Search results for "forestry"
showing 10 items of 1998 documents
Plant-frugivore networks are less specialized and more robust at forest-farmland edges than in the interior of a tropical forest
2012
Forest fragmentation and local disturbance are prevailing threats to tropical forest ecosystems and affect frugivore communities and animal seed dispersal in different ways. However, very little is known about the effects of anthropogenic forest edges and of local disturbance on the structure and robustness of plant–frugivore networks. We carried out focal tree observations to record the frugivore species feeding on eight canopy tree species in the forest interior and at forest–farmland edges in a little and a highly disturbed part of a Kenyan rain forest. For each frugivore species, we recorded its body mass and its forest dependence. We examined how forest edge and local disturbance affec…
Past and Contemporary Changes in Forest Cover and Forest Continuity in Relation to Soils (Southern Latvia)
2014
A set of medium-scale historical maps was used to reconstruct changes in spatial patterns of forest area during the last 220 years in an agricultural matrix of northeastern Europe (Zemgale region, Latvia). Changes in total forest area by soils were determined, as well as the time period of continuous forest cover. Proportion of protected area for each soil trophic group was also calculated. Patterns of recent forest development differed between soil trophic groups. Afforestation occurred mainly on wet and poor soils in the 19th and 20th centuries, while the proportion of woodland area on fertile soils typical for nemoral forests was fairly stable. Only 1% of the fertile soil area has been c…
The volume and composition of dead wood on traditional and forest fuel harvested clear-cuts
2010
Logging residue and cut stumps are increasingly used as a renewable energy source known as forest fuel. Forest fuel harvesting obviously reduces the volume of dead wood and is likely to alter the dead wood composition, but the magnitude of the change is not known. Such information is important for the evaluation of the effects of forest fuel harvesting on biodiversity because a large proportion of forest dwelling species are directly dependent on dead wood. We measured the volume and characteristics of all dead wood units with a minimum diameter of 2 cm and a minimum length of 20 cm on 10 forest-fuel harvested and 10 traditional (control) clear-cuts. The total volume of dead wood at forest …
The implications of stand composition, age and spatial patterns of forest regions with different ownership type for management optimisation in northe…
2015
Abstract Forests with different ownership type often form complex mosaics of stands, thus adding new challenges to the spatial planning of sustainable management in forested landscapes. This study attempted to analyse the spatial patterns and age structures of forest regions with different ownership type and to formulate suggestions for the optimisation of tactical planning of forest management planning by addressing ecological functionality at the landscape level. We hypothesised that structure of forests of various ownership groups differs significantly. National forest inventory data from 2011 was used in this study to compare spatial patterns of forest stands and clearcuts, as well as f…
Forest types for biodiversity assessment at regional level: the case study of Sicily (Italy)
2007
Within Europe the question of plant coenosis is attracting growing interest. The quality and quantity of collected information on forest resources at a global level largely depends on the capacity to collect and analyse data at national and sub-national scale in a way compatible with those at global or continental levels. In Italy the acceptance of all the international agreements and protocols on the protection of the environment and management of natural resources, requires a standardization of collected information and statistics, with the aim to produce homogeneous and integrative data at global level. This need is reflected in the following points: (1) the adoption of a classification …
Linking woodland key habitat inventory and forest inventory data to prioritize districts needing conservation efforts
2012
Woodland key habitat (WKH) inventories have been conducted in northern European countries, with the aim to create networks of minimally disturbed forest stands for protection. The goal of national forest inventory is to provide information relevant to forest management, such as on forest types, trees species composition, age structure and wood volume. The aim of this study was to link these two inventory databases to identify districts of Latvia most deficient in connectivity and habitat quality, in order to prioritize districts needing conservation effort. As an example, the area of deciduous forest with nemoral tree species (oak, ash, lime, maple and elm) and aspen was chosen. These fores…
Simplified methods for spatial sampling: application to first-phase data of Italian National Forest Inventory (INFC) in Sicily
2006
Abstract: Methodological approaches able to integrate data from sample plots with cartographic processes are widely applied. Based on mathematic-statistical techniques, the spatial analysis allows the exploration and spatialization of geographic data. Starting from the punctual information on land use types obtained from the dataset of the first phase of the ongoing new Italian NFI (INFC), a spatialization of land cover classes was carried out using the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method. In order to validate the obtained results, an overlay with other vectorial land use data was carried out. In particular, the overlay compared data at different scales, evaluating differences in terms …
The role of traditional Erica arborea L. management practices in maintaining northeastern Sicily’s cultural landscape
2007
The tree heath (Erica arborea L.), a small evergreen tree found in the Mediterranean region and parts of Eastern and Central Africa, produces lignotubers that are highly valued for making smoking pipes. The Peloritani Mountains of northeastern Sicily are historically one of the most important areas in Italy for the production of these high quality lignotubers, known as briar root wood. In the past, tree heath shrublands were also an important source of charcoal. Erica arborea utilisation has declined dramatically during the past century, mostly due to the decreasing demand for smoking pipes, as well as the increasing frequency of wildfires and large-scale afforestation activities in this re…
Using SMAA-2 method with dependent uncertainties for strategic forest planning
2006
Abstract Uncertainty included in forest variables is normally ignored in forest management planning. When the uncertainty is accounted for, it is typically assumed to be independently distributed for the criteria measurements of different alternatives. In forest management planning, the factors introducing the uncertainty can be classified into three main sources: the errors in the basic forestry data, the uncertainty of the (relative) future prices of timber, and the uncertainty in predicting the forest development. Due to the nature of these error sources, most of the involved uncertainties can be assumed to be positively correlated across the alternative management plans and/or criteria.…
Building and evaluating predictive occupancy models for the Siberian flying squirrel using forest planning data
2005
Abstract We analyzed the applicability of forest planning data in predicting the occurrence of the Siberian flying squirrel (Pteromys volans) in managed northern boreal forests, in northeast Finland. Forest planning data is a source of information about forest characteristics for forest managers that may be used in estimating the availability of certain habitats for species conservation. Flying squirrel populations have declined in Finland, most probably due to habitat change and loss and maintenance of suitable habitats can be seen as a fundamental task in species conservation. First, we surveyed 715 ha of older spruce-dominated forest consisting of 91 stands, of which 35 were found occupi…