Restoration Of Forest Ecosystems Research Articles

Postfire Evolution of Forest Ecosystems on Sandy Terraces in the Southeastern Baikal Region

In the Baikal region, warming under conditions of climate continentality is accompanied by an increase in the area of forest fires and the risk that postpyrogenic ecosystems will not return as forests. A study of pine forests on sand sediments in the southeastern Baikal region showed that the regional ecosystems damaged by fire develop in different directions depending on the type of fire and local conditions. After a ground fire, an adult forest stand is preserved and stable signs of pyrogenesis in the soil are developed in the form of charred epipedons. Under these conditions, sparse-grass and dead-cover open stands are formed with almost no signs of renewed young growth and shrubs. The coal effect causes a decrease in soil acidity, an increase in the content of exchangeable calcium, the formation of humus of humate composition, and base unsaturation. It is proposed to identify the soils with coal epipedons at the level of subtype as psammosoils humic postpyrogenic. After a top fire, the plant cover and the soil cover are completely destroyed; the ecosystem begins its development from scratch. Forest renewal in lowlands and on the slopes of shadow and leeward expositions occurs actively in a natural way, as well as against the background of reforestation. During the postfire period, psammosoil humic soil of a weakly developed order is formed under the young forest. On the slopes of solar upwind expositions, unforested deflation zones with no signs of soil formation are formed despite the actions taken to restore the forest stand. Remote sensing methods made it possible to ascertain that, over 15 years of postfire development, despite the reforestation, the area of unforested deflation zones has increased 11-fold when compared to the prefire period. It is recommended to introduce forest-stand restoration in the form of loosening the charred soil on the territories damaged by ground fires, as well as the repeated execution of forest planting works in the deflated areas considering the protection of the forest edges from wind into a set of measures to restore forest ecosystems after wildfires.

Forest Restoration Potential in a Deforested Mountain Area: An Ecosociological Approach towards Sustainability

AbstractForest degradation worldwide stimulates efforts to restore forests. In particular, in mountain areas, where livestock agriculture and grazing have led to deforestation and a strong decrease in forest ecosystem services over centuries, it is necessary to develop sustainable strategies for the restoration of multifunctional forest ecosystems. We investigate the case study of the Javakheti Highland in the Southern Caucasus (Georgia), which is largely deforested because of long-lasting agricultural land use. We take into consideration the natural potential of forest development, the multifacetted potential of forest use, and those stakeholders directly and indirectly, respectively, involved in forest restoration. We show that neither the natural ecological site factors nor the potential of forest use, considering traditional and modern use, pose a limitation on forest restoration. Traditional ecological knowledge is still present, however hardly activated nowadays. However, social, cultural, and political obstacles have to be addressed for the development of a sustainable forest-management policy, which is rooted in the local communities. Environmental policy favoring forest development in Javakheti Highland should integrate national forest development policy with the perception, requirements, and traditions of local people.

Effect of plant-derived smoke water and potassium nitrate on germination of understory boreal forest plants

This experiment assessed the effects of plant-derived smoke water, potassium nitrate (KNO3), and their combined effect on germination of cold-stratified and non-stratified seed from 18 native boreal forest plant species. Seeds were treated with smoke water diluted to 1:20, 0.1% KNO3, and smoke water + KNO3. Nine species responded positively to smoke water; these responses were dependent on the type of stratification, and three of these species only had a positive response to smoke water + KNO3 solution. Five species responded positively to KNO3 and four of those were associated with smoke water + KNO3 solution. Smoke water induced germination of several species, but only for seeds that had been previously cold-stratified. Vaccinium myrtilloides Michx. had the largest increase in germination using smoke water and the most reduced germination using KNO3. The interactions between smoke water, KNO3, and stratified seeds are not well understood. The effects and applications of smoke water and KNO3 (or other nitrogen sources) should be further researched to determine alternative approaches to restoration of disturbed boreal forest ecosystems.

Seven Decades of Spontaneous Forest Regeneration after Large-Scale Clear-Cutting in Białowieża Forest do not Ensure the Complete Recovery of Collembolan Assemblages

The long-term effects of large-scale disturbance on forest ecosystem processes and structure are poorly understood. To assess the effects of large-scale clear-cutting on the taxonomic and functional structure of collembolan assemblages, 18 plots were established in the Polish part of Białowieża Forest. All plots, situated in a mixed Tilio-Carpinetum broad-leaved forest, had eutrophic Cambisol developed on rich glacial deposits. The Collembola assemblages in the stands that had naturally regenerated on large-scale clear-cuts performed at the beginning of the 20th century were compared to those in old-growth forests (i.e., the endpoint of stand development following stand-replacing disturbance). Collembolans, one of the most numerous soil microarthropods, are successfully used to assess the consequences of forest management and ecosystem restoration. Our study tested whether seven decades of spontaneous forest development after large-scale anthropogenic disturbance ensures the complete recovery of the soil Collembola. Using complementary taxonomic and life-form approaches, we provide evidence that the collembolan assemblages associated with the tree stands that had spontaneously developed in large harvesting plots distinctly differed from those in old-growth deciduous forests in this region despite seven decades of regenerative forest succession. The species diversity of the assemblages in the naturally regenerated tree stands was significantly lower, and their life-form structure was noticeably different from those in the reference forests. Moreover, the shift in the functional group structure of the collembolan assemblages in the stands that had regenerated after clear-cutting indicates that their activity seven decades after disturbance is concentrated mainly on the decomposition of the litter in the upper layers, whereas the processes controlled by these organisms in the deeper soil layers are not fully restored.

Testing a New Type of Fertilizer to Improve Nursery Production of Framework Tree Species for Forest Ecosystem Restoration in Northern Thailand

Testing a New Type of Fertilizer to Improve Nursery Production of Framework Tree Species for Forest Ecosystem Restoration in Northern Thailand

Динаміка відновлення чорничників після суцільних рубок головного користування

Лісові екосистеми Житомирського Полісся зазнають постійно зростаючого впливу антропогенних чинників, серед яких значне за обсягами місце займають рубки головного користування. Внаслідок рубок змінюються всі компоненти лісу, зокрема дикорослі ягідники, серед яких найпоширенішим видом у лісах державних лісогосподарських підприємств Житомирського Полісся є чорниця звичайна (14 872 га). Під час рубок головного користування значно пошкоджуються, а згодом частково зникають чорничники внаслідок різкої зміни умов середовища. Процес відновлення є досить тривалим. Динаміку відновлення чорничників проаналізовано за двома важливими показниками – проективне покриття та вегетативна надземна фітомаса чорниці звичайної (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) у материнському фітоценозі та лісових культурах різного віку в умовах вологих соснових суборів Житомирського Полісся. Встановлено, що відновлення чорничників відбувається інтенсивно після змикання соснових культур у віці 6–7 років, проективне покриття чорниці сягає 9,7±0,17 %, закінчуючи середньовіковими насадженнями, в яких зазначений показник сягає 67,9±0,26 %. Наведено аналіз статистичної значущості різниці середніх значень проективного покриття та величини надземної вегетативної фітомаси на одиниці площі чорничників між різними віковими групами лісових культур і материнськими фітоценозами.

Developing Blight-Tolerant American Chestnut Trees.

An invasive fungal pathogen has reduced the American chestnut (Castanea dentata), once a keystone tree species within its natural range in the eastern United States and Canada, to functional extinction. To help restore this important canopy tree, blight-tolerant American chestnut trees have been developed using an oxalate oxidase-encoding gene from wheat. This enzyme breaks down oxalate, which is produced by the pathogen and forms killing cankers. Expressing oxalate oxidase results in blight tolerance, where the tree and the fungus can coexist, which is a more evolutionarily stable relationship than direct pathogen resistance. Genetic engineering (GE) typically makes a very small change in the tree's genome, potentially avoiding incompatible gene interactions that have been detected in some chestnut hybrids. The GE American chestnut also retains all the wild American chestnut's alleles for habitat adaptation, which are important for a forest ecosystem restoration program.

Changes in microbial functional genes within the soil metagenome during forest ecosystem restoration

As important mediators of numerous ecological processes, soil microorganisms play essential roles in the recovery of ecosystems after disturbance. Using next-generation sequencing techniques, microbial taxonomic changes during ecosystem restoration have been widely studied, but data describing microbial community structure alone can be difficult to link to ecosystem processes mediated by microorganisms. Shotgun metagenome sequencing provides a chance to examine changes among thousands of functional genes during the recovery of microbial communities and ecological function. We analyzed 15 soil metagenomes from a chronosequence of mine soils spanning 6–31 years since reforestation along with unmined reference soils. Taxonomic and functional changes indicate a shift from copiotrophic to oligotrophic groups, increasing metabolism of recalcitrant carbon sources and the influence of vegetation. Increases in genes involved in transposable elements, virulence, defense, and stress response suggest more cooperative and competitive interactions among microorganisms with chronosequence age. Within N cycling groups, ammonia and nitrite oxidizing bacteria increased significantly during restoration, but few significant changes were observed in key N-cycle functional genes. The low relative abundances of methanotrophs and methane monooxygenase genes in all reforested soils explains previous observations that methane consumption has not recovered at these sites 31 years after reforestation. This work helps identify possible mechanisms linking the soil microbiome to ecosystem recovery, with a specific focus on N cycling and greenhouse gas emission, to better understand the roles soil microorganisms play in the restoration of ecosystem functions.

Restoration of Native Fire-Adapted Southern Pine-Dominated Forest Ecosystems: Diversifying the Tools in the Silvicultural Toolbox

Restoration of Native Fire-Adapted Southern Pine-Dominated Forest Ecosystems: Diversifying the Tools in the Silvicultural Toolbox

Regulating water disturbance for mitigating drought stress to conserve and restore a desert riparian forest ecosystem

Intermediate water disturbance (in the form of overflow of surface water and changes in the depth of groundwater) may help to accelerate restoration of degraded riparian forest ecosystems in extremely arid areas and enhance the resistance of those ecosystems to drought. To test this possibility, we selected the lower reaches of the Tarim River in China to analyse monitoring data on vegetation and hydrology spanning a 16-year period, and a 100-year data record of tree rings in Populus euphratica. The results suggested that ecological water conveyance can restore degraded desert riparian forest ecosystems. In the early stages of restoration, the interval between two overflows should not be longer than 3 years. Intermediate disturbance (1–2 overflows a year, each lasting 21–30 days) proved conducive to the formation of a plant community that is both diverse and stable, thereby supporting the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Both P. euphratica and Tamarix chinensis adopt suitable strategies for using groundwater from different depths to adapt to drought. Based on these results, appropriate disturbance modes related to both surface water and groundwater are proposed for the restoration and conservation of desert riparian forest ecosystems under varying intensities of drought. These modes offer scientific guidance on more efficient use of water and on ecosystem management in similar areas around the world.

Local community involvement in forest rangeland management: case study of compensation on forest area closed to grazing in Morocco

Unmanaged livestock grazing is the greatest threat to the health and sustainability of forest rangelands in Morocco. Historically, communities have developed ingenious traditional systems in order to regulate natural resource uses. However, currently most of these principles have been undermined and have led to open access of a common pool resource. To achieve viable solutions to unmanaged livestock grazing in forestlands, local community involvement was introduced in Moroccan forestry early on. The main objective of this study was to show the importance of an original mechanism called compensation on forest area closed to grazing, carried out by the Forestry Department to involve communities that have the right of use in the restoration of forest rangeland ecosystems. It also aims to assess the mechanism’s technical and socioeconomic impacts. Analysis of the process of community participation in the case of Moroccan forest management revealed that it was perceived and implemented in different ways, and considered either as an end in itself or (rarely) as a means to an end. Forest managers and use-rights holders appreciate the mechanism of compensation for forest areas closed to grazing. Since the implementation of this program, the number of grazing association members has increased. This trend has been associated with a positive impact on the reduction in the number of offences and on improving reforestation success rates. In addition, remote sensing showed a positive trend in the relative density and the evolution of the health of vegetation in the areas covered by this mechanism. This program helped to develop consensus in forest ecosystem restoration that will help managers to break the vicious cycle of unmanaged grazing, and promote a new collective stewardship of this precious land. As a result of this success, this program should be replicated and valued. It should be presented in the future as a tool for natural resource conservation with unintended human capital development benefits.

Управляемое восстановление лесных экосистем на песчаных техногенных субстратах крайнесеверной тайги Европейского северо-востока России

Управляемое восстановление лесных экосистем на песчаных техногенных субстратах крайнесеверной тайги Европейского северо-востока России

A Review on the Dynamics of Prescribed Fire, Tree Mortality, and Injury in Managing Oak Natural Communities to Minimize Economic Loss in North America

The long history of fire in North America spans millennia and is recognized as an important driver in the widespread and long-term dominance of oak species and oak natural communities. Frequent wildfires from about 1850 to 1950 resulted in much forest damage, and gained fire a negative reputation. The lack of fire for the past nearly 100 years due to suppression programs is now indicted as a major cause of widespread oak regeneration failures and loss of fire-dependent natural communities. The use of prescribed fire is increasing in forest management and ecosystem restoration. An understanding of fire effects on trees can provide the basis for the silviculture of restoring and sustaining oak ecosystems. We present an overview of fire-tree wounding interactions, highlight important determinants of fire injury and damage, and discuss several practical situations where fire can be used to favor oak while minimizing damage and devaluation of the forest. We also identify stages in stand development, regeneration methods, and management objectives for which fire has the potential of causing substantial damage and recommend preferred alternative practices.

A Challenge to Socio-Ecological Resilience: Community Based Resource Management Organizations’ Perceptions and Responses to Cannabis Cultivation in Northern California

Local nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest have stepped up to fill a leadership void in forest management since the Timber Wars of the 1980s and 1990s. Community based resource management groups (CBRM) have focused on stewardship of ecosystem services, and leading efforts to employ local workers to restore forest ecosystems and watershed functions. In Northern California, even as CBRM capacity has grown since the Timber Wars, a new transformative challenge threatens community and landscape adaptive capacity. Cannabis cultivation, which can have significant environmental and social impacts, has become a pervasive economic driver. I used interviews to explore CBRM leaders’ perceptions of environmental and social impacts of cannabis cultivation on their communities, and CBRM groups’ responses to these impacts. Respondents agreed that illegal cannabis cultivation on public land (trespass grows) and partially legalized and often poorly managed cannabis cultivation on private land threatens the progress that CBRM groups have made toward restoring forests and watersheds. They also described changing community relations resulting from the rapid influx of newcomers drawn to the economic opportunity of cannabis cultivation. They discussed wide-ranging approaches CBRM groups are taking to address emerging challenges. These interviews indicate that local partnerships between CBRM groups and government agencies are not sufficient to address the negative impacts of illegal cultivation especially on federal lands. Even if legalization of cannabis succeeds in creating a regulated market for a portion of California’s crop, the enormous national black market may continue to drive illegal cultivation on federal lands and unregulated private holdings. It will take Federal government re-investment in neglected national forests, rural landscapes and communities working to sustain critical ecosystem services, and federal legalization of cannabis to reverse the destruction resulting from illegal cannabis production on public lands.

Reformulating China's ecological restoration policies: What can be learned from comparing Chinese and American experiences?

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have attracted broad attention as a novel approach for using economic incentives to provide ecosystem services more sustainably. However, there have been inadequate efforts addressing the basic question of how to design and execute PES at the program level. By comparing and contrasting the experiences of restoring degraded cropland to forest and grass covers in China and the U.S., this paper aims to tackle that question and provide some valuable and timely policy insights that can inform China and other countries of how to improve the performance of their PES programs in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and/or equity. Our analysis will unfold through examining such specific question as: What are the socioeconomic and environmental backgrounds for one country to launch a large PES program? How was it designed initially and has evolved over time? How has its performance been evaluated and what are the main outcomes? How likely is it for the enrolled land to be reconverted or for the contract to be expired? What are the primary challenges to its long-term success? Finally, this study calls for a more practical and focused approach to PES design, implementation, and evaluation that will lead to improved outcomes of forest and grassland ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation.

Critical thresholds in ecological restoration to achieve optimal ecosystem services: An analysis based on forest ecosystem restoration projects in China

Ecological restoration projects should ensure that multiple ecosystem functions meet the needs of different stakeholders. Ecological and economic thresholds are both indispensable to ecological restoration or land-use planning, but their joint application is often overlooked. Consequently, short-term benefits do not necessarily lead to long-term benefits. In this study, we emphasize the importance that ecological thresholds (based on sound ecological relationships between predictor variables and response variables) and economic thresholds (based on the needs of different stakeholders) be simultaneously evaluated during ecological restoration or land-use planning initiatives. They should replace composite indicators that do not reflect what transpires within ecosystems after a certain point in time. Although the assessment of a project’s ecological and economic thresholds may be costly at the present time, this approach can effectuate the value of optimal ecological services and maintain it for a long period of time, while also improving resource use efficiency and sustainable development.

Estimation of positions and heights from UAV-sensed imagery in tree plantations in agrosilvopastoral systems

ABSTRACTPlantations of typical Mediterranean tree species, such as cork oak(Quercus suber L.), holm oak (Quercus ilex L.), and umbrella pine (Pinus pinea L.), are important for the restoration of forest ecosystems in the region. While traditional forest inventories can provide early problem detection in these plantations, the cost and labour of the required fieldwork may exceed its potential benefits. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide a cheap and practical alternative to traditional inventories and individual tree measurement. We present a method to estimate heights and positions of individual trees, from remotely sensed imagery, obtained using a low-flying UAV with an integrated RGB sensor. In the summer of 2015, a 5 ha stand at the University of Évora was photographed with a low-flying (40 m) hexacopter. A 3D point cloud and orthophoto were created from the images. The point cloud was used to identify local maxima as candidates for tree positions and height estimates. Results showed that the height measured with the UAV was reliable on pines, whereas the reliability for oaks was dependent on the size of the trees: smaller trees were especially problematic as they tended to have an irregular crown shape, resulting in larger errors. However, the error showed a strong trend, and adequate models could be produced to improve the estimates.

Influence of ecological factors of forest ecosystem restoration on the floodplains of Zhytomyr Polissya

An assessment of the pine forest natural regeneration on the land of Zhytomyr Polissya taken out of agricultural use as a result of radioactive contamination was given. The influence of ecological factors on the process of the appearance of wood species self-seeding has been established. The main environmental factors that influence the woody vegetation natural regeneration on the fallows are soil conditions; wetting degree of the territory, species composition and density of terrestrial vegetation. Successful pine restoration is usually possible, under conditions of the prevailing planting of reproductive age presence from the direction of dominant winds and sufficient soil moisture during the vegetative period of 2–3 years after the seeds arrival.

Improving Identification of Areas for Ecological Restoration for Conservation by Integrating USLE and MCDA in a GIS-Environment: A Pilot Study in a Priority Region Northern Mexico

Nature conservation is critical for securing an adequate supplying of environmental services to humans. Paradoxically, financial resources for conservation are normally scarce and, forest ecosystem restoration activities are expensive. So, a careful and detailed planning is vital for optimizing economic funds when ecosystems restoration practices are implemented. In this work, we developed a methodology to find physically-degraded sites in order to determine both, urgency and feasibility to carry out ecological forest restoration activities in the Priority Region for Conservation Xilitla in the state of San Luis Potosí (Mexico). Both, Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) were integrated together by using climatic, soil, remotely-sensed, and proximity data at a 30 m spatial resolution. The results indicated that, more than 80% of the bare soil land in the protected area is under several conditions that lead to feasible ecosystem restoration. This methodology can be further applied to know about the spatial location of soil degraded sites when planning forest restoration practices in natural protected areas.

Reducing China’s Timber Deficit and Restoring Forest Ecosystems and Habitat: are they Compatible?

Reducing China’s Timber Deficit and Restoring Forest Ecosystems and Habitat: are they Compatible?