scholarly journals A landscape-scale assessment of the response of birds to land cover, climate, and forest management

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jaymi J. LeBrun
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Northern Bobwhite ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
Bird Abundance

Climate change will likely increase temperatures across the globe as well as alter regional climates. These climate shifts have the potential to substantially change vegetation and reshape both plant and animal distributions. To mitigate these potential changes, scientists have suggested management strategies focused on forest resilience, response, and carbon sequestration. The goal of this research was to determine the current impacts of land cover and regional climate on birds in the Midwest, and use these current relationships to assess the direct and indirect effects of future climate and management on avian abundance in Missouri. I coupled the Bayesian model with a landscape simulation model (LANDIS PRO) to predict bird abundance 100 years into the future for a range of climate and forest management scenarios. Forest and canopy cover were the primary drivers of current bird abundance, however, temperature was influential for early successional species. In addition, the most significant climate related effect was for the northern bobwhite with higher abundances under warmer winters. For most birds, management had a greater impact on future abundance than climate, however, species currently exhibiting direct effects of climate showed compounded effects associated with management. Even though we expect land cover to change very little due to climate, we did see one bird (i.e., northern bobwhite) affect by climate-induced changes to vegetation. Managing forest cover will be key for mitigating the effects of future climate for birds.

scholarly journals Partizipative Erarbeitung von Bewirtschaftungsszenarien für den Tessiner Kastaniengürtel

2018 ◽  
Vol 169 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-25
Author(s):  
Francesca Cellina ◽  
Luca Pampuri ◽  
Marco Conedera ◽  
Davide Bettelini ◽  
Rudy Genazzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Additional Benefit ◽  
Forest Planning ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
Management Schemes ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Current Guidelines

Participatory design of management scenarios for the Ticino chestnut belt Current guidelines for forest management ask for multi-functional management schemes, allowing a balance between different forest functions, such as production, protection, recreation and ecology. This requires adoption of multi-criteria processes for forest planning. In such a framework, involving stakeholders from the very beginning of the process might be an additional benefit: it would allow to identify possible broadly accepted forest management strategies, thus facilitating their implementation. In this paper, we present the methodologies and tools we developed between 2013 and 2016, in a process aimed at designing and assessing management scenarios for the chestnut belt forests in the Canton of Ticino (Switzerland). Structured and transparent comparison among the scenarios allowed around twenty representatives of cantonal offices and interest groups to make rational and informed choices, leading to the identification of two low-conflict, compromise management scenarios to be implemented in the near future.

scholarly journals Land and Forest Management by Land Use/ Land Cover Analysis and Change Detection Using Remote Sensing and GIS

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Spatial Data Analysis ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Rugged Terrain

Abstract Remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) are the most effective tools in spatial data analysis. Natural resources like land, forest and water, these techniques have proved a valuable source of information generation as well as in the management and planning purposes. This study aims to suggest possible land and forest management strategies in Chakia tahsil based on land use and land cover analysis and the changing pattern observed during the last ten years. The population of Chakia tahsil is mainly rural in nature. The study has revealed that the northern part of the region, which offers for the settlement and all the agricultural practices constitutes nearly 23.48% and is a dead level plain, whereas the southern part, which constitute nearly 76.6% of the region is characterized by plateau and is covered with forest. The southern plateau rises abruptly from the northern alluvial plain with a number of escarpments. The contour line of 100 m mainly demarcates the boundary between plateau and plain. The plateau zone is deeply dissected and highly rugged terrain. The resultant topography comprises of a number of mesas and isolated hillocks showing elevation differences from 150 m to 385 m above mean sea level. Being rugged terrain in the southern part, nowadays human encroachment are taking place for more land for the cultivation. The changes were well observed in the land use and land cover in the study region. A large part of fallow land and open forest were converted into cultivated land.

Hydrological projections based on the coupled hydrological–hydraulic modeling in the complex river network region: a case study in the Taihu basin, China

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 386-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Liu ◽  
Zongxue Xu
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Hydraulic Modeling ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Baseline Scenario ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Flood Water ◽  
Taihu Basin ◽  
The Impact

Water resources in the Taihu basin, China, are not only facing the effects of a changing climate but also consequences of an intensive urbanization process with the abandonment of rural activities and the resulting changes in land use/land-cover. In the present work, the impact of climate change and urbanization on hydrological processes was assessed using an integrated modeling system, coupling the distributed hydrological model variable infiltration capacity and the hydraulic model ISIS, while future climate scenarios were projected using the regional climate model providing regional climate for impact studies. Results show a significant increasing trend of impervious surface area, while other types of land cover exhibit decreasing trends in 2021–2050. Furthermore, mean annual runoff under different future climate scenarios will increase, especially during flood seasons, consistent with the changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration for both spatial and temporal distribution. Maximum and mean flood water levels under two future scenarios will be higher than levels under the baseline scenario (1961–1990), and the return periods of storms resulting in the same flood water level will decrease significantly in comparison to the baseline scenario, implying more frequent occurrence of extreme floods in future. These results are significant to future flood control efforts and waterlog drainage planning in the Taihu basin.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of forest management strategies to mitigate effects of global change in south-central Siberia

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 1405-1421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric J. Gustafson ◽  
Anatoly Z. Shvidenko ◽  
Robert M. Scheller
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Cutting Method ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Age Class ◽  
Global Circulation Models ◽  
South Central ◽  
Cutting Rate

We investigated questions about the ability of broad silvicultural strategies to achieve multiple objectives (reduce disturbance losses, maintain the abundance of preferred species, mitigate fragmentation and loss of age-class diversity, and sequester aboveground carbon) under future climate conditions in Siberia. We conducted a factorial experiment using the LANDIS-II landscape disturbance and succession model. Treatments included varying the size and amount of areas cut and the cutting method (selective or clearcut). Simultaneously, the model simulated natural disturbances (fire, wind, insect outbreaks) and forest succession under projected future climate conditions as predicted by an ensemble of global circulation models. The cutting method and cutting rate treatments generally had a large effect on species and age-class composition, residual living biomass, and susceptibility to disturbance, whereas cutblock size had no effect. Cutblock size affected only measures of fragmentation, but cutting method and cutting rate often had an even greater effect. Based on the results, we simulated a “recommended” strategy and compared it with the current forest management practice. The recommended strategy resulted in greater forest biomass, increased abundance of favored species, and reduced fragmentation, but it did not significantly reduce losses by disturbance. No single strategy appears able to achieve all possible forest management objectives.

scholarly journals Naturalness Assessment of Forest Management Scenarios in Abies balsamea–Betula papyrifera Forests

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 601
Author(s):  
Sylvie Côté ◽  
Louis Bélanger ◽  
Robert Beauregard ◽  
Évelyne Thiffault ◽  
Manuele Margni
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Abies Balsamea ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Betula Papyrifera ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Ecosystem Quality ◽  
Forestry Practices

Research Highlights: This research provides an application of a model assessing the naturalness of the forest ecosystem to demonstrate its capacity to assess either the deterioration or the rehabilitation of the ecosystem through different forest management scenarios. Background and Objectives: The model allows the assessment of the quality of ecosystems at the landscape level based on the condition of the forest and the proportion of different forest management practices to precisely characterize a given strategy. The present work aims to: (1) verify the capacity of the Naturalness Assessment Model to perform bi-directional assessments, allowing not only the evaluation of the deterioration of naturalness characteristics, but also its improvement related to enhanced ecological management or restoration strategies; (2) identify forest management strategies prone to improving ecosystem quality; (3) analyze the model’s capacity to summarize the effect of different practices along a single alteration gradient. Materials and Methods: The Naturalness Assessment Model was adapted to the Abies balsamea–Betula papyrifera forest of Quebec (Canada), and a naturalness assessment of two sectors with different historical management strategies was performed. Fictive forest management scenarios were evaluated using different mixes of forestry practices. The sensitivity of the reference data set used for the naturalness assessment has been evaluated by comparing the results using data from old management plans with those based on Quebec’s reference state registry. Results: The model makes it possible to identify forest management strategies capable of improving ecosystem quality compared to the current situation. The model’s most sensitive variables are regeneration process, dead wood, closed forest and cover type. Conclusions: In the Abies balsamea–Betula papyrifera forest, scenarios with enhanced protection and inclusion of irregular shelterwood cuttings could play an important role in improving ecosystem quality. Conversely, scenarios with short rotation (50 years) could lead to further degradation of the ecosystem quality.

Reach-scale effects of riparian forest cover on urban stream ecosystems

2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 2312-2329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison H Roy ◽  
Christina L Faust ◽  
Mary C Freeman ◽  
Judith L Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Habitat Diversity ◽  
Urban Stream ◽  
Ecosystem Integrity ◽  
Small Streams

We compared habitat and biota between paired open and forested reaches within five small streams (basin area 10–20 km2) in suburban catchments (9%–49% urban land cover) in the Piedmont of Georgia, USA. Stream reaches with open canopies were narrower than forested reaches (4.1 versus 5.0 m, respectively). There were no differences in habitat diversity (variation in velocity, depth, or bed particle size) between open and forested reaches. However, absence of local forest cover corresponded to decreased large wood and increased algal chlorophyll a standing crop biomass. These differences in basal food resources translated into higher densities of fishes in open (9.0 individuals·m–2) versus forested (4.9 individuals·m–2) reaches, primarily attributed to higher densities of the herbivore Campostoma oligolepis. Densities of terrestrial invertebrate inputs were higher in open reaches; however, trends suggested higher biomass of terrestrial inputs in forested reaches and a corresponding higher density of terrestrial prey consumed by water column feeding fishes. Reach-scale biotic integrity (macroinvertebrates, salamanders, and fishes) was largely unaffected by differences in canopy cover. In urbanizing areas where catchment land cover drives habitat and biotic quality, management practices that rely exclusively on forested riparian areas for stream protection are unlikely to be effective at maintaining ecosystem integrity.

scholarly journals Sustainable Forest Management in Radiata Pine Plantations: A Case Study in Sardinia (Italy)

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Pignatti ◽  
Gianni Facciotto ◽  
Giampiero Incollu ◽  
Sara Maltoni ◽  
Mauro Marongiu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Natural Regeneration ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Radiata Pine ◽  
Economic Aspects ◽  
Continuous Forest ◽  
Different Types

The study deals with the sustainability of management in radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don.) plantations of an area of Sardinia (Italy). Focusing on management strategies that foster a continuous forest cover and processes of natural regeneration, the aim was to evaluate the benefits arising from different types of plantation management, balancing social, cultural, environmental and economic aspects. Systematic and selective thinning, as well as regeneration cutting, were carried out in test areas of 45-year-old plantations, and outcomes were compared by considering current forest dynamism, natural regeneration and technical and economic aspects. From an economic perspective, silvicultural management strategies were always positive, with differences depending on the type of intervention. The regeneration cutting, with the expected natural regeneration of radiata pine in the following years, ensures the best economic outcomes, allows for a continuous forest cover and favors the replacement of even-aged plantations, boosting biodiversity in forest stands (structure, species). Climate change, increasing pests and wildfires represent the biggest threats to the sustainability of plantations in Mediterranean areas, and sensitivity is higher in even-aged, homogeneous, monospecific tree stands. In the context of the study, turning forest plantations into more resilient and stable ecosystems can be effectively achieved by means of continuous-cover forest management strategies.

scholarly journals Estimating Soil Loss for Sustainable Crop Production in the Semi-deciduous Forest Zone of Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ephraim Sekyi-Annan ◽  
Ekow Gaisie ◽  
Roland Nuhu Issaka ◽  
Gabriel Willie Quansah ◽  
Sadick Adams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Forest Zone ◽  
Sustainable Crop Production

Quantitative information on soil loss is relevant for devising soil conservation and crop management strategies to ensure sustainable fertility management and crop production. Estimations from runoff/erosion plots are expensive and laborious and thus requiring the exploration of other less expensive but reliable methods such as modeling. This study aimed to estimate current and future rates of soil loss for conservation planning toward sustainable crop production in the semi-deciduous forest zone of Ghana. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), which took into consideration the rainfall characteristics of the study area, inherent soil physicochemical and hydraulic properties, variations in slopes and terrain differences, land cover types, and soil management practices, was employed to estimate the magnitude and rate of soil loss in the study area. Output from three regional climate models (RCMs) from Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment including CCCma-CanESM2, GFDL-ESM2M, and HadGEM2-ES were used to estimate the impact of climate change on soil erosion in the study area. The results showed that soil loss estimated for bare soils was high ranging from 12.7 to 163.8 t ha−1 year−1 largely due to variation in slopes coupled with soil physicochemical and hydraulic properties. The simulated annual soil losses under various land cover options showed variable degrees of soil loss for maize cultivation under conventional tillage (8.2–106.5 t ha−1 year−1), soya bean monocropping (4.4–57.3 t ha−1 year−1), and low soil loss for oil palm plantation with grass or leguminous cover (2.5–32.8 t ha−1 year−1). Evaluation of the RCMs showed excellent performance for CCCma-CanESM2 and GFDL-ESM2M. Predictions of climate change impact using outputs from CCCma-CanESM2 and GFDL-ESM2M indicated that 9–39% increase in soil loss is expected by 2070, and it will be more severe (16–42%) by 2100. The model predictions indicate that the adoption of site-specific land cover management strategies such as tree–cover crop intercropping and reduced tillage has a huge potential to reduce soil loss and sustain soil fertility. The model can be used as an advisory tool for mapping areas for appropriate cropping systems for a particular site.

Land cover change and forest management strategies in Ife nature reserve, Nigeria

GeoJournal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 1531-1548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adebayo Oluwole Eludoyin ◽  
Olamide Olaleye Iyanda
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Cover Change ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Management Strategies

scholarly journals Using Naturalness for Assessing the Impact of Forestry and Protection on the Quality of Ecosystems in Life Cycle Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8859
Author(s):  
Sylvie Côté ◽  
Robert Beauregard ◽  
Manuele Margni ◽  
Louis Bélanger
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Wood Production ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
The Impact

A novel approach is proposed to evaluate the impact of forestry on ecosystem quality in life cycle assessment (LCA) combining a naturalness assessment model with a species richness relationship. The approach is applied to a case study evaluating different forest management strategies involving concomitantly silvicultural scenarios (plantation only, careful logging only or the current mix of both) combined with an increasing share of protected area for wood production in a Québec black spruce forest. The naturalness index is useful to compare forest management scenarios and can help evaluate conservation needs considering the type of management foreseen for wood production. The results indicate that it is preferable to intensify forest management over a small proportion of the forest territory while ensuring strict protection over the remaining portion, compared to extensive forest management over most of the forested area. To explore naturalness introduction in LCA, a provisory curve relating the naturalness index (NI) with the potential disappeared fraction of species (PDF) was developed using species richness data from the literature. LCA impact scores in PDF for producing 1 m3 of wood might lead to consistent results with the naturalness index but the uncertainty is high while the window leading to consistent results is narrow.

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