Spatial Analysis of Universitas Indonesia (UI) Urban Forest Microclimate and Its Biodiversity

Universitas Indonesia (UI) Urban Forest is located in the middle of an urban area. Vegetation analysis is one way to define the vegetation health to reach the urban forest sustainability. On the other hand, the vegetation analysis in UI Urban Forest was done thirteen years ago and needed to be updated. Moreover, there has not been vegetation analysis yet of UI Urban Forest using remote sensing combining the microclimate also biodiversity. This research method combines remote sensing and primary data collection. It classify the Landsat 8 (OLI) to the NDVI as the unit analysis (low, medium, high). Primary data collection started by random stratified sampling with a sampling intensity of 0.77% (18 plots), where in each plot, the temperature-humidity was measured, and the vegetation and bird were identified. As a result, the map of temperature and humidity was produced, and it correlates to the vegetation cover where the vegetation is high, the temperature is low, and the humidity is high. On the other hand, the vegetation structure and composition were analyzed. In conclusion, there is a significant difference between the NDVI vegetation class to the UI Urban Forest microclimate and its biodiversity (vegetations and birds).

Comment on “Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming”

Zellweger et al. (Reports, 15 May 2020, p. 772) claimed that a microclimatic debt, mainly controlled by canopy buffering, evolved in European forest understories. However, their analysis is based on circularity, as they explained the sum of three components by one of these components. The response of the understory to the thermal environment is generally weak.

Response to Comment on “Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming”

Schall and Heinrichs question our interpretation that the climatic debt in understory plant communities is locally modulated by canopy buffering. However, our results clearly show that the discrepancy between microclimate warming rates and thermophilization rates is highest in forests where canopy cover was reduced, which suggests that the need for communities to respond to warming is highest in those forests.

Comment on “Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming”

Zellweger et al. (Reports, 15 May 2020, p. 772) claimed that forest plant communities’ response to global warming is primarily controlled by microclimate dynamics. We show that community thermophilization is poorly explained by the underlying components of microclimate, and that global warming primarily controls the climatic lag of plant communities. Deconstructing the underlying components of microclimate provides insights for managers.

Response to Comment on “Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming”

Bertrand et al. question our interpretation about warming effects on the thermophilization in forest plant communities and propose an alternative way to analyze climatic debt. We show that microclimate warming is a better predictor than macroclimate warming for studying forest plant community responses to warming. Their additional analyses do not affect or change our interpretations and conclusions.

How Joannites’ economy eradicated primeval forest and created anthroecosystems in medieval Central Europe

During European states’ development, various past societies utilized natural resources, but their impact was not uniformly spatially and temporally distributed. Considerable changes resulted in landscape fragmentation, especially during the Middle Ages. Changes in state advances that affected the local economy significantly drove trajectories of ecosystems’ development. The legacy of major changes from pristine forest to farming is visible in natural archives as novel ecosystems. Here, we present a high-resolution densely dated multi-proxy study covering the last 1500 years from a peatland located in CE Europe. The economic activity of medieval societies was highly modified by new rulers—the Joannites (the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller). We studied the record of these directorial changes noted in the peat profile. Our research revealed a rapid critical land-use transition in the late Middle Ages and its consequences on the peatland ecosystem. The shift from the virgin forest with regular local fires to agriculture correlates well with the raising of local economy and deforestations. Along with the emerging openness, the wetland switched from alkaline wet fen state to acidic, drier Sphagnum-dominated peatland. Our data show how closely the ecological state of wetlands relates to forest microclimate. We identified a significant impact of the Joannites who used the novel farming organization. Our results revealed the surprisingly fast rate of how feudal economy eliminated pristine nature from the studied area and created novel anthroecosystems.

Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming

Climate warming is causing a shift in biological communities in favor of warm-affinity species (i.e., thermophilization). Species responses often lag behind climate warming, but the reasons for such lags remain largely unknown. Here, we analyzed multidecadal understory microclimate dynamics in European forests and show that thermophilization and the climatic lag in forest plant communities are primarily controlled by microclimate. Increasing tree canopy cover reduces warming rates inside forests, but loss of canopy cover leads to increased local heat that exacerbates the disequilibrium between community responses and climate change. Reciprocal effects between plants and microclimates are key to understanding the response of forest biodiversity and functioning to climate and land-use changes.