National Forest Research Articles

Toward the first Red List of Latvian lichens according to the IUCN criteria

Lichens are well-known bioindicators and exhibit high sensitivity to environmental changes due to their unique biological characteristics. Despite their ecological significance, lichens are often overlooked in conservation policies both at the European Union (EU) and global levels. The situation is better at the level of national Red Lists that can provide candidate species for regional or global Red Lists, thereby helping to prioritize conservation efforts. To fill a gap at the national level, this article presents the comprehensive data of the Red List of Latvian lichens. For the first time, IUCN threat categories and criteria were applied to assess 85 lichenized and one lichenicolous fungus during 2022–2023. Of these species, 3 were classified as Least Concern (LC), 2 as Data Deficient (DD), 11 as Near Threatened (NT), and 68 were ascribed the threatened categories: 14 to Vulnerable (VU), 27 to Endangered (EN), 27 to Critically Endangered (CR). The majority of Latvian lichens categorized as threatened or near threatened inhabit woodlands, particularly old-growth forests, which face the primary threat of intensive forest management. This article emphasizes the importance of continued evaluation efforts, while also addressing challenges associated with data scarcity and limited lichenological research capacity in Latvia.

Soil pathogenic fungal groups and soil nutrient cycling under land use practices in Liupanshan Mountain in China

AbstractDifferent land‐use practices in temperate forests strongly affect soil quality and soil microbial communities, whereas the assembly and interactions of soil functional fungal communities provide positive feedback. Therefore, the effects of forest ecosystem degradation on the composition of functional soil fungal community and soil nutrient cycling are of particular importance. We studied forest ecosystems in the Liupanshan Mountains in the northwestern part of the Loess Plateau and analyzed the relationship of soil fungal community and soil nutrient cycling under different land use practices (natural forest [NF], plantation forest, and farmland [FL]). The results showed that soil pH and electrical conductivity were the highest in FL, whereas the soil carbon cycle index and nitrogen cycle index decreased. The soil total phosphorus content did not change significantly with an increase in available phosphorus content. The change from NF to FL significantly increased the number of operational taxonomic units, diversity, and richness of soil fungal communities. The composition of the soil fungal communities was also strongly influenced by carbon and nitrogen cycle indices. In addition, FL reclamation increased the complexity of the soil microorganism co‐occurrence network, and the interrelationships between soil functional fungal community were enhanced. Pathogenic fungal communities were enriched in FLs, and their relative abundance was significantly regulated by environmental factors such as pH and the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus. The soil pathogenic fungal community affected carbon and nitrogen cycle indices to varying degrees.

The Impact of Changing Climate on an Endangered Epiphytic Orchid (Pleione formosana) in a Montane Cloud Forest and the Conservation Challenge Ahead.

Pleione formosana Hayata is an endemic orchid that was once widely distributed across the mid-elevations of Taiwan. However, populations of this orchid have steadily shrunk due to orchid poaching in most of its habitats. By correlating data from micrometeorological stations that we installed in the cloud forest canopy at the study site, Yuanyang Lake (YYL) from 2017, we discovered the critical role of spring rainfall in triggering flowering and summer rainfall in promoting the growth of new bulbs. We found that rising temperatures and frequent drought events threaten orchid growth, potentially leading to pathogen infections. We climbed old-growth yellow cypresses to collect seed capsules of P. formosana for in vitro germination at YYL beginning in the autumn of 2018. Orchid plantlets were reintroduced to the study site in mid-August of 2022. However, the seedlings failed to survive the summer of 2023. This study is the first persistent monitoring of this rare orchid in the forest canopy of this old-growth cloud forest. Based on the result, we propose conservation strategies and directions for protecting this orchid on a regional scale. Our study highlights the mounting challenge to conservation efforts posed by global climate change.

Optimising forest rehabilitation and restoration through remote sensing and machine learning: Mapping natural forests in the eThekwini Municipality

Forests are crucial in delivering ecosystem services that underpin human well-being and biodiversity conservation. However, these vital ecosystems are threatened by forest degradation and rapid urbanisation. This study addresses this challenge by proposing a comprehensive framework for mapping natural forests at the municipal scale. The framework integrates remote sensing techniques with machine learning algorithms to provide valuable insights into the extent of natural forests within the eThekwini Municipality. The study utilised Landsat 7, Landsat 8, and Landsat 9 satellite imagery to analyse and map the historical and current distribution of natural forests. Five spectral indices, namely, Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), Chlorophyll Index Green (CIG), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and Enhanced Vegetation Index-2 (EVI-2), which were calculated from Landsat bands, were employed in the analysis. Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM), Categorical Boosting (CatBoost), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) machine learning algorithms were used to model forest distribution. Accuracy was assessed through confusion matrices, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curves, area under the ROC curve (AUC), and the F1 scores. LightGBM achieved the highest overall accuracy (90.76%), followed by CatBoost (89.56%) and XGBoost (84.34%). LightGBM also obtained the best F1 score (90.76%). These findings highlight LightGBM's effectiveness in classifying natural forests, making it the preferred model for mapping the historical extent of natural forests in the eThekwini Municipality. However, classifications based on Landsat 7 significantly underestimated the extent of natural forests within the study area, whereas Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 data revealed an increase in natural forests from 2015 to 2023. These findings will guide effective and targeted forest rehabilitation and restoration efforts, ensuring the preservation and enhancement of forest ecosystem services.

The advantage of afforestation using native tree species to enhance soil quality in degraded forest ecosystems

Different vegetation restoration methods have improved soil quality to varying degrees. This study, focused on the forest–grassland–desert transition zone in the Hebei–Inner Mongolia border region, and employed a systematic grid sampling method to establish fixed monitoring plots in the Saihanba Mechanized Forest Farm and the Ulan Buh Grassland. The differences in soil quality evolution across various vegetation restoration methods under the same climatic and soil historical conditions were analyzed, elucidating the roles of these vegetation restoration methods in degraded forest ecosystems, with the aim of providing a reference for ecological restoration under similar land conditions. This study used a grid method to establish sample points in the forest–grassland–desert transitional zone and assessed five methods of vegetation restoration sites: artificial forest composed of native species of Larix principis-rupprechtii (FL), artificial forest composed of exotic Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica (FP), natural secondary broad-leaved forest (FN), open grassland (GO), and enclosed grassland (GC). The differences in soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), total potassium (TK), alkaline hydrolysis nitrogen (AN), rapidly available phosphorus (AP) and rapidly available potassium (AK) among the different vegetation restoration sites were compared via variance analysis, and the soil quality index (SQI) was calculated to assess the soil quality at the sample points. The SOC, TN, and AN contents of forest soil were significantly greater than those of grassland, and the TN, TP, AN, AK, and SOC contents of FL, FN, and GC were significantly greater than those of FP and GO. Among them, the TN, TP, and SOC contents were the highest in the FL, reaching 2.74, 0.39, and 47.27 g kg−1, respectively. In terms of ecological stoichiometric characteristics, the average N:P ratio in the study area was 6.68, indicating a serious lack of N in the study area. Among the different types of restoration sites, the effect was stronger in the FP than in the FL, and the TN and AN contents were only 1.48 g kg−1 and 116.69 mg kg−1, respectively. The SQI in the FL was not significantly different from that in the FN or GC, but it was significantly greater than that in the FP and GO. These findings indicate that native tree species restoration in degraded forest ecosystems significantly improved soil quality, while the introduction of exotic tree species for afforestation had a minimal effect on improving soil quality.

Long-term assessment of fire-induced carbon loss in Southeast Atlantic Forest

Fires threaten tropical forests such as Atlantic Forest in Brazil, compromising the ecosystem service of carbon stock. However, there is a literature gap regarding these studies in these ecosystems. Therefore, we conducted this analysis in different land use and land cover (LULC) classes, considering seasonality and topographic, hydrological, anthropogenic and fire variables correlations, during 2000-2020. The InVEST Carbon model was used, applied to carbon biomass pre-fire and pos-fire, based on field work and linear regression, weighted by pre- and post-fire NBR spectral index. The results, in 21 years, revealed a total loss after fire of 55.7GgC (43%), and of these, 79% is in old-growth Ombrophilous dense. In general, fire negatively impacts the carbon stock of native forests by an average of 38% (ranging from 19.9% to 69.1%, depending on phytophysiognomy and seasonality), Eucalyptus plantations by 87.1%, high-altitude grasslands by 79.5% and pasture in 90.4%. Burn frequency and severity as well as distance from rivers and roads were significantly correlated with carbon loss. A small portion of this biome has shown a high potential for fire-induced carbon loss, indicating a danger for the whole Atlantic Forest conservation and to international agreements commitments.

Trees have similar growth responses to first-entry fires and reburns following long-term fire exclusion

Managing fire ignitions for resource benefit decreases fuel loads and reduces the risk of high-severity fire in fire-suppressed dry conifer forests. However, the reintroduction of low-severity wildfire can injure trees, which may decrease their growth after fire. Post-fire growth responses could change from first-entry fires to reburns, as first-entry fires reduce fuel loads and the vulnerability among trees to fire effects, which may result in trees sustaining less damage during reburns. To determine whether trees had growth responses that varied from first-entry fires to reburns, we cored 87 ponderosa pine trees in the Gila Wilderness, New Mexico, USA that experienced 3–5 fires between 1950 and 2012 following long-term fire-exclusion and 67 unburned control trees from the Gila and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. We assessed tree growth response to fire by comparing tree-ring growth among burned and unburned trees from two years before to two years after fires. We compared growth between burned and unburned trees using a bootstrapping procedure to calculate annual median tree-ring width index values with 95 % confidence intervals. We compared post-fire growth after first-entry fires and reburns following long-term fire-exclusion. Burned trees had similar growth responses following first-entry fires and reburns, with lower growth during the fire year through two years post-fire compared to unburned controls. Burned tree growth returned to expected rates following these immediate post-fire growth reductions. Interestingly, trees had lower growth during the year before and the year of reburns compared to the first-entry fire, reflecting greater aridity before reburns. Greater aridity may have contributed to larger-than-expected growth reductions following reburns, which could explain similar growth responses to first-entry fires and reburns. Our results indicate that trees had consistent short-term growth responses to low-severity fires following long-term fire-exclusion. As trees retained vigor after multiple fires, managing fires for resource benefit is an effective approach to reduce the likelihood of high-severity fire without long-term negative effects on tree growth.

The return of tall forests: Reconstructing the canopy resilience of an extensively harvested primary forest in Mediterranean mountains

Understanding recovery times and mechanisms of ecosystem dynamics towards the old-growth stage is crucial for forest restoration, but still poorly delineated in Mediterranean. Through tree-ring methods, we reconstructed the return of a tall canopy after severe human disturbance in a mixed beech (Fagus sylvatica) and silver fir (Abies alba) forest, located at a mountain site in the southern edge of both species' range (Gariglione, south Italy). The primary forest was extensively harvested between 1930 and 1950, removing up to 91 % of the biomass. Growth histories, climate-growth relationships and time-series of growth dominance in Gariglione were compared with a network of protected mature and old-growth beech forests distributed along a wide elevational gradient in the same region. We found that the renewed tall canopy of Gariglione is mainly composed of remnant trees, which include uncut trees and saplings, and the post-harvesting regeneration mostly represented by fir. Canopy beech trees reached maximum basal area increment (BAI) in the 1970s, 40–50 years after cutting. Then, beech BAI shifted towards negative trends in phase with drying climate (PDSI), while fir maintained a sustained growth until 2000. This growth asynchrony between the two species conferred community stability over the last decades. The network comparison highlighted the common negative impact of summer drought on high-frequency growth signals of beech in south Italy. However, analysis of long-term mean growth trends indicates decreasing BAI limited to Gariglione beech, revealing relevant differences due to site ecology and its interactions with legacy effects of past management in driving growth responses to climate change. Indeed, lowland mature beech forests showed increasing BAI in the last decades, while primary high-mountain forests displayed a remarkably stable low oscillating growth. In all the Mediterranean forests we studied, large and old trees showed a marked growth acclimation despite ongoing climate warming, demonstrating the effectiveness of landscape rewilding.

Woody plants diversity and the associated provisioning ecosystem services across three contrasting forest management regimes in Southwest Ethiopia

Woody plants are a source of provisioning ecosystem services. Coffee management impacts forest composition, structure, and diversity. We studied the effect of coffee management intensification on woody plants and their associated provisioning ecosystem services under three contrasting forest management regimes in southwest Ethiopia. The study employed mixed approaches (vegetation assessment and ethnoecological study) to collect the data. Woody plants were collected from 189 plots and perceived local ecosystem services were identified by 136 individuals through an ethnoecological approach. The total number of woody plants recorded in the natural forest, coffee forest, and coffee agroforest was 971, 945, and 521 respectively. Species richness in natural forest, coffee forest, and coffee agroforest were 57, 54, and 53 respectively. The local people perceived 17 different provisioning ecosystem services collected from the three forest types. The result showed that there is a positive relationship between the diversity and use value of woody plants across the three forest management regimes. Coffee management intensification simplifies the stand structure, woody plant composition, and ecosystem services of the forest. Plant use value increases in coffee agroforests. Coffee agroforests can serve as repositories of diversity and ecosystem services in southwest Ethiopia.

Nutritional value of edible Russula griseocarnosa in Vietnam

This study examines the nutritional value of edible Russula griseocarnosa in Vietnam. Russula griseocarnosa is a popular edible wild mushroom in northern Vietnam, where it is consumed locally or exported to China. Future market development and increased trade in Russula griseocarnosa require information on the composition and quality of mushrooms being harvested from the wild. As the nutritional value of this mushroom has not been documented, mushrooms were collected from secondary forests in Bac Giang and Cao Bang provinces, and primary forests in Quang Ninh province for determining the proximate and mineral contents. We dried the mushrooms and sequentially measured the proximate content using standard protocols. For mineral content, the mushroom powder was acid digested and analysed by atomic absorption spectrometry. The study found that Russula griseocarnosa in Vietnam contained 18-29% protein, 57-68% carbohydrate, 8.7-13.7% crude fiber, 0.8-2.1% crude fat, and 0.9-1.1% ash, and has high mineral content (mg/kg dry weight) of K (19,836-24,966), P (2,631-3,335), Ca (573-1,530), Mg (350-636), Fe (143-836), Zn (60-93), and Cu (31-42). The data in this study can be used in establishing official product brands of Russula griseocarnosa, which could improve the livelihood of local people who are dependent on non-wood forest products. Further studies should explore the market chain and mushroom product opportunities, the livelihood of rural households, and the sustainability of harvesting wild mushrooms.

Adaptive wildfire spread prediction for complex terrain: modeling the effectiveness of sprinkler systems

BackgroundBecause the threat of wildfires to global ecosystems and society continues to rise, this study provides an experimental simulation framework that assesses the spread and reduction of wildfires to evaluate the effectiveness of adaptation methods in reducing their impact. The process entails selecting a vulnerable wildfire area and adaptation method, then generating the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Monitoring data are then used to configure the model, set boundary conditions, and simulate the fire. The effectiveness of the adaptation method in minimizing damage in the area of interest is evaluated by comparing simulations with and without the chosen adaptation method. Our focus area was a natural recreational forest in Wonju, Gangwon-do, Korea, and our adaptation method was a water sprinkler system.ResultsOur framework provides aims to provide an experimental means of assessing the wildfire spread path and spread area based on exogenous variables of wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, and more. The sprinkler adaptation had a reduction effect of 20% in the wildfire spread rate for the 10-h period, which refers to the time limit of the simulation after ignition. We revealed that at higher wind speeds, the fire primarily follows the wind direction; whereas at lower wind speeds, the fire is more influenced by the topography. Additionally, 60 min after ignition, the adaptation methods can suppress wildfire spread by > 70%. Notably, sprinklers reduce smoke concentrations by up to 50% (ppm) over the affected area.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates the potential effectiveness of a comprehensive CFD model in mitigating wildfire spread using sprinkler systems as an experimental analysis. Key results include a 20% reduction in wildfire within 10 h of ignition, significant influence of wind speed on spread patterns, and a reduction of smoke concentrations, improving air quality. These findings highlight the potential of CFD-based frameworks to enhance wildfire response strategies. However, it is important to note that this study’s limitations include the lack of experimental or measured fire behavior data, which should be considered when interpreting the effectiveness of the CFD model.

Considerations for kelp aquaculture on South Africa’s west coast: geospatial analysis and research implications

Abstract The commercial use of kelp continues to gain interest worldwide. While in some East Asian countries kelp farming has a long history, the kelp industry in South Africa is based on harvesting of kelp from natural kelp forests or by beach-cast collection. This study examined the potential for kelp aquaculture on South Africa’s west coast, focusing on the three indigenous species of kelp, Ecklonia maxima, Laminaria pallida and Macrocystis pyrifera. Geospatial analysis was used to identify and assess nine potentially suitable areas for kelp farming, based on natural habitat conditions, and examination of potential conflicts with other users and enabling land-use factors. An assessment of the market, technical and financial aspects of a kelp farming opportunity indicated that a 4 ha kelp farm, with longlines producing 750 to 1,000 t of fresh kelp per annum, could be viable as an integrated aquaculture activity adjacent to an existing mussel or oyster farm. We recommend a detailed feasibility study for kelp aquaculture in South Africa, with market and technical research, and financial modelling. Current seaweed industry legislation is mostly concerned with the wild resource, and there is a need for specific policies relating to seaweed aquaculture to facilitate growth of the industry.

Mapping temperate old-growth forests in Central Europe using ALS and Sentinel-2A multispectral data

Old-growth forests are essential to preserve biodiversity and play an important role in sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change. However, their existence across Europe is vulnerable due to the scarcity of their distribution, logging, and environmental threats. Therefore, providing the current status of old-growth forests across Europe is essential to aiding informed conservation efforts and sustainable forest management. Remote sensing techniques have proven effective for mapping and monitoring forests over large areas. However, relying solely on remote sensing spectral or structural information cannot capture comprehensive horizontal and vertical structure complexity profiles associated with old-growth forest characteristics. To overcome this issue, we combined spectral information from Sentinel-2A multispectral imagery with 3D structural information from high-density point clouds of airborne laser scanning (ALS) imagery to map old-growth forests over an extended area. Four features from the ALS data and fifteen from Sentinel-2A comprising raw band (spectral reflectance), vegetation indices (VIs), and texture were selected to create three datasets used in the classification process using the random forest algorithm. The results demonstrated that combining ALS and Sentinel-2A features improved the classification performance and yielded the highest accuracy for old-growth class, with an F1-score of 92% and producer’s and user’s accuracies of 93% and 90%, respectively. The findings suggest that features from ALS and Sentinel-2A data sensitive to forest structure are essential for identifying old-growth forests. Integrating open-access satellite imageries, such as Sentinel-2A and ALS data, can benefit forest managers, stakeholders, and conservationists in monitoring old-growth forest preservation across a broader spatial extent.

Carbon in soil macroaggregates under coffee agroforestry systems: Modeling the effect of edaphic fauna and residue input

Crop diversification tends to favor the soil fauna community, soil aggregation, and consequently soil organic carbon (SOC) stock. Understanding the association between these attributes can help in understanding the dynamics of physical protection of soil organic matter. In this context, our study aimed to answer: (1) how does the edaphic macrofauna community and soil carbon and aggregate classes respond to two types of coffee agroforestry systems (coffee with Grevillea robusta and coffee with banana) and how these responses differ from native ecosystem; (2) how and to what extent are soil aggregation regulated by the complex structural interactions of plant residue input, SOC, and the soil faunal community? The work was conducted in the municipality of Planalto, state of Bahia, Brazil. Three systems were evaluated: agroforestry system of Coffee arabica L. with Grevillea robusta (CG); agroforestry system of Coffee arabica with Musa spp. (CB); and native forest (NF). Four plots were delimited in each system, in which dry fractionation of the soil was performed to obtain aggregates of classes >6, 6–4, 4–2 and < 2 mm. The macrofauna was sampled using the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Program method. The labile and total carbon of the soil and aggregates were determined and the carbon management indices were calculated. The CG and CB presented a greater amount of larger size aggregates (> 6, 6–4 and 4–2 mm) than the NF. The CB system provided more favorable conditions for the soil macrofauna. Despite this, both coffee agroforestry systems favored the occurrence of Oligochaeta. The CG was more favorable to maintain labile fractions of organic matter than the CB. The edaphic fauna show a close relationship with the formation of carbon aggregates and stabilization which was directly influenced by continuous input of plant residues in diverse coffee growing systems.

Establishment of NK Cell Natural Immunotherapy for Cancer Prevention and Treatment Using the Natural Terpenes Derived from Forest Phytoncide

The active ingredient of forest phytoncide has many remarkable biological activities, especially in the aspect of anti-tumor. It can activate NK cells, increase the number of NK cells and the expression level of anti-cancer protein in NK cells, induce the self-apoptosis of cancer cells, and help the human body effectively complete the cellular immune anti-cancer mechanism. If we replace ordinary air with natural forest air as a new pressurizing medium and input it into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, after being processed by hyperbaric oxygen chamber oxygen production technology, the high pressure oxygen of forest phytoncide is generated. At this time, the high pressure oxygen inhaled into the body is different from natural forest air or ordinary air. The fundamental difference is that the high pressure oxygen inhaled into the body at this time contains both high concentration of oxygen and high concentration of phytoncide, moreover the phytoncide concentration and oxygen concentration are much higher than the natural forest air or ordinary air. After it is inhaled by the human body into the alveoli, it can reach the peripheral blood through the pulmonary circulation and systemic circulation, and the high concentration of the active component terpene of phytoncide has an opportunity to directly contact NK cells and fully play the biological activity of activating NK cells. The high pressure oxygen that enters the alveoli simultaneously with phytoncide gas also passes through the pulmonary and systemic circulation, reaches the peripheral blood, Oxygen is released from the oxygenated hemoglobin, passes through the cell membrane and enters the mitochondria in the cells to provide sufficient energy for the physiological activities of NK cells. By applying this basic principle, we can establish a satisfactory NK cell natural immunotherapy for cancer prevention and treatment that can be accepted by humanity in the long run.

Effects of fire on tree species composition and carbon stocks of a peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

ABSTRACT Peat swamp forests are important in the global carbon (C) budget because of the huge amount of C stored in these ecosystems, particularly in below-ground components. Indonesia has some of the greatest extent of peat swamp forests globally, yet many of them are being disturbed by fires that are becoming increasingly frequent. In Kalampangan, Central Kalimantan, the tree species (≥4.8 cm diameter) composition, aboveground biomass (AGB) and litter standing crop of peat swamp forests were sampled, and the overall ecosystem C stock estimated, within two 1-ha sampling plots, one of which was undisturbed (natural) and the other previously burned. The AGB and litter standing crop found in the natural forest totaled 341 and 6.77 Mg ha−1, respectively. The AGB declined more than six-fold to 53.2 Mg ha−1, and the litter standing crop declined by about half to 3.30 Mg ha−1 in the disturbed forest; the total number of tree species declined from 114 to 80 per hectare. The disturbed peat swamp lost just over 200 Mg C ha−1 to the atmosphere due to the combustion of tree biomass and the upper layer of the peat, but C stocks still remained very high overall (c. 1100 Mg ha−1) due to the thick layer of peat (>2 m) making peat swamp forest conservation imperative due to their huge carbon stocks.

Scale-dependent effects of vegetation attributes and soil fertility on productivity in two temperate forests in Northeast China

Forests are rich in biodiversity and high in productivity, and understanding the relationship between biodiversity and productivity is critical to the sustainable management of forest ecosystems. Although biodiversity and other factors contribute to forest productivity to varying degrees, it is unclear whether spatial scale (or plot size) influences this relationship. In this study, we analyzed the impacts of biodiversity, trait composition, structural attributes, and soil fertility on forest productivity at three scales in two temperate old-growth forests. We found that structural attributes, including basal area and stand density, were positively correlated with productivity and were consistently the strongest drivers of productivity changes in both forest types. Trait composition had a weak direct positive correlation with productivity. Soil nitrogen had positive effects on productivity, and soil moisture content had negative effects, both of which increased with increasing plot size. Different results for the effect of biodiversity on productivity were found between the two forests. In the mixed broadleaved-Korean pine forest, diversity correlated positively with productivity, and the strength of the relationship increased with increasing plot size. In contrast, in the spruce-fir valley forest, diversity had a direct positive correlation with productivity at 10 m × 10 m, no significant effect at 20 m × 20 m, and a negative correlation at 30 m × 30 m. Our results suggest that the contribution of vegetation attributes and soil fertility to forest productivity varies with scale. Despite the fact that both the niche complementarity hypothesis and the mass ratio hypothesis act simultaneously in forests, they have limited effects on productivity. Stand structural attributes play a key role in elucidating the biodiversity-productivity relationships, and they may serve as a more significant regulator of forest productivity than diversity. At the same time, the role of soil fertility in regulating productivity cannot be ignored.

Beyond species richness: Forest structure and edaphic conditions have similar importance but different effects on multi-taxon biodiversity

Managed forests represent a major fraction of the global forest area and are known to host impoverished biodiversity compared to natural forests. The effect of forest management has focused mainly on aggregated community metrics such as species richness of single taxa and on simplistic managed vs. unmanaged comparisons. However, the effect of forest management is expected to vary among species and taxa and to be contingent on site-specific conditions. In this study, we focus on fine-scale multi-taxon biodiversity patterns to disentangle the impact of forest management on the forest structure and the abiotic soil conditions of the stands. We base our comparisons on carefully selected pairs of managed and unmanaged stands to minimize regional differences that could confound the effects of management. We found that the total effect of forest management on alpha diversity was positive on plants and rove beetles, neutral on ground beetles and mosses, and negative on crane flies, fungi, and lichens. However, using joint species distribution modeling we show that individual species’ responses to the local underlying soil conditions can be as important as the forest structural changes induced by management, but this varied among the different taxa. Based on these responses we disclose synergies and trade-offs among some of the taxa. Our results indicate that the balance between forest management and abiotic conditions can shape the patterns of forest multi-taxon biodiversity. Considering these conditions can be important in predicting the response of biodiversity to forest management and act as key criteria when prioritizing areas for the conservation of biodiversity.

Multifaceted natural resources and green energy transformation for sustainable industrial development

Climate change is the most phenomenal challenge to humanity, and its roots are intervened with unsustainable industrialization, exercising overexploitation of natural resources. Therefore, the departure from non-renewable to renewables has become inevitable, though thought-provoking. In this respect, we explore how green energy transformation moderates the impacts of multifaceted natural resources on sustainable industrial development in the presence of other covariates involving technological progress, financial development, and economic progress. We compiled data from Group of Seven (G-7) members over the 1995−2018 period and applied panel quantile regression (PQREG) to capture the effects across varying levels of quantiles of sustainable industrial development. Results revealed a positive role of natural gas rents, while coal, forest, and total natural resource rents contributed adverse implications for sustainable industrial development. However, the green energy transformation proved to be the game changer because it not only directly induced sustainable industrial development improvement but also turned the unfavorable effects of coal, forest, and total natural resources into favorable ones by interacting with those multifaceted natural resources. Technological, financial, and economic progress supported sustainable industrial development in G-7 nations, particularly in members with existing middle and upper scales of sustainable industrial development. These findings are robust enough when subjected to different estimation tools. In light of these outcomes, the interaction between green energy transformation and natural resource policy is inevitably critical to attaining natural resource efficiency for sustainable industrial development. Therefore, it is imperative to establish a close policy coordination between advancing green energy technology and allocating natural resource revenue to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs), with a particular emphasis on SDG-7 and SDG-13.

Tradeoffs in longleaf pine conservation: Prescribed fire management increases exotic ambrosia beetle abundance in pine-hardwood forests

Exotic woodboring insects, including some ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae, and Platypodidae), are threatening native forests worldwide. Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) forest is an endangered habitat in the southeastern United States. One of the most important actions necessary for its conservation is prescribed fire, which maintains its savanna structure. However, prescribed fire is a forest disturbance, possibly creating new niches for colonization by exotic insects. The interaction between prescribed fire and exotic ambrosia species is understudied, especially in highly fire-dependent ecosystems. We carried out a two-year experiment in mixed longleaf pine forests in Alabama, USA. We compared ambrosia beetle communities in recently burned and unburned sites. We found that more than 66 % of total individuals in longleaf pine forests, regardless of fire management, were exotic species. Moreover, exotic ambrosia beetles were more abundant in burned stands, whereas native species showed no difference between burned or unburned stands. Fire management influenced stand species composition for native but not exotic ambrosia beetles. These results indicate that trade-offs exist in managing fire-dependent ecosystems, especially in the Anthropocene era, which is associated with rampant biological invasions. Fire is important to preserve the longleaf pine habitat, but it simultaneously acts as a disturbance, increasing the population density of those exotic species taking advantage of the presence of stressed or dying trees.