scholarly journals Strategic Application of Topoclimatic Niche Models in Managing Forest Change

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1780
Author(s):  
James J. Worrall ◽  
Gerald E. Rehfeldt
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Forest Change ◽  
Habitat Models ◽  
Major Species ◽  
The Face ◽  
Niche Models ◽  
Climate Management

Forest management traditionally has been based on the expectation of a steady climate. In the face of a changing climate, management requires projections of changes in the distribution of the climatic niche of the major species and strategies for applying the projections. We prepared climatic habitat models incorporating heatload as a topographic predictor for the 14 upland tree species of southwestern Colorado, USA, an area that has already seen substantial climate impacts. Models were trained with over 800,000 points of known presence and absence. Using 11 climate scenarios for the decade around 2060, we classified and mapped change for each species. Projected impacts are extensive. Except for the low-elevation woodland species, persistent habitat is rare. Most habitat is lost or threatened and is poorly compensated by emergent habitat. Three species may be locally extirpated. Nevertheless, strategies are described that can use the projections to apply management where it is likely to be most effective, to facilitate or assist migration, to favor species likely to be suited in the future, and to identify potential climate refugia.

Building a Resilient Tomorrow

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice C. Hill ◽  
Leonardo Martinez-Diaz
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Related Disease ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Financial Disincentives ◽  
Biological Solutions

Even under the most optimistic scenarios, significant global climate change is now inevitable. Although we cannot tell with certainty how much average global temperatures will rise, we do know that the warming we have experienced to date has already caused significant losses, and that the failure to prepare for the consequences of further warming may prove to be staggering. This book does not dwell on overhyped descriptions of apocalyptic climate scenarios, nor does it travel down well-trodden paths surrounding the politics of reducing carbon emissions. Instead, it starts with two central facts: there will be future climate impacts, and we can make changes now to buffer their effects. While squarely confronting the scale of the risks we face, this pragmatic guide focuses on solutions—some gradual and some more revolutionary—currently being deployed around the globe. Each chapter presents a thematic lesson for decision-makers and engaged citizens to consider, outlining replicable successes and identifying provocative recommendations to strengthen climate resilience. Between discussions of ideas as wide-ranging as managed retreat from coastal hot zones to biological solutions for resurgent climate-related disease threats, the authors draw on their personal experiences to tell behind-the-scenes stories of what it really takes to advance progress on these issues. The narrative is dotted with stories of on-the-ground citizenry, from small-town mayors and bankers to generals and engineers, who are chipping away at financial disincentives and bureaucratic hurdles to prepare for life on a warmer planet.

scholarly journals Fertilization and Shading Trials to Promote Pinus nigra Seedlings’ Nursery Growth under the Climate Change Demands

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3563
Author(s):  
Marianthi Tsakaldimi ◽  
Panagiota Giannaki ◽  
Vladan Ivetić ◽  
Nikoleta Kapsali ◽  
Petros Ganatsas
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Pinus Nigra ◽  
Fertilization Rate ◽  
Early Growth ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
Randomized Block Design ◽  
Below Ground ◽  
High Fertilization

Pinus nigra is one of the most widely used tree species for reforestation within its geographical distribution, as well as being a potential substitute for other tree species in Central Europe under future climate scenarios. P. nigra is transplanted into the field as two-year or three-year old seedlings because of its relatively low growth rate in the nursery. This study investigated the effects of fertilization programs and shading on P. nigra seedlings, aiming to accelerate early growth, and thus to reduce the nursery rearing time. The experiment (a completely randomized block design) was conducted in an open-air nursery by sowing seeds from Grevena, Northern Greece, in Quick pots filled with peat and perlite in a 2:1 ratio. The seedlings were subjected to two levels of fertilization—5 and 10 g L−1 NPK (30-10-10)—and two shading levels: 50% and 70%. At the ends of the first and second nursery growing season, we recorded the seedlings’ above- and below-ground morphology and biomass data. The results show that the application of all of the treatments produced seedlings which met the targeted quality standards for outplanting. However, the combination of a high fertilization rate and low shading level resulted in seedlings of a higher morphological quality, which is often considered to be an indicator for a successful seedling establishment in the field.

scholarly journals Tree Species Selection in the Face of Drought Risk—Uncertainty in Forest Planning

Forests ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Albert ◽  
Ralf-Volker Nagel ◽  
Robert Nuske ◽  
Johannes Sutmöller ◽  
Hermann Spellmann
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Species Selection ◽  
Forest Planning ◽  
Drought Risk ◽  
The Face ◽  
Risk Uncertainty

scholarly journals Forest summer albedo is sensitive to species and thinning: how should we account for this in Earth system models?

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2411-2427 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Otto ◽  
D. Berveiller ◽  
F.-M. Bréon ◽  
N. Delpierre ◽  
G. Geppert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Forest Thinning ◽  
Area Index ◽  
System Models ◽  
Maximum Change ◽  
Earth System Models

Abstract. Although forest management is one of the instruments proposed to mitigate climate change, the relationship between forest management and canopy albedo has been ignored so far by climate models. Here we develop an approach that could be implemented in Earth system models. A stand-level forest gap model is combined with a canopy radiation transfer model and satellite-derived model parameters to quantify the effects of forest thinning on summertime canopy albedo. This approach reveals which parameter has the largest affect on summer canopy albedo: we examined the effects of three forest species (pine, beech, oak) and four thinning strategies with a constant forest floor albedo (light to intense thinning regimes) and five different solar zenith angles at five different sites (40° N 9° E–60° N 9° E). During stand establishment, summertime canopy albedo is driven by tree species. In the later stages of stand development, the effect of tree species on summertime canopy albedo decreases in favour of an increasing influence of forest thinning. These trends continue until the end of the rotation, where thinning explains up to 50% of the variance in near-infrared albedo and up to 70% of the variance in visible canopy albedo. The absolute summertime canopy albedo of all species ranges from 0.03 to 0.06 (visible) and 0.20 to 0.28 (near-infrared); thus the albedo needs to be parameterised at species level. In addition, Earth system models need to account for forest management in such a way that structural changes in the canopy are described by changes in leaf area index and crown volume (maximum change of 0.02 visible and 0.05 near-infrared albedo) and that the expression of albedo depends on the solar zenith angle (maximum change of 0.02 visible and 0.05 near-infrared albedo). Earth system models taking into account these parameters would not only be able to examine the spatial effects of forest management but also the total effects of forest management on climate.

scholarly journals The importance of glacier and forest change in hydrological climate-impact studies

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 619-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Köplin ◽  
B. Schädler ◽  
D. Viviroli ◽  
R. Weingartner
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Catchment Area ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Control Period ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Glacier Retreat ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Forest Change ◽  
Impact Studies

Abstract. Changes in land cover alter the water balance components of a catchment, due to strong interactions between soils, vegetation and the atmosphere. Therefore, hydrological climate impact studies should also integrate scenarios of associated land cover change. To reflect two severe climate-induced changes in land cover, we applied scenarios of glacier retreat and forest cover increase that were derived from the temperature signals of the climate scenarios used in this study. The climate scenarios were derived from ten regional climate models from the ENSEMBLES project. Their respective temperature and precipitation changes between the scenario period (2074–2095) and the control period (1984–2005) were used to run a hydrological model. The relative importance of each of the three types of scenarios (climate, glacier, forest) was assessed through an analysis of variance (ANOVA). Altogether, 15 mountainous catchments in Switzerland were analysed, exhibiting different degrees of glaciation during the control period (0–51%) and different degrees of forest cover increase under scenarios of change (12–55% of the catchment area). The results show that even an extreme change in forest cover is negligible with respect to changes in runoff, but it is crucial as soon as changes in evaporation or soil moisture are concerned. For the latter two variables, the relative impact of forest change is proportional to the magnitude of its change. For changes that concern 35% of the catchment area or more, the effect of forest change on summer evapotranspiration is equally or even more important than the climate signal. For catchments with a glaciation of 10% or more in the control period, the glacier retreat significantly determines summer and annual runoff. The most important source of uncertainty in this study, though, is the climate scenario and it is highly recommended to apply an ensemble of climate scenarios in the impact studies. The results presented here are valid for the climatic region they were tested for, i.e., a humid, mid-latitude mountainous environment. They might be different for regions where the evaporation is a major component of the water balance, for example. Nevertheless, a hydrological climate-impact study that assesses the additional impacts of forest and glacier change is new so far and provides insight into the question whether or not it is necessary to account for land cover changes as part of climate change impacts on hydrological systems.

scholarly journals Summertime canopy albedo is sensitive to forest thinning

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 15373-15414 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Otto ◽  
D. Berveiller ◽  
F.-M. Bréon ◽  
N. Delpierre ◽  
G. Geppert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Canopy Structure ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Forest Thinning ◽  
Crown Volume ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. Despite an emerging body of literature linking canopy albedo to forest management, understanding of the process is still fragmented. We combined a stand-level forest gap model with a canopy radiation transfer model and satellite-derived model parameters to quantify the effects of forest thinning, that is removing trees at a certain time during the forest rotation, on summertime canopy albedo. The effects of different forest species (pine, beech, oak) and four thinning strategies (light to intense thinning regimes) were examined. During stand establishment, summertime canopy albedo is driven by tree species. In the later stages of stand development, the effect of tree species on summertime canopy albedo decreases in favour of an increasing influence of forest thinning on summertime canopy albedo. These trends continue until the end of the rotation where thinning explains up to 50% of the variance in near-infrared canopy albedo and up to 70% of the variance in visible canopy albedo. More intense thinning lowers the summertime shortwave albedo in the canopy by as much as 0.02 compared to unthinned forest. The structural changes associated with forest thinning can be described by the change in LAI in combination with crown volume. However, forests with identical canopy structure can have different summertime albedo values due to their location: the further north a forest is situated, the more the solar zenith angle increases and thus the higher is the summertime canopy albedo, independent of the wavelength. Despite the increase of absolute summertime canopy albedo values with latitude, the difference in canopy albedo between managed and unmanaged forest decreases with increasing latitude. Forest management thus strongly altered summertime forest albedo.

Equity and Sustainability in the Old Growth Forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Dragun
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
General Issue ◽  
The Face ◽  
Human Effort ◽  
Forest Use ◽  
The Many ◽  
Variable Efficiency

The general issue of forest use has been highly contentious in Victoria and considerable human effort has been exerted to establish the “best” use of forests. This economic, bureaucratic and political contemplation has yielded a multitude of different policy prescriptions with quite variable efficiency and equity outcomes. However, a feature of the analysis is that nowhere-on the grounds of efficiency or equity-is forestry logging the clearly desired outcome. Yet in the face of insurmountable evidence against logging, governments in Victoria prevaricate over making a formal decision not to log the forests-in fact the ad hoc approach to forest management favours the established forest interests. Clearly the narrow economic power and interests of a few logging companies are sufficient to counterbalance the much greater-but diffuse-well being of the many citizens in the state.

European Forest Management Portfolios Optimized for Uncertain Future Climate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin Gregor ◽  
Thomas Knoke ◽  
Andreas Krause ◽  
Mats Lindeskog ◽  
Anja Rammig
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Optimization Techniques ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Climate Scenarios ◽  
Wide Range

<p>Forests are considered a major player in climate change mitigation since they influence local and global climate through biogeochemical and biogeophysical feedbacks. However, they are themselves vulnerable to future environmental changes. Thus, forest management needs to focus on both mitigation and adaptation. The special challenge is that decisions on management strategies must be taken today while still a broad range of emission pathways is possible, and a good decision regarding one assumed pathway might turn out to be a bad decision when a different one materializes.</p><p>With our study we try to aid this decision-making process by finding management portfolios that provide relevant ecosystem functions such as local and global climate regulation, water availability, flood protection, and timber production for a wide range of future climate scenarios. To simulate according ecosystem processes and functions, we run the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS for the most relevant forest types across Europe for four different RCPs and five different management options. We analyze our simulation outputs using robust optimization techniques to determine optimal forest management portfolios for each 0.5° grid cell in Europe that ensure a balanced provision of all considered ecosystem functions in the future under any of the four RCPs.</p><p>Generally, our simulations and optimizations show that diversified management portfolios are most suitable to provide the set of considered ecosystem functions in all climate scenarios everywhere in Europe. While the portfolios show different compositions in different regions, they are quite similar in adjacent grid cells. The suggested future forest composition in Europe tends to be fairly close to present day values except for Northern Europe where a much higher proportion of deciduous types is proposed.</p><p>Management as high forest (trees emerging from seeds) remains the most important form of management. The proposed share of coppice management is much higher in Central and Northern Europe (~20%) than in Southern Europe, where its disadvantages (e.g., high water consumption and its non-suitability to provide long-lived wood products) are more pronounced.</p><p>A succession of ~30% of managed forest to natural forest is proposed by the optimization as it provides highest carbon storage and surface roughness values. However, this infeasibly high share is reduced if the provision of wood harvest is valued higher in the optimization compared to the other ecosystem functions.</p><p>Current public focus on forests lies often on their potential for carbon sequestration, but future forest management must also address the other services that they provide. This work gives insights on how this may be done.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document