scholarly journals Naturwaldreservate: welche, wo und wofür? (Essay)

2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (6) ◽  
pp. 187-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Bollmann ◽  
Jörg Müller
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Natural Forest ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Forest Reserves ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Total Forest Area ◽  
Abundance And Distribution ◽  
Specific Impact

Natural forest reserves: selection criteria, where and what for? (Essay) The question “How large should the total extent of strict natural forest reserves be?” dominates the current debate about the need of unmanaged forests for biodiversity conservation in Central Europe. However, within a system of close-to-nature forest management, the quality, location, composition and distribution of natural forest reserves might have higher impacts on the diversity of species, communities and natural processes than the reserves' extent alone. Strictly speaking, the correct answer about the minimal required surface is directly related to the superior conservation objectives. In addition, the required ratio of forest reserves in relation to the total forest area is influenced by other factors such as the abundance and distribution of forests pirmarily managed for conservation objective, protected forest biotopes and old-growth stands as well as the general standards for an integrative, close-to-nature silviculture. Since concrete, superior objectives for forest biodiversity conservation are still missing in Central Europe, we put the focus of this article on the criteria that influence the conservation-specific impact and quality of strict natural forest reserves. These are amongst others the extent and compactness of a reserve, its habitat continuity and connectivity, the representativeness of forest types, their species composition and biogeographic distribution, a reserve's site heterogeneity and naturalness of its vegetation as well as the abundance of key structures and target species.

Mehr Mut zur Wildnis (Essay) | A more courageous attitude to wilderness (essay)

2010 ◽  
Vol 161 (8) ◽  
pp. 286-290
Author(s):  
Adrian Borgula
Keyword(s):  
Forest Area ◽  
Expert Assessment ◽  
Natural State ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Forest Reserves ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Wilderness Areas ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Basic Functions ◽  
Total Forest Area

Where nature protection is concerned, the expert assessment of an environment poses questions about its natural and cultural heritage and its potential, about how representative it may be, about biodiversity in all its facets and about its development or potential threats to its existence. Although the forest was the dominant habitat in the original natural European landscape, for a long time nature protection has devoted too little attention to it. There are diverse threats and deficiencies. However, in the Swiss forests positive developments are discernible. Thus nature protection is one of the basic functions of the forest, nature reserves are being created, the area of the forest is increasing, as are reserves of deadwood, and greater importance is being given to regeneration suited to the site. Nevertheless much remains to be done to really achieve the goal of biodiversity and sus-tainability. For this purpose segregative and integrative measures are required. Since diversity needs surface area, in the first place it must be possible to set aside as forest reserves a quarter of the total forest area, spread over the whole country and preferably as natural forest reserves, in order to start the process of a long-term restoration to the natural state. Here the conservation of natural self-regulating processes supersedes classical nature protection. With a series of further integrative measures, biodiversity must also be promoted over the whole remaining forest area and in the areas of transition to other habitats. An abundance of varied structures is the key to diversity of species. A more courageous attitude to wilderness and “untidiness” when dealing with the forest is to be recommended. Nature experiences in wilderness areas give the population the possibility of discovering diversity and natural processes and encourage respect for the innumerable other species and habitats.

scholarly journals Wie gross sollen Altholzinseln sein?

2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Müller ◽  
Thibault Lachat ◽  
Rita Bütler
Keyword(s):  
Natural Forest ◽  
Floodplain Forests ◽  
Minimal Size ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Beech Forests ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Forest Reserves ◽  
Saproxylic Species ◽  
Ecological Potential

How large should old-growth islands be? About 5% of the Swiss forest surface should be protected as natural forest reserves or as old-growth islands until 2030. This goal, which has been formulated by the Federal Office for the Environment and by the cantons, aims to promote the natural development of the forest and to conserve saproxylic species. Beside large-sized natural forest reserves, smaller old-growth islands may also play an important role. A bootstrapping method has been developed to define the minimal size of old-growth islands based on a field inventory in high forests without logging since at least 30 years. Three different indicators for habitat structures have been used to establish the ecological potential of old-growth islands: the total number of habitat structures, the amount of deadwood and the number of woodpecker trees. The threshold has been defined as the average of each indicator minus the standard error for different forest types. The surface of an island is determined at the point where 75% of the modeled surfaces are above the threshold, which guarantees a certain ecological potential. This surface reaches 0.7 ha for floodplain forests, 0.9 ha for beech and fir-beech forests and 1.2 ha for silver spruce-fir forests. The computed values are minimal rather than optimal surfaces for old-growth islands. With an increase of the surface, sustainability, quantity and quality of the habitats will be improved. Therefore, the size of old-growth islands should be larger whenever the local circumstances are favorable.

Warum Naturwaldreservate einrichten? (Essay)

2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (6) ◽  
pp. 180-186
Author(s):  
Heinz Kasper
Keyword(s):  
Forest Policy ◽  
Natural Forest ◽  
Managed Forests ◽  
Jura Mountains ◽  
Forest Reserves ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Swiss Plateau ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Large Effort

Why should we have natural forest reserves? (Essay) Natural forest reserves, where any kind of intervention is prohibited, are a component of a holistic biodiversity and forest policy today. Permitting natural processes to unfold in natural forest reserves is a sustainable and cost-efficient contribution to the maintenance and enhancement of biodiversity. This paper discusses the reasons for the establishment of natural forest reserves and the peculiarities that need to be taken into account when implementing the biodiversity goals. It demonstrates that particularly the establishment of large natural forest reserves in currently managed forests on the Swiss Plateau and in the Jura mountains requires a large effort.

Public Philosophy and the Crisis in Education

1984 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Giroux
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Public Philosophy ◽  
New Public ◽  
Outcomes Of Education

Henry Giroux is concerned that the current debate over the quality of education in the United States is characterized by a "new" public philosophy which is as problematic as the crisis it attempts to resolve. Criticizing the movement to link the outcomes of education solely to the needs of the business community, he argues that this philosophy towards education undermines efforts to equip students with the skills necessary to analyze the sociopolitical processes at work. Giroux advocates an educational policy for federal and state governments that ensures the teaching of critical literacy and civic courage. Such an approach requires a commitment of political and financial resources to creating schools that function as sites of learning of social interaction, and of human emancipation.

scholarly journals Atmospheric Deposition Effects on Agricultural Soil Acidification State — Key Study: Krupanj Municipality

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragan Čakmak ◽  
Jelena Beloica ◽  
Veljko Perović ◽  
Ratko Kadović ◽  
Vesna Mrvić ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Acidification ◽  
Interpolation Method ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Target Loading ◽  
Distance Weighting ◽  
The Status ◽  
Inverse Distance ◽  
Sustainable Productivity

Abstract Acidification, as a form of soil degradation is a process that leads to permanent reduction in the quality of soil as the most important natural resource. The process of soil acidification, which in the first place implies a reduction in soil pH, can be caused by natural processes, but also considerably accelerated by the anthropogenic influence of excessive S and N emissions, uncontrolled deforestation, and intensive agricultural processes. Critical loads, i.e. the upper limit of harmful depositions (primarily of S and N) which will not cause damages to the ecosystem, were determined in Europe under the auspices of the Executive Committee of the CLRTAP in 1980. These values represent the basic indicators of ecosystem stability to the process of acidification. This paper defines the status of acidification for the period up to 2100 in relation to the long term critical and target loading of soil with S and N on the territory of Krupanj municipality by applying the VSD model. The Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) geostatistic module was used as the interpolation method. Land management, particularly in areas susceptible to acidification, needs to be focused on well-balanced agriculture and use of crops/seedlings to achieve the optimum land use and sustainable productivity for the projected 100-year period.

scholarly journals Patterns and drivers of deadwood volume and composition in different forest types of the Austrian natural forest reserves

2020 ◽  
Vol 463 ◽  
pp. 118016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Oettel ◽  
Katharina Lapin ◽  
Georg Kindermann ◽  
Herfried Steiner ◽  
Karl-Manfred Schweinzer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Forest ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Forest Reserves

scholarly journals A Case of Letting the Cat out of The Bag—Why Trap-Neuter-Return Is Not an Ethical Solution for Stray Cat (Felis catus) Management

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Crawford ◽  
Calver ◽  
Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Community Education ◽  
Urban Wildlife ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Pet Ownership ◽  
Stray Cats ◽  
Human Habitation ◽  
Stray Cat ◽  
Almost All

Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs, in which stray cats are captured, neutered and returned to the environment are advocated as a humane, ethical alternative to euthanasia. We review the TNR literature in light of current debate over whether or not there should be further TNR trials in Australia. We revisit the problems arising from stray cats living in association with human habitation and estimate how many stray cats would have to be processed through a scientifically-guided TNR program to avoid high euthanasia rates. We also identify 10 ethical and welfare challenges that have to be addressed: we consider the quality of life for stray cats, where they would live, whether the TNR process itself is stressful, whether TNR cats are vulnerable to injury, parasites and disease, can be medically treated, stray cats’ body condition and diet, and their impacts on people, pet cats, and urban wildlife, especially endemic fauna. We conclude that TNR is unsuitable for Australia in almost all situations because it is unlikely to resolve problems caused by stray cats or meet ethical and welfare challenges. Targeted adoption, early-age desexing, community education initiatives and responsible pet ownership have greater promise to minimize euthanasia, reduce numbers rapidly, and address the identified issues.

scholarly journals Risks and opportunities of trophic rewilding for arthropod communities

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1761) ◽  
pp. 20170441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roel van Klink ◽  
Michiel F. WallisDeVries
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Control Treatment ◽  
Arthropod Communities ◽  
Large Herbivore ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Published Evidence ◽  
Eukaryotic Organisms

Trophic rewilding is a restoration strategy focusing on the restoration of trophic interactions to promote self-regulating, biodiverse ecosystems. It has been proposed as an alternative to traditional conservation management in abandoned or defaunated areas. Arthropods constitute the most species-rich group of eukaryotic organisms, but are rarely considered in rewilding. Here, we first present an overview of direct and indirect pathways by which large herbivores and predators affect arthropod communities. We then review the published evidence of the impacts of rewilding with large herbivores on arthropods, including grey literature. We find that systematic monitoring is rare and that a comparison with a relevant control treatment is usually lacking. Nevertheless, the available data suggest that when the important process of top-down control of large-herbivore populations is missing, arthropod diversity tends to decrease. To ensure that rewilding is supportive of biodiversity conservation, we propose that if natural processes can only partially be restored, substitutes for missing processes are applied. We also propose that boundaries of acceptable outcomes of rewilding actions should be defined a priori , particularly concerning biodiversity conservation, and that action is taken when these boundaries are transgressed. To evaluate the success of rewilding for biodiversity, monitoring of arthropod communities should be a key instrument. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Trophic rewilding: consequences for ecosystems under global change’.

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