scholarly journals Spatial Optimization and Tradeoffs of Alternative Forest Management Scenarios in Macedonia, Greece

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 697
Author(s):  
Palaiologos Palaiologou ◽  
Kostas Kalabokidis ◽  
Alan A. Ager ◽  
Spyros Galatsidas ◽  
Lampros Papalampros ◽  
...  

Managing forests has been demonstrated to be an efficient strategy for fragmenting fuels and for reducing fire spread rates and severity. However, large-scale analyses to examine operational aspects of implementing different forest management scenarios to meet fire governance objectives are nonexistent for many Mediterranean countries. In this study we described an optimization framework to build forest management scenarios that leverages fire simulation, forest management, and tradeoff analyses for forest areas in Macedonia, Greece. We demonstrated the framework to evaluate five forest management priorities aimed at (1) protection of developed areas, (2) optimized commercial timber harvests, (3) protection of ecosystem services, (4) fire resilience, and (5) reducing suppression difficulty. Results revealed that by managing approximately 33,000 ha across all lands in different allocations of 100 projects, the area that accounted for 16% of the wildfire exposure to developed areas was treated while harvesting 2.5% of total wood volume. The treatments also reduced fuels on the area that are responsible for 3% of the potential fire impacts to sites with important ecosystem services, while suppression difficulty and wildfire transmission to protected areas attainment was 4.5% and 16%, respectively. We also tested the performance of multiple forest district management priorities when applying a proposed four-year fuel treatment plan that targeted achieving high levels of attainment by treating less area but strategically selected lands. Sharp management tradeoffs were observed among all management priorities, especially for harvest production compared with suppression difficulty, the protection of developed areas, and wildfire exposure to protected areas.

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 197
Author(s):  
Mariem Khalfaoui ◽  
Hamed Daly-Hassen ◽  
Boutheina Stiti ◽  
Sihem Jebari

Forest ecosystems are an important anthropogenic pillar to human wellbeing, providing a multitude of ecosystem services. In Mediterranean countries, where climate change effects are exponentially increasing, the value of the forest ecosystem services is even higher and their preservation is more crucial. However, the biophysical and economic value of such services is usually not observable due to their non-marketable characteristics, leading to their underestimation by decision-makers. This paper aims to guide decision-making through a set of new management scenarios based on ecosystem services’ values and their spatial distribution. It is a cumulative multidisciplinary study based on biophysical models results, economically valued and implemented using the geographic information system (GIS) to analyze spatial data. The investigation was based on a biophysical and economic valuation of cork, grazing, carbon sequestration and sediment retention as a selection of ecosystem services provided by cork oak forest (Ain Snoussi, Tunisia). The valuation was made for the actual situation and two management scenarios (density decrease and afforestation of the shrub land), with emphasis on their spatial distribution as a basis to new management. The total economic value (TEV) of the investigated services provided by Ain Snoussi forest (3787 ha) was €0.55 million/year corresponding to €194/ha/year. The assessment of two different scenarios based on the land cover changes showed that the afforestation scenario provided the highest TEV with €0.68 million/year and an average of €217/ha, while the density decrease scenario provided €0.54 million/year and an average of €191/ha. Such results may orient decision-makers about the impact new management may have, however they should be applied with caution and wariness due to the importance of the spatial dimension in this study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (41) ◽  
pp. eabc6434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Orth ◽  
Jonathan S. Lefcheck ◽  
Karen S. McGlathery ◽  
Lillian Aoki ◽  
Mark W. Luckenbach ◽  
...  

There have been increasing attempts to reverse habitat degradation through active restoration, but few large-scale successes are reported to guide these efforts. Here, we report outcomes from a unique and very successful seagrass restoration project: Since 1999, over 70 million seeds of a marine angiosperm, eelgrass (Zostera marina), have been broadcast into mid-western Atlantic coastal lagoons, leading to recovery of 3612 ha of seagrass. Well-developed meadows now foster productive and diverse animal communities, sequester substantial stocks of carbon and nitrogen, and have prompted a parallel restoration for bay scallops (Argopecten irradians). Restored ecosystem services are approaching historic levels, but we also note that managers value services differently today than they did nine decades ago, emphasizing regulating in addition to provisioning services. Thus, this study serves as a blueprint for restoring and maintaining healthy ecosystems to safeguard multiple benefits, including co-benefits that may emerge as management priorities over time.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 67-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Pang ◽  
Eva-Maria Nordström ◽  
Hannes Böttcher ◽  
Renats Trubins ◽  
Ulla Mörtberg

2015 ◽  
Vol 166 (5) ◽  
pp. 291-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Golo Stadelmann ◽  
Christian Temperli ◽  
Marco Conedera ◽  
Andrés Gómez ◽  
Peter Brang

Timber mobilization possibilities for the chestnut belt of Ticino Many of the traditionally managed chestnut groves and coppice forests in the canton of Ticino have been abandoned in the second half of the 20th century. The ensuing natural development resulted in homogenized stand structures across the landscape, increasing growing stocks and diminishing provision of ecosystem services (e.g. timber, protection from gravitational hazards, nature conservation and recreation services). We used a forest growth simulator (“Massimo”) to simulate a range of management scenarios and possible consequences. Under the current low intensity management growing stocks and tree mortality continue to increase, which – at a large scale – could further reduce the protection and other services and increase the risk of forest fires. This process could be countered with more intense management practices, yet facing relatively high timber harvesting costs. An optimized forest management in the chestnut belt would require the definition of the dominating forest functions, the designation of priority areas and monetary compensation schemes for the provision of the respective forest ecosystem services.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth De Santo

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a key tool in ecosystem-based management, implementing a spatial approach to biodiversity conservation in the oceans. While the use of protected areas to conserve and/or protect resources has a long history, including centuries of royal hunting areas and traditionally managed areas, the modern conceptualization of protected areas dates to the late 19th century, with the designation of Yellowstone National Park in the United States in 1872. The first similar formally protected area with a marine component was the Royal National Park MPA in New South Wales, Australia, in 1879, although it also included a terrestrial component, as do many MPAs in coastal areas. The land/sea interface poses a challenge to delineating between terrestrial and marine parks, adding to a complex jurisdictional and legal landscape. Consequently, it is helpful to categorize MPAs based on the broad definition for protected areas offered by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature): a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values. As evidenced in this definition, discussions surrounding MPAs have become more amenable to soft-law approaches and/or less formal legal designations, and they are also increasingly tied to the concept of ecosystem services (i.e., protecting systems that in turn provide people with services that would be costly to otherwise reproduce, such as the coastal protection provided by mangroves and coral reefs). Of course, there are also strong arguments for protecting nature for its own intrinsic value, as well as the value it holds for non-human species. In order to fully understand the promise and efficacy of MPAs, it is necessary to examine their legal basis, their effectiveness as tools, how they can work together as networks to achieve ecological objectives, and how the global community is using protected area targets and large-scale MPAs to maximize coverage. However, it is also important to consider the socioeconomic dimensions of MPAs, as these often lead to problems with their success, including concerns with equity and justice and how well they are governed. Looking forward, future work in the field of MPAs includes ensuring they are achieving their ecological objectives, by ensuring enough areas are closed to all extractive uses, and developing a regime for designating them in areas beyond national jurisdiction, on the high seas.


2016 ◽  
Vol 548 ◽  
pp. 263-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
RE Lindsay ◽  
R Constantine ◽  
J Robbins ◽  
DK Mattila ◽  
A Tagarino ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
pp. 124-129
Author(s):  
Z. V. Karamysheva

The review contains detailed description of the «Atlas of especially protected natural areas of Saint Petersburg» published in 2013. This publication presents the results of long-term studies of 12 natural protected areas made by a large research team in the years from 2002 to 2013 (see References). The Atlas contains a large number of the historical maps, new satellite images, the original illustrations, detailed texts on the nature of protected areas, summary tables of rare species of vascular plants, fungi and vertebrates recorded in these areas. Special attention is paid to the principles of thematic large-scale mapping. The landscape maps, the vegetation maps as well as the maps of natural processes in landscapes are included. Reviewed Atlas deserves the highest praise.


2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (12) ◽  
pp. 481-492
Author(s):  
Andreas Rigling ◽  
Ché Elkin ◽  
Matthias Dobbertin ◽  
Britta Eilmann ◽  
Arnaud Giuggiola ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 284
Author(s):  
Dan Lu ◽  
Yahui Wang ◽  
Qingyuan Yang ◽  
Kangchuan Su ◽  
Haozhe Zhang ◽  
...  

The sustained growth of non-farm wages has led to large-scale migration of rural population to cities in China, especially in mountainous areas. It is of great significance to study the spatial and temporal pattern of population migration mentioned above for guiding population spatial optimization and the effective supply of public services in the mountainous areas. Here, we determined the spatiotemporal evolution of population in the Chongqing municipality of China from 2000–2018 by employing multi-period spatial distribution data, including nighttime light (NTL) data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS). There was a power function relationship between the two datasets at the pixel scale, with a mean relative error of NTL integration of 8.19%, 4.78% less than achieved by a previous study at the provincial scale. The spatial simulations of population distribution achieved a mean relative error of 26.98%, improved the simulation accuracy for mountainous population by nearly 20% and confirmed the feasibility of this method in Chongqing. During the study period, the spatial distribution of Chongqing’s population has increased in the west and decreased in the east, while also increased in low-altitude areas and decreased in medium-high altitude areas. Population agglomeration was common in all of districts and counties and the population density of central urban areas and its surrounding areas significantly increased, while that of non-urban areas such as northeast Chongqing significantly decreased.


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