Secondary Forest Research Articles

Valuing nature: the case of tropical forests and Costa Rica.

The paper focuses on the failure to account for the value of standing tropical forests, and of ecosystem services in general, in economic decision-making. This blindness to the values of nature has led to overexploitation, degradation and destruction of tropical forests, which, in turn, has also significantly contributed to greenhouse gas emissions. Forest conservation and restoration has a critical role to play in the fight against climate change and brings a vast array of additional benefits, from security in water, energy, food, health and livelihoods to maintaining biodiversity itself as a core component of our living planet. As first Minister of Environment and Energy under President Oscar Arias (1986-1990), I brought these views into societal decision-making in Costa Rica and here I briefly describe how. This article is part of the theme issue 'Bringing nature into decision-making'.

Allometric models for liana aboveground biomass in old-growth and secondary tropical forests of Tanzania

Allometric models for liana aboveground biomass in old-growth and secondary tropical forests of Tanzania

Digital Technologies and Environmental Impact

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a collection of devices and services that acquire, transfer, and display data and information digitally. Information and communication technology (ICT) is developing rapidly and is playing an increasingly important role in society. The role of ICT in environment management gains more importance due to its extensive use in various arenas of environment like weather forecasting, systems in the climate change, forest Degradation, hurricanes and typhoons anticipations, smart waste management systems, energy supply efficiency and tourism industry. The impacts of ICT can be seen both positive as well as negative. Thus, ICT plays a crucial role in environmental economics. ICT needs to be use in most effective ways thereby reducing the operational challenges that are directly responsible for production of significant amount of electronic waste generated at the end of the useful lifecycle of an ICT gadget and Green House Gases (GHGs). The collaboration of ICT with environment must focus on reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions from the design, use and disposal of technology products.

Forest degradation hinders soil fauna's contribution to litter decomposition and community dynamics in Andean temperate Nothofagus forests

Biodiversity losses driven by human disturbance hinder chief ecosystem functions like litter decomposition, among the most critical processes regulating forest ecosystems' carbon and nutrient cycles. Historical logging, wildfire, and ongoing livestock grazing pressure have degraded most southern temperate Nothofagus forests. Yet, the effect of forest degradation on soil fauna composition and, in turn, litter decomposition and nutrient cycling still need to be determined. This study aims to i) quantify the contribution of soil fauna to litter decomposition and mineralization of C, N, and P in Nothofagus sp. forest displaying different levels of degradation (mature, secondary, and degraded forests and a newly reforested site) and ii) assess the effect of forest degradation on the temporal composition of soil invertebrates' communities. Decomposition bags with 0.1 and 2 mm mesh were installed in long-term research plots across forest conditions. Litter decomposition and C, N, and P mineralization were estimated monthly for one year. Likewise, meso- and macrofauna's richness, abundance, and diversity were assessed bimonthly during the same period. We found that the contribution of mesofauna to decomposition was the lowest in the newly reforested site and 20 % higher in the degraded forest than in mature and secondary forests. Soil fauna substantially increased C, N, and P mineralization, particularly in the degraded forest. Differences in fauna's contribution to litter decomposition were likely related to changes in the community composition, primarily composed of detritivores in the three forested conditions and phytophagous and predators in the newly reforested site. We concluded that forest degradation modified the invertebrate community composition, and soil fauna enhances litter decomposition and nutrient mineralization in the degraded forests. In addition, our data suggest that forest degradation leads to a loss of invertebrate meso- and macrofauna orders, which alter litter decomposition processes.

How interacting anthropogenic pressures alter the plasticity of breeding time in two common songbirds.

Phenological adjustment is the first line of adaptive response of vertebrates when seasonality is disrupted by climate change. The prevailing response is to reproduce earlier in warmer springs, but habitat changes, such as forest degradation, are expected to affect phenological plasticity, for example, due to loss of reliability of environmental cues used by organisms to time reproduction. Relying on a two-decade, country-level capture-based monitoring of common songbirds' reproduction, we investigated how habitat anthropization, here characterized by the rural-urban and forest-farmland gradients, affected the average phenology and plasticity to local temperature in two common species, the great tit Parus major and the blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus. We built a hierarchical model that simultaneously estimated fledging phenology and its response to spring temperatures based on the changes in the proportion of juveniles captured over the breeding season. Both species fledge earlier in warmer sites (blue tit: 2.94 days/°C, great tit: 3.83 days/°C), in warmer springs (blue tit: 2.49 days/°C, great tit: 2.75 days/°C) and in most urbanized habitats (4 days for blue tit and 2 days for great tit). The slope of the reaction norm of fledging phenology to spring temperature varied across sites in both species, but this variation was explained by habitat anthropization only in the deciduous forest specialist, the blue tit. In this species, the responses to spring temperature were shallower in agricultural landscapes and slightly steeper in more urban areas. Habitat anthropization did not explain variation in the slope of the reaction norm in the habitat-generalist species (great tit), for which mean fledgling phenology and plasticity were correlated (i.e., steeper response in later sites). The effects of habitat change on phenological reaction norms provide another way through which combined environmental degradations may threaten populations' persistence, to an extent depending on species and on the changes in their prey phenology and abundance.

Forest Vegetation Characteristics of the Garhwal Himalaya

General aspects of vegetation of the Shiwalik ranges and the Garhwal Himalaya between the altitudes : 400-4,200 m together with detailed floristic accounts of the typical forests, are provided. Main types of forests surveyed include moist sal bearing forests, tropical fresh-water swamp forests, tropical dry deciduous forests, Himalayan montane subtropical forests, Himalayan moist temperate forests, sub-alpine forests and alpine forests. Various forest types are illustrated by field photographs. It is noted that there is a general decline in the forest cover and forest degradation is on the increase because of population pressure for more cultivable land and increased tourist flow in the region. Serious efforts at natiopal level are needed to conserve the fast dwindling forest cover.

A study on soil aggregate stability and splash erosion under exogenous electrolyte conditions in the karst region of Southwest China

Study areaKarst region in Guangxi Province, Southwest China. Study focusBoth soil properties and rainfall characteristics have a critical influence on splash erosion and aggregate stability. However, the impact of electrolytes on splash erosion has received less attention. In this study, soils from 4 typical land use types (cropland, orchard, artificial forest and secondary forest) in karst region were utilized as the research objects. NaCl, KCl, and MgCl2 solutions of different concentrations were used to determine the stability of the aggregates via fast wetting (FW) treatment of Le Bissonnais (LB) method and the characteristics of splash erosion via simulated rainfall experiments. New hydrological insights for the regionResults revealed that both the land use types and electrolyte significantly influenced the soil aggregate stability and splash characteristics. Specifically, the change in land use from cropland to orchard, artificial forest and secondary forest significantly increased the aggregate stability, thus decreasing soil erodibility. The aggregate stability decreased and the total splash rate increased as the electrolyte concentration increased. The total splash erosion rate of the 4 soils was positively correlated with the <0.5 mm particle size released by aggregate fragmentation under simulated rainfall conditions. The results can provide a theoretical basis for soil erosion control and soil quality improvement in the karst region of Southwest China.

A network meta-analysis on responses of forest soil carbon concentration to interventions

BackgroundForests play a crucial role in absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. 55% of the carbon in terrestrial ecosystems is stored in forests, with the majority of forest carbon stored in soil. To better understand soil organic carbon (SOC) of forests and to access interventions that affect their SOC concentration, we conducted a comparative analysis between natural and planted forests. Forest interventions refer to the actions taken by humans to manage, protect, or transform forests, and can be divided into two main categories: environmental intervention and anthropogenic intervention. This study focused on the effects of different interventions on SOC in natural and planted forests by reviewing a total of 75 randomized controlled trials in the global literature and extracting a total of 15 different interventions.ResultsThrough network meta-analysis, we found that natural forests have 22.3% higher SOC than planted forests, indicating their stronger carbon storage function. In natural forests, environmental interventions have a stronger impact. SOC is significantly influenced by forest age, fertilization, and elevation. In planted forests, however, anthropogenic interventions have a stronger impact. Pruning branches and fertilization are effective interventions for planted forests. Furthermore, forest degradation has a significantly negative impact on SOC in planted forests.ConclusionOverall, interventions to enhance soil carbon storage function differ between natural and planted forests. To address global climate change, protect biodiversity, and achieve sustainable development, it is imperative to globally protect forests and employ scientifically sound forest management practices. Regarding natural forests, the emphasis should be on comprehending the effects of environmental interventions on SOC. Conversely, concerning planted forests, the emphasis should be on comprehending the effects of anthropogenic interventions.

Biological Spectrum of the Vegetation of North-East Haryana in India

The present paper deals with the study of the Biological spectrum of the vegetation of North-East Haryana. A detailed study of different life-forms indicated that Nanophanero phytes (N) and Hemicryptophytes (Hc) are poorly represented. The study also indicates the presence of therochamaephytic (42%, 22%) flora. The dominance of therophytes might have partly resulted from disturbance in vegetation due to heavy grazing and exploitation of forests for extensive cultivation. A comparison of the biological spectrum of this area with those of other regions of India reveals that the climate is semi-arid.

Navigating Land Conservation, Utilization, and Market Solutions: Insights from the Lanyang River Watershed, Taiwan

In the current fraught relationship between nature and human society, land conservation and utilization have spawned intensive conflicts that require mediation. The present study explores this issue of coordination between nature and society in a fragile watershed located in northeastern Taiwan: the Lanyang River Watershed. Land zoning in this area has been historically classified and legally implemented, and additional development is constrained by an application review process. Currently, additional land utilization is still in demand in sensitive areas of this watershed, such as for mining and tilling. Due to the geographically, geologically, and climatically fragile characteristics of the watershed, the hillside residents have benefited from the conservation of nature with comprehensive ecosystem services but are at the forefront of the loss of life and property caused by forest ecosystem degradation. They are one of the key local resource users and main stakeholders. Applying the contingent valuation method to survey the hillside residents, the present study assessed the economic value they receive from the comprehensive ecosystem services offered by the natural forest ecosystems. Their opinions are explored using a survey on their awareness of ecosystem damage, their opinions on damage compensation, and on the feasible compensation channels for damage. As the study results ascertained the high value of the comprehensive ecosystem services continuously delivered by the conserved forest ecosystem, the study affirmed that conservation in the area classified and zoned as sensitive is an economic beneficial policy. With a high regard for ecosystem services and awareness of the impact of degradation and of the general agreement for the feasibility of channels of damage compensation, the continuity of conservation for these comprehensive ecosystem services is the preferred strategy for the local hillside residents. To emphasize this further, the opinions of the local community at the intersection of nature and society, where there is a delineated land zoning framework, strongly favor conservation over intensive resource exploitation and agricultural expansion, making further development an unfavorable strategy.

Soil warming effects on the transpiration of trees and shrubs in a subtropical secondary forest: A manipulative experiment

The climate warming can increase the productivity of some species while decrease that of others, therefore, knowledge of species-specific responses to warming is helpful to understand the possible trajectory of forest ecosystems. Despite the importance of the subtropical secondary broadleaf forests developed from afforestation in South China, our understanding of how the transpiration of trees and shrubs co-growing in these forests responds to soil warming is limited. To explore the effects of soil warming on transpiration and associated ecophysiological traits of trees and shrubs in wet and dry seasons, as well as to clarify respective contributions of trees and shrubs transpiration to the stand total, we conducted a manipulative experiment of soil warming (+2 ℃, WA) and control (CK) in a subtropical secondary broadleaf forest in South China, and continuously monitored the transpiration (based on sap flow) of trees, Schima superba and Acacia auriculiformis, and that (derived from leaf temperature and microclimate) of shrubs, Psychotria asiatica and Castanopsis chinensis, from 2021 to 2022. We also measured leaf water potentials, leaf nutrient status, and δ13C-derived intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi). Soil warming did not significantly alter the transpiration of trees, with the exception of A. auriculiformis in 2022, whereas it notably increased transpiration of both shrubs. We attributed the stimulation of shrubs’ transpiration mainly to the more favorable leaf water potentials under warming condition. Due to the increased transpiration, the contribution of shrubs to stand transpiration was consequently increased, highlighting the potential role of shrubs in the hydrological dynamics of forest ecosystems. Additionally, the WUEi, soil main macro-nutrients, and leaf nutritional status of all species were not significantly affected by soil warming. These findings indicated that the carbon-water exchange and nutrient status of the studied plants can be maintained even when exposed to moderate increases in soil temperature and relatively drier condition, reflecting the resilience of the subtropical secondary broadleaf forest to possible climate warming. Further research on the interaction and competition of co-existing trees and shrubs under soil warming will improve the prediction of forest dynamics under future climate change, which benefits the efforts to conserve such forests in order to address the environmental pressure in the region.

Tree demographic strategies largely overlap across succession in Neotropical wet and dry forest communities.

Secondary tropical forests play an increasingly important role in carbon budgets and biodiversity conservation. Understanding successional trajectories is therefore imperative for guiding forest restoration and climate change mitigation efforts. Forest succession is driven by the demographic strategies-combinations of growth, mortality and recruitment rates-of the tree species in the community. However, our understanding of demographic diversity in tropical tree species stems almost exclusively from old-growth forests. Here, we assembled demographic information from repeated forest inventories along chronosequences in two wet (Costa Rica, Panama) and two dry (Mexico) Neotropical forests to assess whether the ranges of demographic strategies present in a community shift across succession. We calculated demographic rates for >500 tree species while controlling for canopy status to compare demographic diversity (i.e., the ranges of demographic strategies) in early successional (0-30 years), late successional (30-120 years) and old-growth forests using two-dimensional hypervolumes of pairs of demographic rates. Ranges of demographic strategies largely overlapped across successional stages, and early successional stages already covered the full spectrum of demographic strategies found in old-growth forests. An exception was a group of species characterized by exceptionally high mortality rates that was confined to early successional stages in the two wet forests. The range of demographic strategies did not expand with succession. Our results suggest that studies of long-term forest monitoring plots in old-growth forests, from which most of our current understanding of demographic strategies of tropical tree species is derived, are surprisingly representative of demographic diversity in general, but do not replace the need for further studies in secondary forests.

Short-term effects of understory removal on understory diversity and biomass of temperate forests in northeast China

IntroductionUnderstory removal is a traditional practice in forest management to reduce fire risk and promote seedling regeneration. However, its effect on understory diversity, biomass and soil nutrients in temperate forest ecosystems is less known, which limits our assessment of the effectiveness of understory vegetation management.MethodsWe quantified the composition of the understory species, their diversity, and the biomass of the understory and factors driving changes in these parameters in primary mixed broad-leaved Pinus koraiensis forest (BKF), secondary Betula platyphylla forest (BF), and Larix gmelinii plantation (LF) in northeast China after a 5-year understory removal.ResultsAfter understory removal, the number of shrub and herb species in BKF and LF decreased, while the number of shrub species in BF increased significantly and that of herb species decreased; the species with strong light preference, Equisetum hyemale, Impatiens noli-tangere, and Filipendula Palmata, were dominant in the herb layer of the three forest types; Shannon–Wiener diversity, Pielou evenness, and Simpson diversity of the herb layer in LF increased significantly (P &amp;lt; 0.05), while those of the shrub and herb layers in BF and LF showed no significant changes (P &amp;gt; 0.05). The total understory biomass of understory of BKF and LF decreased by 0.94 t·hm−2 and 1.32 t·hm−2, respectively, while that of BF increased by 1.31 t·hm−2; soil NH4+-N and total phosphorus (TP) were the key factors regulating understory vegetation diversity and biomass, respectively.ConclusionThese results suggest that understory removal is a beneficial management strategy for increasing shrub biomass and diversity in secondary forests, while it should be avoided in primary forests and plantations to prevent the reduction of understory plant diversity and soil nutrient loss.

Recent changes in tropical-dry-forest connectivity within the Balsas Basin Biogeographic Province: potential effects on endemic-bird distributions

Maintaining landscape connectivity is a conservation priority for biodiversity as it may mitigate the adverse effects of forest degradation, fragmentation, and climate change by facilitating species dispersal. Despite their importance for biodiversity conservation, Mexican tropical dry forests (TDFs) face high fragmentation rates due to anthropogenic activities. In this study, we analyzed the connectivity dynamics of TDFs in the Balsas Basin Biogeographic Province (BBBP) between 2013 and 2018, focusing on old-growth and secondary TDF covers, including Protected Areas and Important Bird Areas. We evaluated the effects of connectivity loss and gain on the distribution areas of 30 endemic bird species with ecological associations with TDFs in the BBBP. We found expansion in TDFs accounting for a total increase of 227,905 ha due to secondary forest increase (12%). In contrast, old-growth forests experienced a reduction of 66,576 ha in the study area (8%). We also found a decrease in areas with high and very-high connectivity, coupled with an increase in low connectivity, except for TDFs inside Protected Areas, which increased by 3,000 ha, leading to higher connectivity. There was an increase in total forest cover in 27 species’ potential distribution, highlighting the possible role of secondary forests in promoting connectivity between old-growth forest patches. Our results reveal the complex dynamics between forest types, connectivity, and bird-species distributions. Despite an overall increase in forested areas, most TDFs continue to have low connectivity, likely impacting biodiversity, particularly for species that rely on highly conserved ecosystems. This study underscores the importance of integrated conservation strategies considering connectivity, forest recovery, and the dynamics of species-ecosystem interactions.

Predictive ecological niche model for Cinnamomum parthenoxylon (Jack) Meisn. (Lauraceae) from Last Glacial Maximum to future in Vietnam

Cinnamomum parthenoxylon (Jack) Meisn. is a tree in genus Cinnamomum that has been facing global threats due to forest degradation and habitat fragmentation. Many recent studies aim to describe habitats and assess population and species genetic diversity for species conservation by expanding afforestation models for this species. Understanding their current and future potential distribution plays a major role in guiding conservation efforts. Using five modern machine-learning algorithms available on Google Earth Engine helped us evaluate suitable habitats for the species. The results revealed that Random Forest (RF) had the highest accuracy for model comparison, outperforming Support Vector Machine (SVM), Classification and Regression Trees (CART), Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT) and Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt). The results also showed that the extremely suitable ecological areas for the species are mostly distributed in northern Vietnam, followed by the North Central Coast and the Central Highlands. Elevation, Temperature Annual Range and Mean Diurnal Range were the three most important parameters affecting the potential distribution of C. parthenoxylon. Evaluation of the impact of climate on its distribution under different climate scenarios in the past (Last Glacial Maximum and Mid-Holocene), in the present (Worldclim) and in the future (using four climate change scenarios: ACCESS, MIROC6, EC-Earth3-Veg and MRI-ESM2-0) revealed that of C. parthenoxylon would likely expand to the northeast, while a large area of central Vietnam will gradually lose its adaptive capacity by 2100.

Monitoring loss and degradation of forests and shrubs in the North of Chile using Landsat time series data sets from 1998 to 2018

Deforestation and degradation are among the main sources of climate-change-inducing greenhouse gas emissions. Implementing sustainable forest management and conservation programs, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+), requires a forest monitoring system and carbon inventory to define reference emissions. Most REDD+ projects focus on dense forests, with limited studies conducted in arid and semi-arid regions where shrubs dominate. Despite diverse vegetation formations, these areas are often overlooked for their carbon sequestration potential. This study estimated gross and net deforestation and degradation of forest formation and from devegetation and degradation of shrub formation in Norte Grande (Far North), Chile, from 1998 to 2018 using remote sensing satellite imagery and projected out to 2118. The carbon equivalent (Ce) content of forest and shrub formations and their associated processes’ CO2 equivalent (CO2-e) emissions were also estimated. The results showed that the total Ce content in shrubs was higher than in forests because of the larger area. Although deforestation/devegetation and degradation tended to decrease across the study period, they will continue to affect forests and shrubs in the future, reaching a deforestation rate of 21.82 and 393.28 ha y−1 by 2118, respectively, and an annual degradation rate of 9535.31 and 255,850.65 kg m−2, respectively. Therefore, arid and semi-arid zones and shrub formations should be integrated into REDD+ strategies to promote their protection, given their potential to increase carbon reserves.

Enhanced Detection of Artisanal Small-Scale Mining with Spectral and Textural Segmentation of Landsat Time Series

Artisanal small-scale mines (ASMs) in the Amazon Rainforest are an important cause of deforestation, forest degradation, biodiversity loss, sedimentation in rivers, and mercury emissions. Satellite image data are widely used in environmental decision-making to monitor changes in the land surface, but ASMs are difficult to map from space. ASMs are small, irregularly shaped, unevenly distributed, and confused (spectrally) with other land clearance types. To address this issue, we developed a reliable and efficient ASM detection method for the Tapajós River Basin of Brazil—an important gold mining region of the Amazon Rainforest. We enhanced detection in three key ways. First, we used the time-series segmentation (LandTrendr) Google Earth Engine (GEE) Application Programming Interface to map the pixel-wise trajectory of natural vegetation disturbance and recovery on an annual basis with a 2000 to 2019 Landsat image time series. Second, we segmented 26 textural features in addition to 5 spectral features to account for the high spatial heterogeneity in ASM pixels. Third, we trained and tested a Random Forest model to detect ASMs after eliminating irrelevant and redundant features with the Variable Selection Using Random Forests “ensemble of ensembles” technique. The out-of-bag error and overall accuracy of the final Random Forest was 3.73 and 92.6%, which are comparable to studies mapping large industrial mines with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and LandTrendr. The most important feature in our study was NDVI, followed by textural features in the near and shortwave infrared. Our work paves the way for future ASM regulation through large area monitoring from space with free and open-source GEE and operational satellites. Studies with sufficient computational resources can improve ASM monitoring with advanced sensors consisting of spectral narrow bands (Sentinel-2, Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program, PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa) and deep learning.

CONIFEROUS LEAF-BEARING FOREST BIOMASS ASSESSMENT BY THE EXAMPLE OF THE EDUCATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL SOIL AND ECOLOGICAL CENTER OF LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY “CHASHNIKOVO”

The aim of the work was to assess the contribution of the following components - biomass and mortmass of tree stands, undergrowth, living ground cover, and forest litter - to the total organic matter’s pool of plant community. The object of the study was a territory of coniferous-deciduous forest located in Solnechnogorsk City District of the Moscow region, in which five permanent sample trial plots of 50·50 m were allocated. The greatest contribution to the total organic matter mass of studied plant communities was made by forest stand perennial parts (up to 87%) and forest stand mortmass (up to 14%), and phytomass of deciduous trees in stand containing 32 to 98%, which was connected with incompleteness of forest restoration succession process. The contribution of forest litter was no more than 3%; litter deposit was low (0,18-1,21 kg·m-2), which is not typical for spruce forests, as is the fact that all litter is of the destructive type. Living ground cover in terms of floristic composition and ecological-coenotic structure was typical for the subzone of coniferous-deciduous forests; its contribution to the overall productivity of forest biogeocenosis was insignificant. The spatial intrabiogeocenotic structure of litter reserves and living ground cover biomass distribution was disturbed compared to typical spruce forests due to the high proportion of deciduous species in the forest stand. Deciduous species inclusion in the tree tier, typical of the final stage of formation of a secondary coniferous forest during succession, caused a slight increase in the intensity of the biological cycle, which was indicated in this case by a decrease in the supply of litter and a simplification of their structure. Since the biomass and mortmass of tree stand make the greatest contribution to the sequestration of carbon by forest biogeocenoses, it is these components that require the most detailed assessment during monitoring observations, the purpose of which is to assess the carbon reserves of terrestrial ecosystems.

Managing Forests for Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change Mitigation.

We include biodiversity impacts in forest management decision making by incorporating the countryside species area relationship model into the partial equilibrium model GLOBIOM-Forest. We tested three forest management intensities (low, medium, and high) and limited biodiversity loss via an additional constraint on regional species loss. We analyzed two scenarios for climate change mitigation. RCP1.9, the higher mitigation scenario, has more biodiversity loss than the reference RCP7.0, suggesting a trade-off between climate change mitigation, with increased bioenergy use, and biodiversity conservation in forests. This trade-off can be alleviated with biodiversity-conscious forest management by (1) shifting biomass production destined to bioenergy from forests to energy crops, (2) increasing areas under unmanaged secondary forest, (3) reducing forest management intensity, and (4) reallocating biomass production between and within regions. With these mechanisms, it is possible to reduce potential global biodiversity loss by 10% with minor changes in economic outcomes. The global aggregated reduction in biodiversity impacts does not imply that biodiversity impacts are reduced in each ecoregion. We exemplify how to connect an ecologic and an economic model to identify trade-offs, challenges, and possibilities for improved decisions. We acknowledge the limitations of this approach, especially of measuring and projecting biodiversity loss.

The Dynamics of Vegetation Structure, Composition and Carbon Stock in Peatland Ecosystem of Old Secondary Forest in Riau and South Sumatra Provinces

Lowland tropical rainforests provide an abundance of biodiversity as well as dynamic and stable ecosystems. These forests include tropical peat forests in various locations and forest types that have vegetation structure and composition characteristics, and carbon stocks that still need to be explored more deeply. Research on the structure and the composition of the vegetation and carbon stock in the old secondary peat forest was carried out in the protected areas of Bukit Batu, Riau Province, and Muara Merang, South Sumatra Province. Based on a 1-hectare permanent plot established in Bukit Batu and Muara Merang, 25 subplots of 20 m by 20 m were established in each location for measurement purposes. The results showed that Bukit Batu and Muara Merang had 42 and 36 species belonging to 26 and 20 families, respectively. Bukit Batu had a species diversity index (H’) of 2.93, and the dominant tree species were Palaquium xanthochymum with an importance value index (IVI) = 66.27%, Eugenia sp. (IVI = 32.76%), and Litsea sp. (IVI = 18.39%). The Muara Merang location had a species diversity index (H’) of 2.82, and the dominant tree species were Eugenia sp. (IVI = 60.88%), Alseodaphne insignis (IVI = 26.34%), and Adenanthera pavonina (IVI = 22.11%). In Bukit Batu, forest stands with a diameter of ≥10 cm contained a biomass of 178.10 tonnes/ha and carbon stock of 83.70 tonnes C/ha, which is equal to 307.20 tonnes CO2/ha. Meanwhile, in Muara Merang, it was 190.41 tonnes/ha and 89.49 tonnes C/ha, which is equal to 328.44 tonnes CO2/ha. This research, especially that in Bukit Batu, Riau Province, enriches the data and information available to date and is very useful in supporting restoration practices in Riau Province’s Giam Siak Kecil Biosphere Reserve, which was designated by UNESCO as part of the Man and Biosphere Program.