The role of agroforestry intensification in biodiversity conservation in western Ethiopia

Background Human mismanagement of natural habitats caused the great loss of biodiversity and ecosystem because of their conversion into modified landscapes. On the other hand, agroecosystems are playing vital role in terms of retaining and conserving certain overstorey trees and associated perennial crops in addition to the small fauna. The main objective of this study was to assess the diversity of woody species and vegetation structure in three coffee systems across an increasing farmers’ management intensity in selected research areas of western Wollega, Ethiopia. A total of 72 samples (24 per each management systems) were purposively selected from three districts based on the dominant coffee production system and the level of coffee production, which supposed to affect the diversity of tree species for collecting data on woody species. Plant specimens were collected following standard herbarium technique and identified in the field and at national herbarium. Results A total of 50 woody species were identified. The most abundant shade tree in coffee agroecosystems was Cordia africana. The nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination and Sorensen distance-based ordination demonstrated that plots of the same coffee system were almost maintained similar species composition and abundance. However, no similar pattern was observed between the coffee systems, except the small overlap in species composition between plantation coffee and garden coffee systems. Diversity of woody species was significantly different among the coffee management systems (P <.0001). Similarly, some of the structural parameters like density, basal area, and shade significantly reduced along the increased coffee management intensity. Conclusions The study found evidence that the intensification of coffee management was not always the source of biodiversity loss; rather, it is an opportunity for conservation of the locally threatened higher plants. Incorporation of coffee shrubs in the degraded lands or remnant forest patches, integrating coffee in the massive afforestation/tree planting programs, and using multipurpose trees in afforestation can be used as an alternative strategy for overstorey plant conservation

Combining Landscape Fire Simulations with Stand-Level Growth Simulations to Assist Landowners in Building Wildfire-Resilient Landscapes

The wildfire regime in Portugal has been responsible for millions of hectares of burnt area, and Alvares parish is no exception. In 2017, a severe wildfire burnt 60% of its area. Land abandonment has been increasing since the mid 20th century, and a large fraction of the forest area belongs to quasi-absent landowners. This has given rise to large, almost unbroken expanses of undermanaged forests that, in combination with rugged topography, originates a landscape prone to large, intense wildfires. Thus, a change in landscape composition and structure capable of reducing flammability and promoting fuel discontinuity is urgently needed. A fire spread simulator and a forest growth simulator were combined to show the impact of improving management at landscape level. It was assumed that the probability of large wildfires may be reduced by setting aside forest area for the implementation of a fuel break network (FBN) and increasing the area under sustainable forest management. Three levels of management intensity were simulated by restricting the area of Quasi-absent non-industrial owners to 34.5%, 20.1%, and 8.5% of the Alvares forest area, in favor of increasing the area of active and semi-active non-industrial owners (current, moderate, and high management scenarios). Different FBN extents, representing four levels of network implementation priority were combined with the management levels, resulting in 12 scenarios. To evaluate the impact of fire, simulations assuming no-fire, no-FBN, and current management intensity were performed, whereas the impact of operation costs was assessed assuming reduced costs for silvicultural operations. Per hectare simulations were then scaled up to the parish level and volume harvested and net present values were used to compare the management improvement scenarios. Results showed that fire has major repercussions on forest income, but these impacts can be minimized. Intensifying forest management and implementing the first priority FBN segments originated substantial improvements in financial outcome from timber production, close to those obtained for the full FBN implementation. Results also evidenced contrasting contributions from industrial and non-industrial owners with the later evidencing unbalanced cash-flows derailing the possibility for interesting forest incomes. The coupling of fire and forest growth simulations can be an interesting approach to assess the impact of different management and policy scenarios and inform policies.

Is Expansion or Regulation More Critical for Existing Protected Areas? A Case Study on China’s Eco-Redline Policy in Chongqing Capital

Protecting areas of important ecological value is one of the main approaches to safeguarding the Earth’s ecosystems. However, the long-term effectiveness of protected areas is often uncertain. Focusing on China’s ecological conservation redline policy (Eco-redline policy) introduced in recent years, this study attempted to examine the effectiveness of alternative policy interventions and their implications on future land-use and land-cover (LULC) patterns. A scenario analysis was employed to elucidate the implications of different policy interventions for Chongqing capital, one of the most representative cities in China. These interventions considered the spatial extent of Eco-redline areas (ERAs) and the management intensity within these areas. LULC data for two different periods from 2000 (first year) to 2010 (end year) were derived from satellite images and then used for future (2050) LULC projections, incorporating the various policy interventions. Furthermore, several landscape indices, including the shape complexity, contrast, and aggregation of forest patches were calculated for each scenario. After comparing the scenarios, our analysis suggests that the current extent of ERAs may not be sufficient, although their management intensity is. Therefore, we suggest that during the optimization of the Eco-redline policy, ERAs are gradually increased while maintaining their current management intensity.

Species co-occurrence and management intensity modulate habitat preferences of forest birds

Background Species co-occurrences can have profound effects on the habitat use of species, and therefore habitat structure alone cannot fully explain observed abundances. To account for this aspect of community organization, we developed multi-species abundance models, incorporating the local effect of co-occurring and potentially associated species, alongside with environmental predictors, linked mainly to forest management intensity. We coupled it with a landscape-scale analysis to further examine the role of management intensity in modifying the habitat preferences in connection with the landscape context. Using empirical data from the Black Forest in southern Germany, we focused on the forest bird assemblage and in particular on the cavity-nesting and canopy-foraging guilds. We included in the analysis species that co-occur and for which evidence suggests association is likely. Results Our findings show that the local effect of species associations can mitigate the effects of management intensity on forest birds. We also found that bird species express wider habitat preferences in forests under higher management intensity, depending on the landscape context. Conclusions We suspect that species associations may facilitate the utilization of a broader range of environmental conditions under intensive forest management, which benefits some species over others. Networks of associations may be a relevant factor in the effectiveness of conservation-oriented forest management.