most influenced sun bear habitat use and projected their distribution over the study area. We found that sun bear habitat selection was most strongly influenced by a dynamic covariate representing habitat quality, Normalised Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) from Landsat satellite data. Sun bear occupancy marginally increased from 2014 to 2018, in response to forest regeneration in Deramakot and Tangkulap. Overall, sun bear distribution was higher in the reduced impact logged and sustainably managed Deramakot compared to Tangkulap. Our proxies for poaching pressure had very minor effects on sun bear occupancy, suggesting that the population in this study area may not be subject to intense poaching. We highlight that sun bear populations can in fact better persist in well-managed production forests as compared to degraded protected areas.

Geospatial approach-based delineation of elephant habitat suitability zones and its consequence in Mayurjharna Elephant Reserve, India

Diversified landscape functions have deep connection with habitat preference of elephant in several elephant habitats including Mayurjharna Elephant Reserve (MER). The main objective of the present study was to find out the elephant habitat suitability zone or areas considering geo-spatial components of landscape. For that reason, the study taken landuse factors, i.e. forest cover, forest core, forest fragmentation, forest edge, built-up area, agricultural land and road pattern, to fulfil the objective of the study. The selected landuse factors were separated from a classified landuse landcover (LULC) map of 2018 and intersected in a grid framework. From these grids, information factor density maps were prepared in ArcGIS 10.3 version software. Each factor has specific and different significance on habitat preference. After that, factors of significant level or percentage-wise ranks were calculated using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) on the basis of their ecological function. Chosen factors were categorized and placed according to their significant percentage in Weighted Overlay tool in ArcGIS 10.3 software for getting the final outcome. After the analysis, it was found that 87.18 sq.km areas out of total area in MER are very suitable for elephant habitat. Reasonably suitable areas are 306.74 sq.km and 228.27 sq.km areas, which are very less suitable for elephants in this reserve. 147.66 sq.km areas in MER are not suitable for elephant where basic habitat requirements are very insufficient. The well suitable areas are mostly covered with the high-density forest and large forest core areas in this reserve.

Wood forest resource consumption impact assessment based on a scarcity index accounting for wood functionality and substitutability (WoodSI)

For society to continue to use forest resources in a sustainable manner, we need to be concerned about how they are consumed now and about the future needs. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a robust tool, scientifically based and possible to be adapted to the quantification of multiple environmental issues in a systemic way. Deforestation and forest degradation continue to take place at threatening rates by the wood resource use and by land use issues (agricultural production, mineral extraction, and human settlement). However, currently, the depletion of forest resources by wood resource use is not adequately considered in LCA. Little progress was done recently in biotic resource depletion impact assessment, and no method can be recommended without considerable restrictions. It is therefore necessary to better characterize the depletion of forest resources in LCA. The present study aims to develop a characterization model that assesses the potential impacts generated by the loss of wood forest resource availability caused by consumption through a functional approach. Considering the operationalization model for biotic resources proposed by Heijungs et al. (1992) and the wood functionality through substitution index proposed by Lima et al. (2018a), a characterization model was developed based on a scarcity index accounting for wood functionality and substitutability (WoodSI). This characterization model considers the consumption, the renewability of the resource, the current stock, and the capacity to substitute the resource (at different wood functions such as sawn wood, wood pulp, wood based panels, wood charcoal, and fire wood) in each country in its calculations. WoodSI is a mid-point model. Three scenarios (less conservative, more conservative, and medium) were analyzed for practitioner choice. Characterization factors were calculated for 193 countries, 60% of which have some level of scarcity and share only 20% of the World forest. The wood functions (or uses) with the highest level of potential World shortage were charcoal and wood pulp production. In general, countries with large forest area or high growth rates do not have any scarcity index detected by the method (e.g., Brazil, Russia, and Australia), but in countries with high consumption rate (such as USA, China) or smaller forests areas, some scarcity was already detected. The WoodSI model contributes to the progress of the natural resource depletion impact category by deepening the discussion in its cause-effect chain and developing an impact model. The wood renewability considers distinct forest classification and its main representative’s species. The instrumentality value is addressed by considering the resource usefulness through its functionality and distribution at country level. It has good data availability since the data obtained are from a public, open database, and values may be updated every 5 years.

Does the type of silvicultural practice influence spruce budworm defoliation of seedlings?

AbstractSpruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem)) is the main defoliator in the boreal forest of North America, and its outbreaks have major ecological and economic consequences and represent a challenge for forest management. Numerous studies have addressed the effects of this defoliator on mature trees, whereas the effects of spruce budworm on regeneration remain elusive. Furthermore, intensive exploitation practices during the last decades have left a large area of the Canadian boreal forest in an early development stage. In this context, it becomes vital to understand those factors affecting the severity of spruce budworm‐related defoliation on regeneration. Here, we determine the defoliation severity of black spruce and balsam fir seedlings in both mature pure black spruce and black spruce–balsam fir stands subjected to two different silvicultural treatments (clear‐cutting and partial cutting). Defoliation intensity varied between stand types, silvicultural treatments, species, and height classes. Seedlings in black spruce–balsam fir stands experienced twice the defoliation of those in pure black spruce stands (black spruce seedlings 10% vs. 23%; balsam fir seedlings 29% vs. 47%, respectively). Harvesting methods also influenced seedling defoliation. Under clear‐cutting, black spruce seedlings (24%) were three times as defoliated as black spruce seedlings in partial cutting stands (8%), whereas balsam fir seedlings in clear‐cutting plots experienced twice the defoliation (42%) of balsam fir seedlings in partial cutting plots (20%). The level of defoliation also increased with seedling height. This study will help silvicultural strategies adapt to the effects of natural disturbance regimes. As the intensity and severity of defoliator outbreaks are expected to increase under climate change, these results will help guide forest management strategies to select harvesting methods that will limit the effects of defoliation on conifer regeneration.

Amazon forest cover change mapping based on semantic segmentation by U-Nets

Deforestation remains a major concern with regard to climate change and the maintenance of biodiversity. Meanwhile, the development of new image processing techniques and the broad availability of high spatiotemporal resolution satellite imagery provide an unprecedented setup for the development of effective and scalable forest cover change monitoring systems. This is especially relevant in regions with large forested areas with high rates of deforestation, such as in the region of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. In this context, existing forest cover change monitoring methods are based on a combination of visual inspection, spectral profiles, statistics, and machine learning techniques, which offer alternative backbones to deal with deforestation monitoring. Given the recent advances in the field of image processing by Fully Convolutional Neural Networks (FCNs), the objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the U-Net architecture for the mapping of forest cover aimed at identifying deforestation polygons in multi-temporal satellite imagery. To this end, 10-m resolution imagery from the Sentinel-2 satellite covering portions of the Legal Amazon region were employed. The U-Net could identify and draw polygons of forest areas and forest fragments with high accuracy (0.9470), precision (0.9356), recall (0.9676), and F1-score (0.9513), thus outperforming largely applied and well-know supervised and unsupervised image classification methods. The results indicate and we further discuss that U-Nets have the potential to run as the backbone for efficient forest cover change monitoring initiatives and support the deployment of near real-time deforestation warning systems.

Volumetric spatiality of wood in forests with artificial neural networks based on satellite imagery

Sustainable agriculture of forest plantations requires the permanent estimation of the amount or volume of wood being produced at any given time, which is difficult in large forest areas if only manual procedures are used in the field. In the present research, multilayer perceptron artificial neural networks (ANNs) were modeled for the spatial estimation of wood volumes in a Eucalyptus sp. plantation located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Central-West region of Brazil. For this purpose, spectral bands, band textures obtained with gray level cooccurrence matrix and vegetation index, which were derived from SPOT 6 digital satellite image, were used as prediction variables. The resulting ANN with the best performance presented an accuracy of 93.32% and a coefficient of determination of 0.9761, with respect to values obtained with field measurements; however, it presented a relative mean square error of 16.32% (RMSE of 7.85 m3/hm2), but the distribution of residuals was not biased, therefore, the model was promising for mapping timber volumes in large areas without overestimating or underestimating the prediction. The constructed network showed greater precision and accuracy when compared to other methods using similar estimation variables, including when compared to neural models using only spectral bands and vegetation indices.

Eciton Army Ants—Umbrella Species for Conservation in Neotropical Forests

Identification of priority areas for conservation is crucial for the maintenance and protection of biodiversity, particularly in tropical forests where biodiversity continues to be lost at alarming rates. Surveys and research on umbrella species can provide efficient and effective approaches to identify potential areas for conservation at small geographical scales. Army ants of the genus Eciton are keystone species in neotropical forests due to their major role as top predators and due to the numerous vertebrate- and invertebrate associated species that depend upon their colonies for survival. These associates range from the iconic army ant-following birds to a wide range of arthropod groups, some of which have evolved intricate morphological, behavioural and/or chemical strategies to conceal their presence and integrate into the colony life. Furthermore, Eciton colonies require large forested areas that support a diverse leaf litter prey community and several field-based and genetic studies have demonstrated the negative consequences of forest fragmentation for the long-term maintenance of these colonies. Therefore, Eciton species will not only act as umbrella for their associates but also for many other species in neotropical forests, in particular for those that require a large extent of forest. This review summarises past and recent accounts of the main taxonomic groups found associated with Eciton colonies, as well research assessing the impact of forest fragmentation on this army ant, to encourage the adoption of Eciton army ants as umbrella species for the identification of priority areas for conservation and assessments of the effect of disturbance in neotropical forests.

Assessment of Forest Certification as a Tool to Support Forest Ecosystem Services

Certification provides a way to demonstrate the positive impacts of sustainable forest management (SFM) on ecosystem services. Ecosystem services provide society with a wide range of benefits, from clean water and carbon sequestration to the production of wood and non-wood products. This study evaluates forest owners’ and managers’ perceptions of forest certification as a tool to support SFM and forest ecosystem services in Slovakia. The questionnaire survey focused on the understanding of the concept of SFM, the objectives of forest certification schemes, and especially on the examination of the perceptions of 288 PEFC- and FSC-certified forest owners and managers on how forest certification helps to support individual ecosystem services. Among the important factors influencing the level of understanding of forest certification and its role in ensuring forest ecosystem services is the size of the managed forest area and the implemented certification scheme. The results of this study indicate that forest certification is positively perceived as a supporting tool for ecosystem services, and certified forest owners are sufficiently aware of the objectives of SFM. Regardless of the size of the managed forest area and the type of the implemented certification scheme, forest certification is mainly perceived as a tool which improves the company image and represents a commitment to environmental responsibility while promoting SFM. Certified companies managing large forest areas see the role of certification as being more significant in ensuring selected ecosystem services, in particular, the provision of woody biomass and water. However, in general, forest certification is mainly perceived as a supporting tool for the ecosystem services related to the control of erosion, soil formation, and natural composition, as well as the function of species and ecosystem diversity, followed by the provision of aesthetic, scientific, and educational values.

Satellite Observations of the Tropical Terrestrial Carbon Balance and Interactions With the Water Cycle During the 21st Century

AbstractA constellation of satellites is now in orbit providing information about terrestrial carbon and water storage and fluxes. These combined observations show that the tropical biosphere has changed significantly in the last 2 decades from the combined effects of climate variability and land use. Large areas of forest have been cleared in both wet and dry forests, increasing the source of carbon to the atmosphere. Concomitantly, tropical fire emissions have declined, at least until 2016, from changes in land‐use practices and rainfall, increasing the net carbon sink. Measurements of carbon stocks and fluxes from disturbance and recovery and of vegetation photosynthesis show significant regional variability of net biosphere exchange and gross primary productivity across the tropics and are tied to seasonal and interannual changes in water fluxes and storage. Comparison of satellite based estimates of evapotranspiration, photosynthesis, and the deuterium content of water vapor with patterns of total water storage and rainfall demonstrate the presence of vegetation‐atmosphere interactions and feedback mechanisms across tropical forests. However, these observations of stocks, fluxes and inferred interactions between them do not point unambiguously to either positive or negative feedbacks in carbon and water exchanges. These ambiguities highlight the need for assimilation of these new measurements with Earth System models for a consistent assessment of process interactions, along with focused field campaigns that integrate ground, aircraft and satellite measurements, to quantify the controlling carbon and water processes and their feedback mechanisms.

Three decades of post-logging tree community recovery in naturally regenerating and actively restored dipterocarp forest in Borneo

Selective logging has affected large areas of tropical forests and there is increasing interest in how to manage selectively logged forests to enhance recovery. However, the impacts of logging and active restoration, by liberation cutting and enrichment planting, on tree community composition are poorly understood compared to trajectories of biomass recovery. Here, we assess the long-term impacts of selective logging and active restoration for biomass recovery on tree species diversity, community composition, and forest structure. We censused all stems ≥2 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) on 46 permanent plots in unlogged, primary forest in the Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA; 12 plots, totalling 0.6 ha) and in sites logged 23–35 years prior to the census in the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve adjacent to DVCA (34 plots, totalling 1.7 ha) in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Active restoration treatments, including enrichment planting and climber cutting, were implemented on 17 of the logged forest plots 12–24 years prior to the census. Total plot-level basal area and pole (5–10 cm DBH) stem density were lower in logged than unlogged forests, however no difference was found in stem density amongst saplings (2–5 cm DBH) or established trees (≥10 cm DBH). Neither basal area, nor plot-level stem density varied with time since logging at any size class, although sapling and pole stem densities were lower in actively restored than naturally regenerating logged forest. Sapling species diversity was lower in logged than unlogged forest, however there were no other significant effects of logging on tree species richness or diversity indices. Tree species composition, however, differed between logged and unlogged forests across all stem size classes (PERMANOVA), reflected by 23 significant indicator species that were only present in unlogged forest. PERMANOVA tests revealed no evidence that overall species composition changed with time since logging or with active restoration treatments at any size class. However, when naturally regenerating and actively restored communities were compared, two indicator species were identified in naturally regenerating forest and three in actively restored forests. Together our results suggest that selective logging has a lasting effect on tree community composition regardless of active restoration treatments and, even when species richness and diversity are stable, species composition remains distinct from unlogged forest for more than two decades post-harvest. Active restoration efforts should be targeted, monitored, and refined to try to ensure positive outcomes for multiple metrics of forest recovery.

Community-level consequences of harsh environmental constraints based on spatial patterns analysis in karst primary forest of southwest China

Karst region has a high rate of rock exposure, shallow and discontinuous soil, and a fragile ecological environment. However, these special habitats encompass a large area of forest with strong original nature-karst deciduous broad-leaved and evergreen mixed forest. So far, very limited information is available on the spatial patterns and internal maintenance mechanism of this community. To fill this gap, the spatial distributions together with spatial correlations of both the live and dead trees in the karst primary forests of the Maolan National Nature Reserve in China were explored by using univariate as well as bivariate g(r) functions. The results revealed that: (1) the habitat heterogeneity of the karst primary forest has insignificant influence at a larger scale (>10 m); (2) the decline in aggregation with the increasing size classes from saplings to adults suggests self-thinning process, proving that negative density constraints occurred in early life stages; (3) positive spatial correlation was found in live trees with similar diameters, which related to the microsite heterogeneity; (4) the aggregation of dead trees and non-attraction of dead and surviving trees indicated scramble competition; (5) mortality analysis indicated the absence of random mortality, favoring positive density-dependent effects; (6) strong initiation sprouting regeneration was one of the main self-renewal strategies, and regeneration was more likely to occur at the edge of the gap rather than under the gap. Our results support the view that the mechanisms underlying the observed spatial patterns were related to certain ecological processes and their interaction. These were the positive and negative density dependence, scramble competition, and microsite heterogeneity.

Conservation of saproxylic beetles in the Carpathians

Romanian Carpathians are considered a biodiversity hotspot in Europe, with large forested areas, including old-growth forests. Past forestry practices, such as selective logging resulting in forest high grading and removal of ancient or decaying trees, reduced the heterogeneity of forest structure and composition. These practices led to forest habitats with few veteran trees and a small amount of deadwood, which protected saproxylic beetles rely on for completing their complex life cycles. Moreover, saproxylic species are considered pest species under traditional forestry practices, as they reduce the value of timber. As such, Romanian forestry practices have actively sought to reduce the amount of deadwood in an effort to decrease the presence of saproxylic species, thus effectively isolating stands with a high diversity of saproxylic beetles. The European Commission will finance the project LIFE19 NAT/RO/000023 Conservation of saproxylic beetles in the Carpathians LIFE ROsalia. The project aims to stop and reverse the loss of protected saproxylic beetles (Rosalia longicorn Rosalia alpina, the hermit beetle Osmoderma eremita, great capricorn beetle Cerambyx cerdo, grey beetle Morimus funereus, and stag beetle Lucanus cervus) in the Carpathians by demonstrating conservation actions for increasing the connectivity of favorable habitats in the ROSCI0208 Putna-Vrancea (Eastern Carpathians, Romania), and transferring and replicating best management practices in other Romanian Natura 2000 sites. LIFE ROsalia will be implemented between 2020 and 2025 by the Environmental Protection Agency Vrancea, the Center for Environmental Research at the University of Bucharest, the Putna-Vrancea Natural Park Administration, and the Association for Biodiversity Conservation.

Exploring Plural Values of Ecosystem Services: Local Peoples’ Perceptions and Implications for Protected Area Management in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil

The remnants of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil are significant for biodiversity and provide benefits for people (climate regulation, water supply, health and welfare, among others). However, nature’s importance for different people may vary, for social, environmental, and economic reasons. In this paper, we explore such differences among people living in communities surrounding the Cunhambebe State Park (PEC), a large area of Atlantic Forest. We assess their perceptions regarding the plural values of ecosystem services derived from the PEC and explore ways in which this could affect the management of this protected area. Our assumption is that analyzing the perceptions of people who live in the communities surrounding can be a key tool for the formulation of proposals to improve management models and address socio-environmental conflicts. Based on interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, our results show a direct link between culture and environment since relational values and cultural ecosystem services are closely related to local people’s valuation of the PEC. Therefore, we support management strategies which are based on local values for land and forest use in a sustainable way. Our findings may contribute to decision making by PEC managers, governments, local stakeholders, and researchers.

Anuran Community Patterns in the rice fields of the mid-western region of the Republic of Korea

The wildlife that inhabits natural wetlands has been threatened in recent years because of human activities, such as land use changes. Rice fields, however, have been receiving attention as possible substitutes for natural wetlands. Amphibians are one of the representative taxa that inhabit rice fields and are critical for their food webs and ecosystem maintenance. This study was conducted to understand the community characteristics of anuran species living in the rice fields in the mid-western region of the Republic of Korea, in accordance with their habitat characteristics. The distribution and abundance of each of the Anura species identified in 40 rice fields was examined, from March to October in 2016 and 2017. Similar anuran communities were patternized using a self-organizing map (SOM). Furthermore, this study analyzed the relationships between the patternized anuran communities and environmental variables (landscape, atmospheric, physical, and aquatic) using random forest analysis. Key indicator species were also identified to understand the environmental characteristics of each SOM group. The results of this study showed that the anuran species that were assessed could be classified into four clusters using the SOM, and each cluster reflected a breeding season. Moreover, they also reflected the relationship between the indicator species of each cluster and the environmental variables. Clusters 1 and 4 represented summer, and the number of species, species diversity, and species richness were all high in these two clusters. Landscape variables, such as the forest or rice field area, were important for the species belonging to these two clusters. There were four indicator species in Cluster 1, the black-spotted frog, Wrinkled frog, American bullfrog, and Japanese tree frog, and they preferred high altitudes and large forested areas. However, the two indicator species of Cluster 4, the Gold-spotted pond frog and Suweon tree frog, which are endangered in the Republic of Korea, favored low altitude and large rice field areas. Various anuran species, including the endangered species, densely inhabit the rice fields in the mid-western region of the Republic of Korea, and the relationship between the patterning of anuran communities and environmental variables was identified in this study. This information will be valuable for the future conservation and management of amphibian species in the Republic of Korea.

Landsat-based detection of mast events in white spruce (Picea glauca) forests

Mast seeding in conifers is characterized by the spatially synchronous and temporally variable production of seed cone crops. Large mast seeding events (known as “mast years”) can be a visually stunning and ecologically important phenomenon, supporting trophic interactions and survival of seed predators as well as forest regeneration. Documenting patterns in mast seeding is generally labor-intensive, requiring repeated visual cone counts at consistent and widespread locations over long periods to quantify the spatiotemporal variability of cone production. Our goal in this work was to evaluate the correspondence of multispectral vegetation indexes (VIs) from Landsat with ground-based observations of mast seeding in white spruce (Picea glauca) forests of the Kluane region, Yukon, Canada. Given the visual characteristics of mast seeding in white spruce, we tested: 1) whether photosynthesis- and color-oriented VIs can identify senescence of spruce cones in late summer and autumn during mast years, and 2) if moisture-oriented VIs can distinguish the significant drying of seed cones from the surrounding spruce canopy vegetation during that senescence and after seeds are released. We hypothesized that the slope of late season decline in VIs in spruce forests would be related to masting (i.e., greater decline in VI during mast years). Using generalized linear mixed-effects modeling (GLMM), we compared more than 100 site-year combinations of mast/non-mast observations to develop VI-based regressions. We found some success identifying mast years with moisture-oriented VIs, while models using the photosynthesis- and color-oriented VIs were not supported, given the data. However, we found that models containing multiple VIs from both categories were more successful than any single-VI model, accurately predicting four of sixteen mast events in site observations. We provide compelling evidence that mast-seeding patterns may be detectable using moisture-oriented Landsat observations over large coniferous forest areas. Additional work is warranted to distinguish the signal for mast events from confounding disturbance-related effects and to differentiate variation in VI signals attributable to masting productivity in contrast to effects of climatological variability on reflectance.

Lasy wybranych dużych obszarów leśnych = The forests in selected examples of Poland’s Large Forest Areas

Key issues for spatial planning and development, nature protection and forestry in Poland relate to the problems encountered in determining the area of forests included within – and the boundaries of – what are known as the Large Forest Areas (LFAs) in Poland. Even as overall forest cover in the country has increased steadily – by about 2.5 million ha overall – since 1945, the data available for the LFAs relate to measurements made as long ago as in the 1960s and 1970s. Even then, it is often unclear whether it is total areas or areas of forest that are being referred to in relation to the LFAs. There is thus an urgent need for meas-urements to be updated, with a view to the present-day boundaries of the Areas being delim-ited. Some 80‑100 LFAs are in fact distinguished in Poland, in line with definitions relating to total area exceeding 10,000 ha (100 km2) and forest cover exceeding 35%. While many of the LFAs received Proper-Noun names at one point or another in their histories, as used locally in a given region, and in guides and publications, there are also less culturall-defined areas that still await naming. Efforts to determine the boundaries of the LFAs at this point allow, not only for renewed or de novo determination of their overall areas and areas of forest, but also for an advancement of our knowledge regarding any items of cultural heritage that may be present within LFAs. Such data will be useful or essential as new physiographic, economic and tourist guide-studies are developed; and they will encourage and facilitate the more-detailed analysis and assess-ment of forest management taking place within the limits of the LFAs. In line with the effort made to achieve the above goals, this article details selected problems encountered with the delimitation of forest boundaries and areas, as these are exemplified by the Polish LFAs of the Białowieża, Bolimów, Borki, Knyszyn, Kampinos, Noteć, Romincka, Tuchola, Łuków and Chojnów Forests. Figures for overall area and area of forest were indeed obtained and are presented here for the selected examples of LFAs, which are also augmented by the so-called Dobrzejewice and Lubniewice Forests not distinguished in this way before now.

Analiza śladów cięcia drewna pilarką

While timber thefts occur on both public and private lands, it is difficult to prevent illegal cutting of timber in large forested areas. However, when investigators encounter suspected stolen logs, it may be possible to match the cut ends of the logs to stumps in the forest. While cutting a tree, a chainsaw operator may change saw positions so different directional striation patterns on the cut end of a tree may be produced. In this study, 25 samples were cut from a recently harvested tree. Each sample was ~ 3–6 cm in thickness and approximately 11–15 cm in diameter. A Stihl Model 290 gasoline powered chainsaw with a chipper chain equipped with a 50 cm bar was used to cut the samples. Fifty cut ends were examined for directional striation changes on the cut end. A classification system was devised to characterize the different patterns.

СТОК НАНОСОВ РЕК СЕВЕРО-ЗАПАДА РФ

Large forested areas, small slopes of catchments, the presence of lakes and swamps, the karstification of the basin, and a large share of underground river feeding contribute to a decrease in the amount of sediment runoff in the rivers located in the North-West of Russia. The distribution of sediment runoff during the year is determined by the flow regime of the river. The maximum values of the monthly solid runoff modules of all the studied rivers are observed at high water in March – May, usually reaching the peak in April, which is typical for the north-western region. Moreover, the passage of the maximum for the northern rivers (Pasha, Oyat and Tikhvinka) mainly falls on April – May; for rivers flowing in the southern part of the region – on March – April. The minimum values of the annual runoff modulus in the low-water period are extremely insignificant, especially in winter, and for some years they are close to zero. This is quite understandable due to the significant contribution of soil erosion to the formation of solid runoff of watercourses, with the most intensive processes of soil erosion occurring during the period of active snowmelt and floods. A steady increase in air temperature and precipitation layers for the North-West of the Russian Federation in the last thirty years in comparison with the previous climatic period has led to an increase in the river runoff for the studied watercourses. At the same time, according to the observations for the selected climatic periods, there is a decrease in the annual solid runoff. This can be explained by socio-economic changes – a significant decrease in agricultural activity in the region. In addition, taking into account the increase in the water content of the rivers, the decrease in the solid runoff can be explained by the redistribution of the intra-annual course of meteorological values that occurred as a result of climatic changes.