Biodiversity and Conservation—Selected Papers from FowiTa German Forest Sciences Conference (Sessions 6–9)

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2017) | Viewed by 25600

Special Issue Editor

Department of Applied Silviculture, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Schicklerstrasse, 16225 Eberswalde, Germany
Interests: ecology and silviculture of pine; pine (management) and climate change; production of high-value timber of pine; subtropical and tropical pine plantations
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The protection of forests and forest-related biodiversity is increasingly relevant. Biodiversity conservation hereby competes with increasing demands on European forests with respect to forest products and energy they do provide. The proposed session highlights state-of-the art questions on forest biodiversity and protected area management (PAM) in multi-functional forests, such as, for example:

  • Positive or negative impacts of forest management practices on forest biodiversity
  • Integrative or segregative approaches to enhance biodiversity conservation
  • Adaptation of PAM categories to climate change
  • Policy processes to influence forest-related biodiversity conservation.

Prof. Dr. Peter Spathelf
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • biodiversity
  • conservation
  • forest management
  • integrative vs. segregative strategy
  • climate change

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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1931 KiB  
Article
Monetary Valuation of Natural Forest Habitats in Protected Areas
by Vilem Pechanec, Ivo Machar, Lenka Sterbova, Marcela Prokopova, Helena Kilianova, Karel Chobot and Pavel Cudlin
Forests 2017, 8(11), 427; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8110427 - 10 Nov 2017
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 4879
Abstract
The progressive development of economic valuations of biodiversity in recent decade enables the application of the concept of payments for ecosystem services (PES) in order to conservation of forest biodiversity in protected areas. In this article, the PES concept principles are applied for [...] Read more.
The progressive development of economic valuations of biodiversity in recent decade enables the application of the concept of payments for ecosystem services (PES) in order to conservation of forest biodiversity in protected areas. In this article, the PES concept principles are applied for the monetary valuation of natural forest habitats, which were mapped in the Czech Republic in order to create the Natura 2000 European network. The method is based on expert evaluation of every type of mapped habitat by a point value (ranging from 1 to 6 points) for specific ecological evaluating criteria. The monetary value of every point of specific natural forest habitats was defined from the economic analysis of financial expenses of realised ecological restoration projects in the Czech Republic. This method is therefore based on a rather exceptional application of the PES concept, which is still rare in literature because it is based on actual invested financial means, not only on the potential willingness to spend these financial means. The presented results of the monetary valuation of the natural forest habitats in the Czech Republic indicate that the method used for the monetization of forest biodiversity in protected areas can represent a promising decision support tool in countries where habitat mapping results are available. Full article
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1015 KiB  
Article
Genetic Diversity among Age Classes of a Pinus sylvestris (L.) Population from the Białowieża Primeval Forest, Poland
by Aleksandra Wojnicka-Półtorak, Konrad Celiński and Ewa Chudzińska
Forests 2017, 8(7), 227; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8070227 - 28 Jun 2017
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3763
Abstract
The Białowieża Primeval Forest (BPF) is Europe’s last primeval forest and an irreplaceable area for biodiversity conservation due to its size, protection status, and substantially undisturbed nature. There is no other forest in Europe with such a large surface representing highly-advanced natural succession. [...] Read more.
The Białowieża Primeval Forest (BPF) is Europe’s last primeval forest and an irreplaceable area for biodiversity conservation due to its size, protection status, and substantially undisturbed nature. There is no other forest in Europe with such a large surface representing highly-advanced natural succession. This article reports on the first analysis of the genetic variability and demographic structure of a self-renewed Pinus sylvestris population located in BPF, using both chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA markers. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) for chloroplast simple sequence repeats (cpSSRs) revealed a significant genetic differentiation among age classes that accounted for about 2% of the total variance, comparable to those reported among different populations of Scots pine. None of the 117 detected chloroplast haplotypes were common to all age classes. Haplotype diversity ranged from 0.370 to 0.415 for cpSSRs and from 0.320 to 0.455 for mitochondrial markers. The genetic variation of the studied age classes—represented by mitochondrial markers—strongly depicts the maternal genetic structure, indicating limited seed dispersal. Temporal genetic substructuring is maintained within a self-renewed population of Scots pine from the BPF. Full article
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4155 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Forest Management in Protected Areas Based on Multidisciplinary Research
by Ivo Machar, Jaroslav Simon, Klement Rejsek, Vilem Pechanec, Jan Brus and Helena Kilianova
Forests 2016, 7(11), 285; https://doi.org/10.3390/f7110285 - 16 Nov 2016
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 5152
Abstract
The remnants of primeval Norway spruce forests in the European temperate zone are crucial for maintaining forest biodiversity in high mountain landscapes. This paper presents results of a multidisciplinary research and evaluation project on the management practices for mountain spruce forests in the [...] Read more.
The remnants of primeval Norway spruce forests in the European temperate zone are crucial for maintaining forest biodiversity in high mountain landscapes. This paper presents results of a multidisciplinary research and evaluation project on the management practices for mountain spruce forests in the Natura 2000 site (National Nature Reserve Serak-Keprnik in the Hruby Jesenik Mountains, the Czech Republic). Results are based on combining research on the historical development of the forest ecosystem and predictions of future dynamics using a forest growth simulation model. The presented results show that a non-intervention management strategy for mountain spruce forest in the next 50 years complies with the Natura 2000 requirement to maintain the existing character of the forest habitat. Thus, the results indicate that the current management plan for the spruce forests does not require significant corrections in the context of its conservation goals (i.e., maintaining biodiversity and current character of the forest ecosystem dominated by Norway spruce). The results of this study suggest that combining the knowledge of historical development with forest inventory data using forest growth simulation represents a suitable support tool for the assessment of management practices for forest habitats in protected areas. Full article
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2639 KiB  
Article
Partitioning Tree Species Diversity and Developmental Changes in Habitat Associations in a Subtropical Evergreen Broadleaf Secondary Forest in Southern China
by Wei Cui and Xiao-Xian Zheng
Forests 2016, 7(10), 228; https://doi.org/10.3390/f7100228 - 14 Oct 2016
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4621
Abstract
The classical environmental control model assumes that species diversity is primarily determined by environmental conditions (e.g., microclimate and soil) on the local scale. This assumption has been challenged by the neutral theory that assumes that the maintenance of biodiversity mainly depends on the [...] Read more.
The classical environmental control model assumes that species diversity is primarily determined by environmental conditions (e.g., microclimate and soil) on the local scale. This assumption has been challenged by the neutral theory that assumes that the maintenance of biodiversity mainly depends on the ecological drift and dispersal limitation. Understanding the mechanisms that maintain biodiversity depends on decomposing the variation of species diversity into the contributions from the various components that affect it. We investigated and partitioned the effects of the biotic component (productivity, forest spatial structure) and the environmental component (topography and soil fertility) on the distribution of tree species richness jointly (the combined effect of environment and biotic process) and separately (the effect of environment or biotic process alone) in 25 permanent plots of 600 m2 in a subtropical evergreen broadleaf secondary forest in southern China. The analysis was also completed for trees at different growth stages based on diameter breast height (young trees: 5 cm ≤ DBH < 10 cm, mature trees: 10 cm < DBH ≤ 20 cm, old trees: DBH > 20 cm) within each plot. Our results indicated that (1) tree species richness had significant negative relationship with productivity and a unimodal relationship with its spatially structured distribution; (2) biotic and environmental factors both have significant influence on species richness and jointly explain ~60% of the variation for the overall tree assemblage, and the variation explained by the two components jointly increased across growth stages (34%, 44%, and 75%, respectively); (3) additive variation partitioning revealed that the tree species richness was dominantly controlled by environmental factors (32%), while the biotic component also independently contributed a non-negligible effect (16%); and (4) the dominant fraction changed from the biotic component to the environmental component across growth stages. Results suggest that the tree species richness may be governed from neutral process to environmental control during tree life span in subtropical evergreen broadleaf secondary forests. Full article
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Review

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1205 KiB  
Review
Operational Research Techniques Used for Addressing Biodiversity Objectives into Forest Management: An Overview
by Marta Ezquerro, Marta Pardos and Luis Diaz-Balteiro
Forests 2016, 7(10), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/f7100229 - 12 Oct 2016
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 6538
Abstract
The integration of biodiversity into forest management has traditionally been a challenge for many researchers and practitioners. In this paper, we have provided a survey of forest management papers that use different Operations Research (OR) methods in order to integrate biodiversity objectives into [...] Read more.
The integration of biodiversity into forest management has traditionally been a challenge for many researchers and practitioners. In this paper, we have provided a survey of forest management papers that use different Operations Research (OR) methods in order to integrate biodiversity objectives into their planning models. One hundred and seventy-nine references appearing in the ISI Web of Science database in the last 30 years have been categorized and evaluated according to different attributes like model components, forest management elements, or biodiversity issues. The results show that many OR methods have been applied to deal with this challenging objective. Thus, up to 18 OR techniques, divided into four large groups, which have been employed in four or more articles, have been identified. However, it has been observed how the evolution of these papers in time apparently tended to increase only until 2008. Finally, two clear trends in this set of papers should be highlighted: the incorporation of spatial analysis tools into these operational research models and, second, the setting up of hybrid models, which combine different techniques to solve this type of problem. Full article
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