scholarly journals ЗАЛЕЖНІСТЬ СИСТЕМАТИЧНОЇ ТА ЕКОЛОГІЧНОЇ СТРУКТУРИ ТРАВ’ЯНОГО ПОКРИВУ ЛІСОВИХ ЕКОСИСТЕМ ВІД АНТРОПОГЕННОГО ВПЛИВУ

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (01) ◽  
pp. 29-40
Author(s):  
N. V. Miroshnik ◽  
O. V. Tertychna
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Industrial Agglomeration ◽  
Grass Cover ◽  
Alluvial Deposits ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Forest Conditions

<p>Pine forests Chigirinsky Bor grow on fresh sod-podzolic soils formed on ancient alluvial deposits. Pine forests are characterized by stringent moisture regimes and constantly suffer from lack of productive moisture in soil.  Industrial development of Cherkasy in 60th years of ХХ century leaded air pollution and emissions of SO2, NOx, NH3, and dust. This contributed to significant negative influence on the surrounding forest ecosystems from enterprises of  Cherkassy industrial agglomeration.</p> <p>The grass cover in pine stands of Chigirinsky Bor transforms into xerophytic grasses and ruderal communities under the impact of negative biotic and abiotic factors. They are namely the anthropogenic violation of forest conditions, stands decline, recreational and industrial tree crowns understocking, xerophytic and heliophytic transformations of forest conditions. All the above mentioned caused strong ruderal and adventive transformation of grass cover. We registered the changes in nitrophilous plant spread regards the Cherkasy industrial agglomeration approaching which emits toxic with nitrogen-containing gases. Adventive and other non-forest species displace ferns and mosses, the ratio of ecomorfs is also changes due to increase of the quantity and development activation of annuals, xerophytic, ruderal, and nitrofil plants. The <em>Asteraceae</em>/<em>Brassicaceae</em> 3:1 ratio indicates significant anthropogenic violations in the region.</p> <p>We fixed the xerophytic, ruderal, and adventive transformation of grass cover in forest ecosystems. It is also founded the tendency of expanding the fraction of mesophilic plant species due to alterations in water regime (creation of Kremenchug reservoir and draining of floodplain Tyasmyn). When approaching the Cherkasy industrial agglomeration the grass cover degradation is clearly observed on the environmental profile. All this causes the forest ecosystem degradation and gradual loss of forest vegetation typical characteristics. We revealed the domination of plant species that are tolerant to transformed forest conditions due to drastic anthropogenic changes of ecological regimes in Chygyryn's Bor.</p> <p><em>Key words:</em><em> grass cover, Chigirin's Bor, anthropogenic impact, forest ecosystem, industrial transformation and degradation of grass cover.</em></p>

scholarly journals Modeling of Forest Ecosystem Degradation Due to Anthropogenic Stress: The Case of Rohingya Influx into the Cox’s Bazar–Teknaf Peninsula of Bangladesh

Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Mohammad Emran Hasan ◽  
Li Zhang ◽  
Riffat Mahmood ◽  
Huadong Guo ◽  
Guoqing Li
Keyword(s):  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Forest Vegetation ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Sudden Increase ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Anthropogenic Stress ◽  
Ecosystem Integrity ◽  
Humanitarian Response ◽  
The Impact

Overdependence and cumulative anthropogenic stresses have caused world forests to decrease at an unprecedented rate, especially in Southeast Asia. The Cox’s Bazar–Teknaf Peninsula of Bangladesh is not an exception and follows the global deforestation trend. Despite being one of the country’s richest forest ecosystems with multiple wildlife sanctuaries, reserve forests, and influential wildlife habitats, the peninsula is now providing shelter for nearly one million Rohingya refugees. With the global deforestation trend coupled with excessive anthropogenic stresses from the Rohingya population, the forests in the peninsula are continuously deteriorating in terms of quality and integrity. In response to deforestation, the government invested in conservation efforts through afforestation and restoration programs, although the peninsula faced a refugee crisis in August 2017. The impact of this sudden increase in population on the forest ecosystem is large and has raised questions and contradictions between the government’s conservation efforts and the humanitarian response. Relocation of the refugees seems to be a lengthy process and the forest ecosystem integrity needs to be preserved; therefore, the degree of stresses, level of impacts, and pattern of deforestation are crucial information for forest conservation and protection strategies. However, there are a lack of quantitative analyses on how the forest ecosystem is deteriorating and what future results would be in both space and time. In this study, the impact of the sudden humanitarian crisis (i.e., Rohingya refugees) as anthropogenic stress in Cox’s Bazar–Teknaf peninsula has been spatiotemporally modeled and assessed using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and other collateral data. Using the density and accessibility of the Rohingya population along with the land cover and other physiographic data, a multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) technique was applied through the Markov cellular automata technique to model the forest vegetation status. The impact of deforestation differs in cost due to variability of the forest vegetation covers. The study, therefore, developed and adopted three indices for assessment of the forest ecosystem based on the variability and weight of the forest cover loss. The spatial severity of impact (SSI) index revealed that out of 5415 ha of total degraded forest lands, 650 ha area would have the highest cost from 2017 to 2027. In the case of the ecosystem integrity (EI) index, a rapid decline in ecosystem integrity in the peninsula was observed as the integrity value fell to 1190 ha (2019) from 1340 ha (2017). The integrity is expected to further decline to 740 ha by 2027, if the stress persists in a similar fashion. Finally, the findings of ecosystem integrity depletion (EID) elucidated areas of 540 and 544 hectares that had a severe EID score of (−5) between 2017 and 2019 and 2017 and 2027, respectively. The displacement and refugee crisis is a recurrent world event that, in many cases, compromises the integrity and quality of natural space. Therefore, the findings of this study are expected to have significant global and regional implications to help managers and policymakers of forest ecosystems make decisions that have minimal or no impact to facilitate humanitarian response.

scholarly journals Bestandesdynamik zentralalpiner Waldföhrenwälder aufgezeigt anhand dendroökologischer Fallstudien aus dem Wallis, Schweiz | Stand dynamics of central alpine Scots pine using dendroecological case studies from Valais, Switzerland

2004 ◽  
Vol 155 (6) ◽  
pp. 178-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Rigling ◽  
Pascale Weber ◽  
Paolo Cherubini ◽  
Matthias Dobbertin
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Scots Pine ◽  
Forest Dynamics ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Natural Disturbances ◽  
Development History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scots Pine Forests ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the use of dendroecological methods to analyse the various processes involved in forest dynamics. Using dendroecological case studies of the Scots pine forests of Valais (Switzerland) as an example we discuss the most relevant processes of forest dynamics and their consequences on stand structures and mortality rates. We focus on the development history of these Scots pine forests under human impact and on the impact of biotic and abiotic factors on tree growth. Most of today's extended Scots pine forests (&lt; 1500 m a.s.l.)must be interpreted as part of an ongoing natural succession under heavy human influence. In time, without management or natural disturbances, most of these pine forests will develop into broadleaved forests (lower altitudes) or spruce-firforests(higher altitudes).

scholarly journals Methane emissions from boreal and tropical forest ecosystems derived from in-situ measurements

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 14011-14039 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Sinha ◽  
J. Williams ◽  
P. J. Crutzen ◽  
J. Lelieveld
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Global Budget ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Methane is a climatologically important greenhouse gas, which plays a key role in regulating water vapour in the stratosphere and hydroxyl radicals in the troposphere. Recent findings that vegetation emits methane have stimulated efforts to ascertain the impact of this source on the global budget. In this work, we present the results of high frequency (ca. 1 min−1) methane measurements conducted in the boreal forests of Finland and the tropical forests of Suriname, in April–May, 2005 and October 2005 respectively. The measurements were performed using a gas chromatograph – flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The average of the median mixing ratios during a typical diel cycle were 1.83 μmol mol−1 and 1.74 μmol mol−1 for the boreal forest ecosystem and tropical forest ecosystem respectively, with remarkable similarity in the time series of both the boreal and tropical diel profiles. Night time methane emission flux of the boreal forest ecosystem, calculated from the increase of methane during the night and measured nocturnal boundary layer heights yields a flux of (3.62±0.87)×1011 molecules cm−2 s−1(or 45.5±11 Tg CH4 yr−1 for global boreal forest area). This is a source contribution of circa 8% of the global methane budget. These results highlight the importance of the boreal and tropical forest ecosystems for the global budget of methane. The results are also discussed in the context of recent work reporting high methane mixing ratios over tropical forests using space borne near infra-red spectroscopy measurements.

scholarly journals Effect of forest clear cuts on plant–pollinator interactions: the case of three ericaceous subshrubs in Lithuanian pine forests

2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Remigijus Daubaras ◽  
Laima Cesoniene ◽  
Marcin Zych ◽  
Vytautas Tamutis ◽  
Vidas Stakėnas
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Calluna Vulgaris ◽  
Forest Growth ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Visitation Frequency ◽  
Mature Stands ◽  
The Impact

Managed boreal pine forests are subject to regular clear cuts causing significant disturbances to these ecosystems. It is believed that, to some extent, they resemble natural cycles of forest growth, decline, and regeneration and can benefit, e.g., mutualistic relations among plants and pollinators. To study the impact of forest management (clear cuts) on pollinator visitation, we focused on three ericaceous plant species, <em>Vaccinium myrtillus</em>, <em>V. vitis-idaea</em>, and <em>Calluna vulgaris</em>, common elements of pine forest understory. Our observations, conducted in Lithuania, showed that there are no differences among control mature stands and clear cut areas in terms of visitation frequency for all three studied species. However, at least for <em>C. vulgaris</em>, a shift toward fly visits was observed in the clear cut site, showing that open areas are preferred habitats for these insects. Ants constituted an important share of visitors to flowers of <em>V. myrtillus</em> and <em>C. vulgaris</em>, suggesting their important role in reproduction of these plant species.

scholarly journals Ecological and fire characteristics of forest ecosystems of the “Drevlyansky” nature reserve

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-92
Author(s):  
Vasyl Martynenko
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Calculation Methods ◽  
Hazard Class ◽  
Fire Characteristics ◽  
The Impact

The paper deals with the ecological and fire situation in the forest ecosystem of the “Drevlyansky” nature reserve. The relevance of this study is that every year Ukraine's forests suffer from fires that destroy significant areas, and forests with radiation pollution suffer from fires the most. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of radiation pollution on the fire situation in the forest ecosystem of the reserve. The main task was to distribute the area of the reserve according to the level of radiation pollution and fire hazard classes with and without taking into account radiation pollution. To achieve the results, the area of the forest ecosystem of the Reserve was distributed according to the levels of radiation pollution. The average fire hazard class between 2008 and 2018 ranged from 2.02 to 2.06, which in turn improves the fire situation. However, since the territory of the reserve has been exposed to radiation pollution, the distribution of areas by fire hazard classes has undergone changes between the years of forest management. Thus, the fire situation, taking into account radiation pollution, has deteriorated compared to the area that was not exposed to radiation pollution, and between 2008 and 2018 it improved and amounts to 1.16 and 1.17, respectively. Consequently, the distribution of area by fire hazard classes depends not only on the level of radiation pollution, but also on the taxational specifications (land category, and in plantations it depends on the type of forest vegetation conditions, age, and tree species). The results of the fire that occurred on the territory of the reserve in the spring of 2020 are shown, along with a map of the fire danger of the forest fund of the “Drevlyansky” nature reserve in 2018. The prospect of further research is to re-conduct a study of the level of radiation pollution and to carry out actual measurements every 10 years, without using calculation methods. This will provide a more reliable distribution of forest fund areas by fire hazard classes and affect the planning of strategic tasks to prevent fires in the reserve

Reproduction in plants of grass and subshrub layer as a factor of the forest ecosystem stabilization

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 34-41
Author(s):  
I. N. Kovalenko
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Natural Regeneration ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
Reproductive Process ◽  
North East ◽  
The Impact

Reproduction in a broad sense is the process by which female parents generate some or other germs (diasporas) able to form new individuals that are genetically similar to the female parents. The two main types of reproduction are found in forest grasses and subshrubs: seed (or by spores in spore-bearing plants) and vegetative. The establishment of features of plan reproduction of grass and subshrub layer is an important scientific issue in the context of the preservation and restoration of forest ecosystems, because plants of grass and subshrub layer have a significant impact on the initial stages of natural regeneration of plants of the first layer. Some features of reproduction of plants of different layers of forest ecosystems – from grass to woody – have been studied on the basis of our own observations and literature data. The observations were carried out on the territory of Desnyansko-Starogutsky National Nature Park and the adjacent territories. Forest ecosystems of the north-east of Ukraine have been in active use for a long time. Currently, these forests, in part, have obtained conservation status, and the volume of logging has been sharply reduced. Therefore, the majority of forests are characterized by the progressive succession, during which the proportion of plant silvan species increases and, consequently, the number of motile vegetative plant species increases in the lower layers of forest. The eight plant species of grass and subshrub layer, such as Aegopodium podagraria L., Asarum europaeum L., Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull, Carex pilosa Scop., Molinia caerulea (L.) Moench., Stellaria holostea L. Vaccinium myrtillus L., Vaccinium vitis-idaea L., have been selected as models. It is established that the capacity for vegetative propagation and clone formation is an important feature of reproduction of most forest grasses. The key parameters of generative reproduction of clone forming plants of grass and subshrub layer and their dependence on the ecological and coenotic factors have been shown as well. To establish the level of reproduction the following morphometric parameters were determined: weight of generative organs (g), number of generative shoots (pieces), reproductive effort (%), share of generative individuals in the population (%). In case of generative reproduction, an important biological characteristic is the so-called reproductive effort, which characterizes the contribution of organic matters and energy in the reproductive process. It is typically shown as the percentage of phytomass of the reproductive structures of the total phytomass. In general, generativity of the investigated plants of grass and subshrub layer was determined by the ecological and cenotic conditions, and therefore varied from association to association. Forest grasses and subshrubs, in turn, are an important factor for regeneration of all types of woody species in forest ecosystems. Depending on the composition and abundance of plants of grass and subshrub layer, the number of seedlings and little undergrowth of all woody species of trees is reduced in varying degrees, and the indicators of their growth are getting worse. The impact of the live ground cover on undergrowth of woody species is ultimately determined by the specificity of the ecological and coenotic situation in the areas of regeneration and the specific ecological and phytocoenotic properties of undergrowth of certain woody species. The main environmental problems of recreational zones from the perspective of possibilities of natural regeneration of woody species are the effect of mechanical actions on the soil. Grass and subshrub layer as a sensitive indicator of the increase in anthropogenic load is the first to undergo such transformation in recreational forests. Under its influence its species composition varies and is depleted, distribution of certain species as well as their phytomass and projective cover decrease. Many forest species disappear from the cover, and weeds begin to grow. Protection of forests as holistic ecosystems is an important issue, being developed during the XX century, and not having lost its significance even today. The main directions of its solution are connected with the development of the ecological network of Ukraine and the proper use of all forest resources.

scholarly journals Plant species richness and shrub cover attenuate drought effects on ecosystem functioning across Patagonian rangelands

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 20140673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan J. Gaitán ◽  
Donaldo Bran ◽  
Gabriel Oliva ◽  
Fernando T. Maestre ◽  
Martín R. Aguiar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Drought Event ◽  
Shrub Cover ◽  
The Impact

Drought is an increasingly common phenomenon in drylands as a consequence of climate change. We used 311 sites across a broad range of environmental conditions in Patagonian rangelands to evaluate how drought severity and temperature (abiotic factors) and vegetation structure (biotic factors) modulate the impact of a drought event on the annual integral of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI-I), our surrogate of ecosystem functioning. We found that NDVI-I decreases were larger with both increasing drought severity and temperature. Plant species richness (SR) and shrub cover (SC) attenuated the effects of drought on NDVI-I. Grass cover did not affect the impacts of drought on NDVI-I. Our results suggest that warming and species loss, two important imprints of global environmental change, could increase the vulnerability of Patagonian ecosystems to drought. Therefore, maintaining SR through appropriate grazing management can attenuate the adverse effects of climate change on ecosystem functioning.

Characterizing the impact of recovering sea otters on commercially important crabs in California estuaries

2020 ◽  
Vol 655 ◽  
pp. 123-137
Author(s):  
TM Grimes ◽  
MT Tinker ◽  
BB Hughes ◽  
KE Boyer ◽  
L Needles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Sea Otter ◽  
Dungeness Crab ◽  
Sea Otters ◽  
Elkhorn Slough ◽  
Enhydra Lutris Nereis ◽  
Crab Abundance ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Commercially Important ◽  
The Impact

Protective legislation and management have led to an increase in California’s sea otter Enhydra lutris nereis population. While sea otter recovery has been linked to ecosystem benefits, sea otter predation may negatively affect commercially valuable species. Understanding the potential influence of sea otters is of particular importance as their range expands into estuaries that function as nurseries for commercially valuable species like Dungeness crab Metacarcinus magister. We consider how sea otter predation has affected the abundance and size of juvenile Dungeness crab in Elkhorn Slough, California, USA, and analyzed cancrid crab abundance and size across 4 California estuaries with and without sea otters to understand how biotic and abiotic factors contribute to observed variation in crab size and abundance. We compared trends in southern sea otters relative to Dungeness crab landings in California to assess whether increasing sea otter abundance have negatively impacted landings. In Elkhorn Slough, juvenile Dungeness crab abundance and size have declined since 2012, coinciding with sea otter population growth. However, the impact of sea otters on juvenile Dungeness crab size was habitat-specific and only significant in unvegetated habitat. Across estuaries, we found that cancrid crab abundance and size were negatively associated with sea otter presence. While abiotic factors varied among estuaries, these factors explained little of the observed variation in crab abundance or size. Although we found evidence that sea otters can have localized effects on cancrid crab populations within estuaries, we found no evidence that southern sea otters, at recent population sizes, have negatively impacted Dungeness crab landings in California from 2000-2014.

Wald und Klimawandel in der inneralpinen Trockenregion Visp

2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (12) ◽  
pp. 481-492
Author(s):  
Andreas Rigling ◽  
Ché Elkin ◽  
Matthias Dobbertin ◽  
Britta Eilmann ◽  
Arnaud Giuggiola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Bark Beetles ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Forest Monitoring ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Forest Ecosystem Services

Forest and climate change in the inner-Alpine dry region of Visp Over the past decades, observed increases in temperature have been particularly pronounced in mountain regions. If this trend should continue in the 21st Century, frequency and intensity of droughts will increase, and will pose major challenges for forest management. Under current conditions drought-related tree mortality is already an important factor of forest ecosystems in dry inner-Alpine valleys. Here we assess the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to climate change and evaluate alternative forest management strategies in the Visp region. We integrate data from forest monitoring plots, field experiments and dynamic forests models to evaluate how the forest ecosystem services timber production, protection against natural hazards, carbon storage and biodiver-sity will be impacted. Our results suggest that at dry low elevation sites the drought tolerance of native tree species will be exceeded so that in the longer term a transition to more drought-adapted species should be considered. At medium elevations, drought and insect disturbances as by bark beetles are projected to be important for forest development, while at high elevations forests are projected to expand and grow better. All of the ecosystem services that we considered are projected to be impacted by changing forest conditions, with the specific impacts often being elevation-dependent. In the medium term, forest management that aims to increase the resilience of forests to drought can help maintain forest ecosystem services temporarily. However, our results suggest that relatively rigid management interventions are required to achieve significant effects. By using a combination of environmental monitoring, field experiments and modeling, we are able to gain insight into how forest ecosystem, and the services they provide, will respond to future changes.

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