scholarly journals Using Multitemporal Landsat ETM+ Imagery to Determine a Sustainable Exploitation Patterns of the Forest Resources in the Moldo-Transylvanian Carpathians - Romania

Author(s):  
Ana-Maria Ciobotaru ◽  
Ion Andronache ◽  
Helmut Ahammer ◽  
Herbert Jelinek ◽  
Marko Radulovic ◽  
...  

Monitoring the ratio of forested and deforested areas plays a key role in studying the dynamics of forest areas. Appropriate mapping of anthropogenic forest disturbances is particularly important in the context of sustainable forest management. It provides ecological, social and economic information which is crucial for forest policymakers. In the last two decades, the forest areas of the Moldo-Transylvanian Carpathians have been subject to a high rate of deforestation which at present state lacks proper quantification. We present a novel methodology for monitoring the forest disturbance dynamics in Moldo-Transylvanian Carpathians by use of fractal analysis including entropy, Fractal Fragmentation Index (FFI) and Tug-of-War lacunarity (Λ_(T-o-W)). This was necessary to quantify and identify the disorder (entropy), the fragmentation (FFI) and heterogeneity of the spatial distribution (Λ_(T-o-W)) patterns. Based on satellite images of the forest areas (annually 2000-2014), increased fragmentation was demonstrated by FFI increase, a measure of the degree of disorder (entropy) and heterogeneity (lacunarity). Our results revealed that textural and fractal analysis can be an effective tool for the extraction of quantitative information about the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest disturbance. The methods developed, and results obtained are a complementary approach to forest disturbance mapping (based on traditional image classification) for future development and adaptation of forestry management policies to ensure a sustainable management and exploitation of forest areas.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 4191
Author(s):  
Markus Löw ◽  
Tatjana Koukal

Worldwide, forests provide natural resources and ecosystem services. However, forest ecosystems are threatened by increasing forest disturbance dynamics, caused by direct human activities or by altering environmental conditions. It is decisive to reconstruct and trace the intra- to transannual dynamics of forest ecosystems. National to local forest authorities and other stakeholders request detailed area-wide maps that delineate forest disturbance dynamics at various spatial scales. We developed a time series analysis (TSA) framework that comprises data download, data management, image preprocessing and an advanced but flexible TSA. We use dense Sentinel-2 time series and a dynamic Savitzky–Golay-filtering approach to model robust but sensitive phenology courses. Deviations from the phenology models are used to derive detailed spatiotemporal information on forest disturbances. In a first case study, we apply the TSA to map forest disturbances directly or indirectly linked to recurring bark beetle infestation in Northern Austria. In addition to spatially detailed maps, zonal statistics on different spatial scales provide aggregated information on the extent of forest disturbances between 2018 and 2019. The outcomes are (a) area-wide consistent data of individual phenology models and deduced phenology metrics for Austrian forests and (b) operational forest disturbance maps, useful to investigate and monitor forest disturbances to facilitate sustainable forest management.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana-Maria Ciobotaru ◽  
Ion Andronache ◽  
Helmut Ahammer ◽  
Herbert F. Jelinek ◽  
Marko Radulovic ◽  
...  

The paper explores the distribution of tree cover and deforested areas in the Central Carpathians in the central-east part of Romania, in the context of the anthropogenic forest disturbances and sustainable forest management. The study aims to evaluate the spatiotemporal changes in deforested areas due to human pressure in the Carpathian Mountains, a sensitive biodiverse European ecosystem. We used an analysis of satellite imagery with Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (Landsat-7 ETM+) from the University of Maryland (UMD) Global Forest Change (GFC) dataset. The workflow started with the determination of tree cover and deforested areas from 2000–2017, with an overall accuracy of 97%. For the monitoring of forest dynamics, a Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix analysis (Entropy) and fractal analysis (Fractal Fragmentation-Compaction Index and Tug-of-War Lacunarity) were utilized. The increased fragmentation of tree cover (annually 2000–2017) was demonstrated by the highest values of the Fractal Fragmentation-Compaction Index, a measure of the degree of disorder (Entropy) and heterogeneity (Lacunarity). The principal outcome of the research reveals the dynamics of disturbance of tree cover and deforested areas expressed by the textural and fractal analysis. The results obtained can be used in the future development and adaptation of forestry management policies to ensure sustainable management of exploited forest areas.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Wang ◽  
Long Zhao ◽  
Zhidong Gao ◽  
Jianyuan Luo ◽  
Haoran Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is a common digestive tract tumor with high rate of metastasis and recurrence. Currently, we understand the genome, transcriptome and proteome in GIST. However, posttranscriptional modification features in GIST remain unclear. In the present study, we aimed to construct a complete profile of acetylome in GIST. Methods Five common protein modifications, including acetylation, succinylation, crotonylation, 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation, and malonylation were tested among GIST subgroups and significantly differentially- expressed lysine acetylation was found. The acetylated peptides labeled with Tandem Mass Tag (TMT)under high sensitive mass spectrometry, and some proteins with acetylation sites were identified. Subsequently, these proteins and peptides were classified into high/moderate (H/M) risk and low (L) risk groups according to the modified NIH classification standard. Furthermore, cell components, molecular function, biological processes, KEGG pathways and protein interaction networks were analyzed. Results A total of 2904 acetylation sites from 1319 proteins were identified, of which quantitative information of 2548 sites from 1169 proteins was obtained. Finally, the differentially-expressed lysine acetylation sites were assessed and we found that 42 acetylated sites of 38 proteins were upregulated in the H/M risk group compared with the L risk group, while 48 acetylated sites of 44 proteins were downregulated, of which Ki67 K1063Ac and FCHSD2 K24Ac were the two acetylated proteins that were most changed. Conclusions Our novel findings provide further understanding of acetylome in GIST and might demonstrate the possibility in the acetylation targeted diagnosis and therapy of GIST.


Author(s):  
Lorenzo Cotrozzi

AbstractSustainable forest management is essential to confront the detrimental impacts of diseases on forest ecosystems. This review highlights the potential of vegetation spectroscopy in improving the feasibility of assessing forest disturbances induced by diseases in a timely and cost-effective manner. The basic concepts of vegetation spectroscopy and its application in phytopathology are first outlined then the literature on the topic is discussed. Using several optical sensors from leaf to landscape-level, a number of forest diseases characterized by variable pathogenic processes have been detected, identified and quantified in many country sites worldwide. Overall, these reviewed studies have pointed out the green and red regions of the visible spectrum, the red-edge and the early near-infrared as the spectral regions most sensitive to the disease development as they are mostly related to chlorophyll changes and symptom development. Late disease conditions particularly affect the shortwave-infrared region, mostly related to water content. This review also highlights some major issues to be addressed such as the need to explore other major forest diseases and geographic areas, to further develop hyperspectral sensors for early detection and discrimination of forest disturbances, to improve devices for remote sensing, to implement long-term monitoring, and to advance algorithms for exploitation of spectral data. Achieving of these goals will enhance the capability of vegetation spectroscopy in early detection of forest stress and in managing forest diseases.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-165
Author(s):  
Ati Dwi Nurhayati ◽  
Liana Arhami

Forest protection is an effort to prevent and control the destruction of forests, forest areas, and forest products caused by human actions, livestock, fires, pests and diseases. The aims of this research are to identify the types of forest disturbance especially those caused by humans and physically, analyze the factors causing forest disturbance, and analyze efforts to control forest disturbance at KPH Kuningan. Forest disturbances that occurred in the KPH Kuningan during 2010-2014 included: timber theft, forest fires, forest encroachment, and natural disasters. The background of forest disturbance in the Kuningan KPH is mainly due to the socio-economic conditions of the community around the forest that are still low. Strategic actions taken to prevent forest disturbance at the KPH Kuningan are to take pre-emptive actions in the form of counseling and establish good relations between officers and the community through social communication and Community Based Forest Management (PHBM), preventive actions in the form of patrols and safeguards against forest potential, and repressive actions in the form of legal remedies against the perpetrators. Key words: cause of forest disturbance, type of forest disturbance, forest disturbance control


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (48) ◽  
pp. 181-186
Author(s):  
H. I. Rybak ◽  

The peculiarities of innovative development in the interaction of economic and social components of the external and internal environment are studied on the basis of a complementary approach, namely the relationship between economic efficiency and social justice, their negative and positive impact on the quality of life and socio-economic development opportunities. As for complementary development, the idea of justice, which currently is an important factor in achieving European living standards and guaranteeing social-economic rights of a person and citizen, plays an important role in reforming all the spheres of public life, democratization of Ukrainian society, and providing Ukraine's integration into the European political and legal space. Complementarity research is becoming relevant at the present stage of global economic development, when the market situation is characterized by a fairly high rate of transformation, and innovation becomes the main competitive factor. The author considers the emergence of the complementarity concept in research works made in various areas (e.g., the concept of institutional complementarity), and also highlights the features of compensatory and supplemental complementarity. Unconditional following global examples without taking into account the state of real socio-economic and institutional structures in a certain state will not give a favourable result from implementing reforms and introducing innovations due to the lack of complementary connections. Therefore, the conditions for the emergence of new institutional changes and the impact of "social elevators" on social development in the long run are analyzed. The presence of complex unresolved problems in the development of our state actualizes the study of the complementary context of innovative development, aimed at rethinking the role of social justice in solving major economic problems. Due to a complementary approach, the economic system will be able to increase such features as adaptability and continuity by developing mechanisms of self-preservation, and will acquire systematic innovative development with a ripple effect.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Löw ◽  
Koukal Tatjana

Abstract Background Worldwide, forests provide natural resources and ecosystem services. However, forest ecosystems are threatened by increasing forest disturbance dynamics, caused by direct human activities or an altering natural environment. It is decisive to trace the intra- to trans-annual dynamics of these forest ecosystems. National to local forest communities request detailed area-wide maps that delineate forest disturbance dynamics at various spatial scales. Methods We developed a remote sensing based time series analysis (TSA) framework that comprises data access, data management, image pre-processing, and an advanced but flexible TSA. The data basis is a dense time series of multispectral Sentinel-2 images with a spatial resolution of 10 metres. We use a dynamic Savitzky-Golay-filtering approach to reconstruct robust but sensitive phenology courses. Deviations from the latter are further used to derive spatiotemporal information on forest disturbances. In a first case study, we apply the TSA to map forest disturbances directly or indirectly linked to recurring bark beetle infestation in Northern Austria. Finally, we use zonal statistics on different spatial scales to provide aggregated information on the extent of forest disturbances between 2018 and 2019.Results and Conclusion The outcomes are a) individual phenology models and deduced phenology metrics for each 10 metres by 10 metres forest pixel in Austria and b) forest disturbance maps useful to investigate the occurrence, development and extent of bark beetle infestation. The phenology modelling results provide area-wide consistent data, also useful for downstream analyses (e.g. forest type classification). Results of the forest disturbance detection demonstrate that the TSA is capable to systematically delineate disturbed forest areas. Information derived from such a forest monitoring tool is highly relevant for various stakeholders in the forestry sector, either for forest management purposes or for decision-making processes on different levels.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 3720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Giannetti ◽  
Raffaello Pegna ◽  
Saverio Francini ◽  
Ronald E. McRoberts ◽  
Davide Travaglini ◽  
...  

A Landsat time series has been recognized as a viable source of information for monitoring and assessing forest disturbances and for continuous reporting on forest dynamics. This study focused on developing automated procedures for detecting disturbances in Mediterranean coppice forests which are characterized by rapid regrowth after a cut. Specifically, new methods specific to Mediterranean coppice forests are needed for mapping clearcut disturbances over time and for estimating related indicators in the context of Sustainable Forest Management and Biodiversity International monitoring frameworks. The aim of this work was to develop a new change detection algorithm for mapping clearcut disturbances in Mediterranean coppice forests with Landsat time series (LTS) using a short time window. Accuracy for the new algorithm, characterized as the Two Thresholds Method (TTM), was evaluated using an independent clearcut reference dataset over a temporal period of the 13 years between 2001 and 2013. TTM was also evaluated against two benchmark approaches: (i) LandTrendr, and (ii) the forest loss category of the Global Forest Change Map. Overall Accuracy for LandTrendr and TTM were greater than 0.94. Meanwhile, smaller accuracies were always obtained for the GFC. In particular, Producer’s Accuracy ranged between 0.45 and 0.84 for TTM and between 0.49 and 0.83 for LT, while for the GFC, PA ranged between 0 and 0.38. User’s Accuracy ranged between 0.86 and 0.96 for TTM and between 0.73 and 0.91 for LT, while for the GFC UA ranged between 0.19 and 1.00. Moreover, to illustrate the utility of TTM for mapping clearcut disturbances in Mediterranean coppice forests, we applied TTM to a Landsat scene that covered almost the entirety of the Tuscany region in Italy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debolina Bandyopadhyay ◽  
Padmaja P. Mishra

In addition to the canonical double helix form, DNA is known to be extrapolated into several other secondary structural patterns involving themselves in inter- and intramolecular type hydrogen bonding. The secondary structures of nucleic acids go through several stages of multiple, complex, and interconvertible heterogeneous conformations. The journey of DNA through these conformers has significant importance and has been monitored thoroughly to establish qualitative and quantitative information about the transition between the unfolded, folded, misfolded, and partially folded states. During this structural interconversion, there always exist specific populations of intermediates, which are short-lived or sometimes even do not accumulate within a heterogeneous population and are challenging to characterize using conventional ensemble techniques. The single-molecule FRET(sm-FRET) microspectroscopic method has the advantages to overcome these limitations and monitors biological phenomena transpiring at a measurable high rate and balanced stochastically over time. Thus, tracing the time trajectory of a particular molecule enables direct measurement of the rate constant of each transition step, including the intermediates that are hidden in the ensemble level due to their low concentrations. This review is focused on the advantages of the employment of single-molecule Forster’s resonance energy transfer (sm-FRET), which is worthwhile to access the dynamic architecture and structural transition of various secondary structures that DNA adopts, without letting the donor of one molecule to cross-talk with the acceptor of any other. We have emphasized the studies performed to explore the states of folding and unfolding of several nucleic acid secondary structures, for example, the DNA hairpin, Holliday junction, G-quadruplex, and i-motif.


1990 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 845 ◽  
Author(s):  
RC Muchow

To understand the influence of nitrogen (N) supply on the productivity of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), the dependence of photosynthetic capacity, measured as light-saturated leaf CO2 assimilation rate (CA) and crop radiation use efficiency (RUE), on specific leaf nitrogen (SLN) was examined under well-watered conditions in the field. Photosynthetic capacity increased hyperbolically with SLN and was most responsive at SLN values less than c. 1.5 g m-2. The relationship reached a plateau at a maximum CA of 37 8mol m-2 s-1 and a maximum RUE of 1.5 g MJ-1 Increasing N application from 0 to 24 g N m-2 increased both RUE and SLN. Where ample N was applied, RUE and SLN were higher in those plots which previously experienced water deficit than in those that were always fully irrigated. The stimulation in growth following alleviation of water deficit was directly associated with the increase in SLN during water deficit. SLN varied according to differences in N uptake, the proportion of N allocated to leaves and the leaf area index. In particular, N application had much less effect on SLN and consequently RUE, than on N uptake, due to lower N partitioning to leaves and higher LAI where a high rate of N was applied. The importance of quantitative information on the relationship between photosynthetic capacity and SLN, in order to predict crop performance under varying environmental conditions, is discussed.


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