The carbon stocks in the forests originated from the atmosphere and are accumulated in the organic matter of trees and soils. Forests play major roles in providing ecosystem services like climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration and nutrient flow dynamics. Therefore, the major objective of this study was to estimate carbon stocks of Biteyu forest by quantifying the aboveground biomass of trees, belowground carbon, soil carbon, and carbon stocks of litter pool. Systematic sampling technique was employed for vegetation and carbon data collection. The total of 10 line transects were laid along elevational gradients. The transects were 500 m apart and sampling plots were 300 m apart from each other. Each transect has comprised of a minimum of 4 plots to a maximum of six totaling 50 plots representing the forest for the investigation. A square sample plot of 900 m2 was used to collect vegetation data with a DBH ≥ 2.5 cm and a height of 2 m and above. To sample herbaceous vegetation in the forest floor, five smaller subplots of 1 m x 1 m = 1 m2 (four at the corner and one at the centre of the main plot) were established. The disturbance level was also determined using the cattle interference and selective cutting of trees. The appropriate allometric models were applied for both aboveground and belowground biomass estimations. The findings showed that cattle interference affects the forest understory from growing and recruitment. The mean of cattle interference was 4.77±2.12 per ha and the mean of wood stump was 26.67±9.37 per ha. The size class analysis showed that the smallest diameter class (2.5-10 cm) in the forests represented 37.05% of the total stem density. The diameter classes between 10 and 30 cm comprised a stem density of 41.08%. It was estimated that the total carbon stock of Biteyu forest was about 166.67 ± 16.4 ha-1. The carbon stock in AGB and BGB was estimated to be 87.13 ± 11.80 t ha-1 and 22.94 ± 2.84 t ha-1, respectively. Moreover, the contribution of soil and litter carbon pools to the total carbon in the forest ecosystem were 56.37 ± 1.73 and 0.26 ± 0.01 t ha-1 , respectively. From the present study it can be concluded that estimated mean carbon stock of the forest is smaller than that of other similar forests in the dry evergreen montane forest, which was attributed to the higher anthropogenic disturbances. Therefore, the interventions, which reduce the climate change effect, would be very important in the maintenance of forest ecosystem functioning.

Forest fire identification is important for forest resource protection. Effective monitoring of forest fires requires the deployment of multiple monitors with different viewpoints, while most traditional recognition models can only recognize images from a single source. By ignoring the information from images with different viewpoints, these models produce high rates of missed and false alarms. In this paper, we propose a graph neural network model based on the similarity of dynamic features of multi-view images to improve the accuracy of forest fire recognition. The input features of the nodes on the graph are converted into relational features of different gallery pairs by establishing pairs (nodes) representing different viewpoint images and gallery images. The new feature library relationship is used to update the image gallery with dynamic features in order to achieve the estimation of similarity between images and improve the image recognition rate of the model. In addition, to reduce the complexity of image pre-processing process and extract key features in images effectively, this paper also proposes a dynamic feature extraction method for fire regions based on image segment ability. By setting the threshold value of HSV color space, the fire region is segmented from the image, and the dynamic features of successive frames of the fire region are extracted. The experimental results show that, compared with the baseline method Resnet, this paper's method is more effective in identifying forest fires, and its recognition accuracy is improved by 2%. And the scheme of this paper can adapt to different forest fire scenes, with better generalization ability and anti-interference ability.

Surface activity of humic acid (HA) and its six sub-fractions isolated from forest soil were characterized by surface tension measurements, dynamic light scattering, and laser doppler electrophoresis. The surface tension of HA sub-fractions decreased from 72.4 mN·m-1 to 36.8 mN·m-1 with the increasing concentration from 0 to 20000 mg·L-1. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of HA and its sub-fractions ranged from 216 to 1024 mg·L-1 with the multiple linear regression equation of CMC = 18896–6.9×C–296×alkyl-C–331×aromatic-C–17019×H/C+4054×HB/HI (p < 0.05). The Z-average particle size ranges from 108.2 nm to 186.9 nm. The maximum particle size was 5000 nm after filtered with a membrane of 0.45 μm, indicating HA and its sub-fractions progressed self-assembly during 2000 mg·L-1, pH = 6.86. The number-base particle size distribution of HA sub-fractions was identified as four peaks by Gaussian model, and the aggregate sizes were mainly in six clusters including 2 ± 1 nm, 5 ± 2 nm, 10 ± 3 nm, 21 ± 8 nm, 40 ± 10 nm, and > 50 nm indicating multiple aggregations of different particle sizes in the HA fractions solution.

Net CO2 emissions and sequestration from European forests are the result of removal and growth of flora. To arrive at aggregated measurements of these processes at a country's level, local observations of increments and harvest rates are up-scaled to national forest areas. Each country releases these statistics through their individual National Forest Inventory using their particular definitions and methodologies. In addition, five international processes deal with the harmonization and comparability of such forest datasets in Europe, namely the IPCC, SOEF, FAOSTAT, HPFFRE, FRA (definitions follow in the article). In this study, we retrieved living biomass dynamics from each of these sources for 27 European Union member states. To demonstrate the reproducibility of our method, we release an open source python package that allows for automated data retrieval and analysis, as new data becomes available. The comparison of the published values shows discrepancies in the magnitude of forest biomass changes for several countries. In some cases, the direction of these changes also differ between sources. The scarcity of the data provided, along with the low spatial resolution, forbids the creation or calibration of a pan-European forest dynamics model, which could ultimately be used to simulate future scenarios and support policy decisions. To attain these goals, an improvement in forest data availability and harmonization is needed.

Forest healing effects are increasingly valued for their contribution to human psychological and physiological health, motivating further advances aimed at improving the knowledge of the relevant forest resources. Biogenic volatile organic compounds, emitted by the plants and accumulating in the forest atmosphere, are essential contributors to the forest healing effects, and represent the focus of this study. Using a photoionization detector, we investigated the high frequency variability, in time and space, of the concentration of total volatile organic compounds, on a hilly site, as well as along forest paths and long hiking trails on Italian northern Apennines. The scale of concentration variability was found to be comparable to absolute concentration levels, within time scales of less than one hour, and spatial scales of several hundred meters. During daylight hours, the concentration peaked from noon to early afternoon, followed by early morning, with lowest levels in late afternoon. Based on a conceptual model, these results were related to meteorological variables, including the atmospheric vertical stability profile. Moreover, preliminary evidence pointed to higher concentration of volatile organic compounds in forests dominated by conifer trees, in comparison with pure beech forests.

We propose a new estimator for creating expansion factors for survey plots in the USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis program. This is a regularized version of the raking estimator widely used in sample surveys. The regularized raking method differs from other predictive modeling methods for integrating survey and ancillary data in that it produces a single set of expansion factors that can have general purpose use to produce small area estimates and wall-to-wall maps of any plot characteristic. This method also differs from other more widely used survey techniques, such of GREG estimation, in that it is guaranteed to produce positive expansion factors. We extend the previous method here to include cross-validation, and provide a comparison to expansion factors between the regularized raking and ridge GREG survey calibration.

1) Background: We analyzed the size structure, richness and diversity in eight permanent forest plots in the upper limit of the great Amazon basin located in the Ecuadorian parts of Cordilleras del Cóndor and Cutucú. Our hypothesis was that not all the forests of the eastern mountain ranges are homogeneous in characteristics, but rather present differences in their structure, richness and floristic diversity. In order to test this, our main objective was to classify the types of forests based on characteristics in diametric structure and species composition of the Amazonian forests of the eastern cordilleras in southern Ecuador, and also to determine the influence of critical edaphic-environmental and geomorphological factors. 2) Methods: Eight one-hectare permanent plots were installed in homogeneous and well-conserved forest stands. Four plots were located in the province of Zamora Chinchipe and four in the province of Morona Santiago. We identified and measured all trees> 10 cm at diameter breast height. For each plot, soil samples were taken, along with environmental and slope data. The multidimensional non-metric adjusted scaling (NMDS) was used to evaluate changes in climatic and geomorphological gradients. The relationship between the composition of the species at the plot level and the edaphoclimatic variables was tested using a canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Finally, we modeled the change in species diversity (Fisher's alpha) in relation to the climatic gradients, altitudinal and geomorphological using a GLMM. 3) Results: Overall, we identified 517 species belonging to 76 families. We determined the existence of two different types of forest, the first one named Terra Firme, characterized by the presence of a larger number of species and individuals per plot, compared to the second type of forest, called Tepuy or Sandstones forest. Species richness was negatively correlated with soil phosphorus content and pH, mean annual temperature, annual precipitation and altitude. The CCA analysis showed differences in the species composition between the Terra Firme and Sandstone forests. The climatic seasonality and the concentration of cations in the soil influence the diversity of the Amazon forest communities of the southeastern cordilleras. The forests of Terra Firme, which are settled in more stable and nutrient-rich climatic areas, were more diverse. Sandstone forests are poor in nutrients and develop in areas with stronger seasonality

The research objectives was to determine the plants vegetation profile in forest revegetation and Mount Arjuna springs. The method used was descriptive method. While based on the techniques and tools used to research, the author uses the survey method to obtain facts that occur in the research area, namely in the area around the springs of Arjuna mount, Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia. Data obtained in the field are then processed and analyzed using GIS, ArcView 3.3 and Google Earth programs. The results of the study explain the profile of plant vegetation, namely plant stratification, bird wealth, taxonomic wealth and plant density have a significant effect on forest revegetation and springs in Arjuna mount. The forest vegetation profile has a positive and significant effect on the preservation of springs. The better the profile of forest vegetation, the preservation of springs will be better, and vice versa.

Regarding number of vehicles, forest roads are characterized by low traffic intensity, but on the other hand great values of ground pressure between wheels of timber truck units and forest road surface occur, often with pressures values above 80 kN which additionally causes damage of the upper and lower forest road layer. There are currently several methods for assessing condition of a forest road surface which are mainly used for assessing state of public roads, but can be used in forestry as well. Assessing condition of forest road surface was done by measuring vibrations with a specially developed software for Android OS installed on a Huawei MediaPad 7 Lite. Software measured vibrations in all three axes, coordinates of device, speed of the vehicle and time. Aim of this research was to determine accuracy of collected data so that this method can be used for scientific and practical purposes. Research was carried out on the segment of a forest road during driving a vehicle equipped with a measuring device. Tests were performed in both driving direction of the forest road segment with different measuring frequencies, tyre inflation pressures and driving speeds. Values of vibrations were classified and translated on a map of forest road together with devices’ measured coordinates. Vibration values were compared with places of recorded forest road surface damages. Research results show no significant difference in vibration values between 1 Hz and 10 Hz of measurement frequencies. Based on the analysis of collected data and obtained results, it is clear that it is possible to assess the condition of a forest road surface by measuring vibrations. The greatest values of vibrations were recorded on the most damaged parts of the forest road. Vibrations do not depend on tyre inflation pressure, but ranges of vibrations are decreasing with decreasing driving speed. Accuracy of collected data depends on GPS signal quality, so it is recommended that each segment of forest road is recorded twice so that location of damages on forest road can be confirmed with certainty.

Forest canopy gaps are important for the ecosystem dynamics. Depending on tree species, small canopy openings might be also associated to intra-crown porosity and to space between crowns. Yet, little is known on the relationships between the fine-scaled pattern of canopy openings and biodiversity features. This research explored the possibility of i)- mapping forest canopy gaps from a very high resolution orthomosaic (10 cm), processed from a versatile imaging platform such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), ii)- to derive patch metrics that can be tested as covariates of variables of interest for forest biodiversity monitoring. This is attempted in a test area of 240 ha covered by temperate deciduous forest types in Central Italy and containing 50 forest inventory plots of about 530 m². Correlation and linear regression techniques were used to explore relationships between patch metrics and understorey (density, development and species diversity) or forest habitat biodiversity variables (density of micro-habitat bearing trees, vertical species profile, tree species diversity). The results revealed that small openings in the canopy cover (75% smaller than 7 m²) can be faithfully extracted from UAV RGB imagery, using the red band and contrast split segmentation. Highest correlations were observed in the mixed forest (beech and turkey oak), while beech forest had the poorest ones and turkey oak forest displayed intermediate results. Moderate to strong linear relationships were found between gap metrics and understorey variables in mixed forest type, with adjusted R² from linear regression ranging from 0.52 to 0.87. Equally good results, in the same forest types, were observed for forest habitat biodiversity variables (0.52<adjusted R²<0.79) with highest values found for density of trees with microhabitats and vertical species profile. In conclusion, this research highlights that UAV remote sensing can potentially provide covariate surfaces of variables of interest for forest biodiversity monitoring, conventionally collected in forest inventory plots. By integrating the two sources of data, these variables can be mapped over small forest areas with satisfactory levels of accuracy, at a much higher spatial resolution than would be possible by field-based forest inventory solely.

Forest certification is considered a viable market-based policy instrument to promote forest sustainability. It has an important role of play in meeting the objective of modern forestry development in China, which is to sustain ecological and environmental benefits of forests. To understand differences in attitudes, opinions, and interests in forest certification, this study segmented respondents of a landowner’s survey in Shandong, China based on their level of interest in participating in forest certification under different program requirements. Multivariate cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups: likely-, potential-, and unlikely-landowners. We further examined the heterogeneity of these groups in terms of their demographics, ownership characteristics, management objectives, and perceived benefits and challenges with adopting forest certification. The results suggested the necessity of differentiating landowners in formulating and designing specific motivation-based incentives and tailor outreach efforts and communication strategies to improve their interests in forest certification. Findings are useful and interesting to forest policymakers interested in promoting forest certification among landowners in China and other countries facing similar circumstances.

Rapid urbanization has changed the structure and function of natural ecosystems, especially the floodplain ecosystems in SE Asia. This paper describes the ecological structure of vegetation stands and the usefulness of satellite images to characterize a disturbed tropical urban forest located in the lower floodplain of the Chao Phraya River, Thailand. Nine representative plots were established in Bang Kachao peninsula in 4 tropical urban forest types: rehabilitation forest, home-garden agroforestry, mangrove and park. The correlation between NDVI and LAI obtained from satellite images and plant structure from field surveys were analyzed. The NDVI had the highest relationship with stand factors for the number of families, number of species, Shannon-Weiner’s diversity index and total basal area. The LAI had the highest correlation with total basal area, number of canopy layers, stand density and canopy density. Linear regression predicted the correlation between NDVI and LAI with stand factors as show above. The trend in NDVI and LAI reflected the urban forest type, being high in rehabilitation and mangrove forests, moderate in home-gardens and low in parks. Future urban planning of the Bang Kachao peninsula should focus on rehabilitation to increase the biodiversity and complexity of the urban forest.

A scenario-based approach to the impacts of land use and climate change can help in identifying future policy directions. This study models the impacts of different land use and climate change scenarios on the forest ecosystems of South Korea to identify national-scale forest policy options. Climatically suitable forest areas for 1,031 climate vulnerable plant species were identified for current time and for 2050. We calculated change in species richness under four climate projections. We built forest conversion models and created four 2050 forest scenarios: (1) forest loss continues at current rates; (2) similar loss, but with conservation in areas with suitable future climates; (3) a reduction of loss by 50%; and (4) a combination of preservation and overall reduction of loss by 50%. We then crossed the forest conversion models with the climate-driven change in species richness, and categorized current forest areas into four classes to offer forest policy alternatives. By deploying the scenarios which preserve climatically suitable forests, the average species richness where forests converting to other land uses reduced significantly. We suggest conserving forests with suitable climates for biodiversity conservation and the establishment of forest plantations targeted to areas where species richness will decline based on our results.

The purpose of this study was to systematically review forest therapy programs designed to decrease the level of depression among adults and subsequently identify the gaps in the literature. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The authors independently screened full-text articles from various databases using the following criteria: 1) intervention studies assessing the effects of forest therapy on depression in adults aged 18 years and over; 2) studies including at least one control group or condition; 3) been peer-reviewed; and 4) been published either in English or Korean before July 2016. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) measurement tool was used to assess the risk of bias in each trial. In the final sample, a total of 28 articles (English: 13, Korean: 15) were included in the present systematic review. This review concluded that forest therapy is one of the emerging and effective interventions for decreasing the level of depression in adults. However, the studies included in this review lacked methodological rigor. Future studies assessing the long-term effect of forest therapy on depression using rigorous study designs are needed.

To establish simulated micro-gravity conditions, biological organisms are placed on a simulated microgravity system, which primarily rotate in two or three dimensions and rely on slow sedimentation with latency to detect gravity. Fluid dynamics arise as a consequence of rotation of the chambers with in which the cells are filled. To minimize the effects of centrifugal forces, it is necessary to position the samples as close to the center of rotation as possible. Strong shear forces and velocities within the vessel can have an adverse impact on cells, making this a critical topic in cell biology. During experimental investigation, this specific phenomenon is not apparent, but numerical modelling readily illustrates and is not widely analyzed in literature's. Furthermore, bulk flask are frequently employed on random positioning machines (RPM), not merely because they demand a substantial quantity of reagents. The flask presented in the study can be easily developed and fitted in conventional cell culture plates containing medium and reagents similar to those used in ground experiments, thus allowing it to remain close to the center of rotation. In the present study, a series of fluid dynamics simulations are performed to examine the impact of shear forces within the microvessel presented under varying conditions using a foreign medium condition, and these results are compared with existing vessels by observing the effects of shear forces and maximum velocity zones.

We present results of the detected voltage distribution of a quantum random number generator based on the photonic integration of semiconductor laser, delay interferometer and photodetector. We find that the integrated system behaves as expected for random number generation from gain-switched laser sources. The biggest advantage is that only electrical connections are needed to operate the system without the need for tricky and expensive optical alignment to external circuitry. We supply results showing that random bit stream created from the random numbers passes the NISTS statistical test suite tests; thus demonstrating the feasibility to generate random number via quantum means at gigabit/s rates from a single photonic integrated circuit. The results are backed by numerical simulations.

Open-cell metallic foams used as catalyst supports exhibit excellent transport properties. In this work, a unique application of metallic foam, as pelletized catalyst in a packed bed reactor, is examined. By using a wall-segment Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) setup, parametric analyses are carried out to investigate the influence of foam morphologies (cell size ϕ=0.45-3 mm and porosity ε=0.55-0.95) and intrinsic conductivity on flow and heat transport characteristics in a slender packed bed (N=Ddp=6.78) made of cylindrical metallic foam pellets. The transport processes have been modeled using an extended version of conventional particle-resolved CFD, i.e., flow and energy in inter-particle spaces are fully resolved, whereas porous-media model is used for the effective transport processes inside highly-porous foam pellets. Simulation inputs include the processing parameters relevant to Steam Methane Reforming (SMR), analyzed for low (Rep~100) and high (Rep~5000) flow regimes. The effect of foam morphologies on packed beds has shown that the desired requirements contradict each other, i.e., increase in cell size and porosity favor the reduction in pressure drop, however lowering the heat transfer efficiency. A design study is also conducted to find the optimum foam morphology of a cylindrical foam pellet at higher Rep~5000, which yields ϕ = 0.45, ε = 0.8. Suitable correlations to predict the friction factor and the overall heat transfer coefficient in a foam packed bed have been presented, which considers the effect of different foam morphologies over a range of particle Reynolds number, 100≤Rep≤5000.

In this paper, a kind of single-walled carbon nanotube nonlinear model is developed, and the strongly nonlinear dynamic characteristics of such carbon nanotubes subjected to random magnetic field are studied. The nonlocal effect of microstructure is considered based on the theory of nonlocal elasticity. The natural frequency of the strongly nonlinear dynamic system is obtained by the energy function method, the drift coefficient and the diffusion coefficient are verified. The stationary probability density function of the system dynamic response is given and the fractal boundary of the safe basin is provided. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation show that stochastic resonance occurs when varying the random magnetic field intensity. The boundary of safe basin has fractal characteristics and the area of safe basin decreases when the intensity of the magnetic field permeability increases.

Object segmentation on remotely-sensed images: aerial (or very high resolution, VHS) images and satellite (or high resolution, HR) images, has been applied to many application domains, especially road extraction in which the segmented objects are served as a mandatory layer in geospatial databases. Several attempts in applying deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) to extract roads from remote sensing images have been made; however, the accuracy is still limited. In this paper, we present an enhanced DCNN framework specifically tailored for road extraction on remote sensing images by applying landscape metrics (LMs) and conditional random fields (CRFs). To improve DCNN, a modern activation function, called exponential linear unit (ELU), is employed in our network resulting in a higher number of and yet more accurate extracted roads. To further reduce falsely classified road objects, a solution based on an adoption of LMs is proposed. Finally, to sharpen the extracted roads, a CRF method is added to our framework. The experiments were conducted on Massachusetts road aerial imagery as well as THEOS satellite imagery data sets. The results showed that our proposed framework outperformed Segnet, the state-of-the-art object segmentation technique on any kinds of remote sensing imagery, in most of the cases in terms of precision, recall, and F1.

Background: The genetic variants identified by three large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of educational attainment were used to test a polygenic selection model. Methods: Average frequencies of alleles with positive effect (polygenic scores or PS) were compared across populations (N=26) using data from 1000 Genomes. A null model was created using frequencies of random SNPs. Results: Polygenic selection signal of educational attainment GWAS hits is high among a handful of SNPs within genomic regions replicated across GWAS publications. A polygenic score comprising 9 SNPs predicts population IQ (r=0.88), outperforming 99% of the polygenic scores obtained from sets of random SNPs (Monte Carlo p= 0.011). Its predictive power remains unaffected after controlling for spatial autocorrelation (Beta= 0.83). The largest polygenic score (161 SNPs) exhibits similar predictive power (Beta=0.8). Random polygenic scores are moderate predictors of population IQ (thanks to spatial autocorrelation), and their predictive power increases logarithmically with the number of SNPs, indicating an exponential reduction in noise. Conclusion: This study provides guidance for using GWAS hits together with random SNPs for testing polygenic selection using Monte Carlo simulations.

Smartphone-based fundus camera and telemedicine are an opportunity for accessing ocular health inequalities in underresourced areas. The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of retinal findings in a community in the Amazon and propose strategies to enhance ocular health. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a river side community. Retinal photos from the posterior pole and optic disc were captured using a portable fundus camera. All photos and data were analyzed remotely by a retina specialist. The final sample was 107 participants, aged 52±17. Retinal findings were detected in 37.4% (95%CI 28.7–46.8) of the sample, the three main retinal findings were epithelial changes (10.3%, 95%CI 5.6–17.1), chorioretinal scars (8.4%, 95%CI 4.2–14.8), and dry Age-related Macular Degeneration (7.5%, 95%CI 3.6–13.6). This study detected retinal alterations in similar prevalence of other underresourced areas. Telemedicine is an opportunity to address health inequities, especially in ophthalmology, through relatively low-cost portable devices, supporting clinical decisions in areas with low health access, however, maintaining assistance after implementation is a challenge. Enhancing medical education and training local non-specialized health professionals for risk assessment, device handling, and data base use is reasonable to ensure follow-up.

Grasping the spatial and temporal patterns of forest fires, along with the key factors that drive them and the ability to forecast such events accurately, is essential for the successful management of forests. In China's southern region, forest fires significantly endanger the ecological system, public safety, and economic well-being. Through the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and LightGBM (Light Gradient Boosting Machine) model, this study investigates the determinants of fire incidents and formulates a predictive model for forest fire occurrences, alongside a zoning strategy, within the Central-South area. The results indicate: (i) Spatially, fire points exhibit significant clustering and autocorrelation characteristics; (ii) The Central-South Forest Fire Prediction Model shows exceptional accuracy, reliability, and predictive power, with high performance metrics across training and validation sets, including over 85% accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores, along with AUC values above 89%, underscoring its efficacy in forecasting forest fires and distinguishing between fire events; (iii) Throughout the year, forest fire risks in the Central-South region of China vary by region and season, with risk spikes from March to May in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Hainan. From June to August, localized risks are observed in Heyuan and Huangshi, while from September to November, an increase in risk is noted in Guangdong (Meizhou, Heyuan, Shaoguan), Guangxi (Nanning, Hezhou, Yulin), and Hunan (Binzhou, Yongzhou, Hengyang) due to cooler, drier conditions and leaf litter accumulation. From December to February, the risk continues in specific areas across Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, and Hubei.

Non-timber forest Products (NTFPs) are a broad category of natural resources harvested from forests that do not involve cutting down trees for their wood or timber. NTFPs play a vital role in the livelihoods and economies of many rural communities, particularly in forest-dependent regions. Despite the benefits obtained from NTFPS, little is known about its potential to alleviate poverty in the local communities. The objective of this review is to comprehensively assess the potential of NTFP's contribution to poverty reduction within forest fringe communities. The study employed the systematic review method to delve into the multifaceted relationship between NTFPs and poverty alleviation. We followed the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses protocol (PRISM-P). In all, 58 research articles were reviewed. The results indicated that NTFPs hold significant promise as a tool for poverty alleviation. Globally, NTFPs have the potential to alleviate poverty and increase household incomes between 19% and 78% within forest fringe rural communities. In addition, the review indicated that countries in Africa and Asia depend highly on NTFPs and provide substantial amounts of income to the locals. However, the potential for NTFPs to reduce poverty is not uniform. It is highly contingent upon local ecological conditions, market accessibility, community involvement, and supporting policies and interventions. In conclusion, this systematic review demonstrates that NTFPs have a substantial role in poverty alleviation. This study underscores the need for continued research and targeted development initiatives to unlock the vast potential of NTFPs in addressing poverty challenges.

Carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations in wildfire plumes are easily measured from satellites. This gas can be used as a proxy for carbon dioxide. Forest fires play an important role in the carbon balance and in particular the CO balance. The most likely causes of mega-fires of 2003, 2012, 2021, and 2023 in the Northern hemisphere are heat waves and severe droughts associated with changes in general circulation. Here we analyze satellite data obtained by two different sounders, AIRS and TROPOMI. Different sensitivity to the lowest troposphere allows obtaining information about anthropogenic or pyrogenic contamination of the boundary layer. Shapes of areas polluted by mega-fires in 2019-2020 (Southeastern Australia) and 2021 (Central Siberia) coincide with the areas occupied by coal deposits. The Siberian Lena and Tunguska coal basins are the two largest coal fields in the world. In 2021, their combined area accounted for 90% of fire CO emission from the entire Russian Federation. So strong fires have not observed in this area before. Under- and sub-ground coal combustion may be included into the list of wildfire fuels, at least their role for ignition should be admitted. Further research is needed to assess the importance of coal fires to global climate.

Background: The mental state is important in the health/illness process. Including stress, depression and anxiety. Nature immersion therapies have been implemented as a valid method for reducing these disorders. The aim will evaluate the effect of forest intervention therapies on levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. Methods: We searched for randomized clinical trials related to stress, anxiety and depression levels. Risk of bias was assessed according to the guidelines of the Cochrane Handbook for International Systematic Reviews. Results: We identified and synthesized eight publications. Two studies for cortisol showed significant differences between the pre-test and post-test levels in the intervention groups. One study including Natural killer cells, that reported a significant decrease in the intervention group compared to the control group. Two studies used the Stress Response Inventory, indicated a significant reduction in stress levels in the intervention group compared to the control group. Regarding Restorative Out-come Scale, no significant differences were found. Three studies were selected for the evaluation of anxiety and depression levels according to the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Four studies used The Profile of Mood States scale; no significant difference was observed. Conclusions: There is limited evidence to recommend forest bathing for reducing these disorders.

Tropical forest and savanna biomes are pivotal in the functioning of the Earth system. Tropical forests are one of the largest terrestrial biosphere carbon pools, whereas savannas exchange carbon between the biosphere and atmosphere via frequent and extensive landscape fires. Both are biodiverse and under increasing threat due to land clearing and anthropogenic climate change. Reliable mapping of tropical forest and savanna is essential to provide understanding of how anthropogenic impacts are affecting the extent of these biomes. Using Google Maps satellite imagery, we manually classified 24,239 random points as forest, savanna, or anthropogenic landscapes within the tropics. Because fire and climate are correlated, we developed separate geospatial models to rank the importance of climate, topography, and human influence on vegetation present. This modelling confirmed that those areas with more fires had lower probabilities of tropical forest, that forest was most likely in areas with high mean annual rainfall with little seasonal variation in precipitation, and that anthropogenic factors disrupt this environmental predictability. We found there were environments where tropical forest and savanna were equally probable are geographically restricted. These relationships suggest that future drier climates projected under anthropogenic climate change, combined with clearing and burning that have reduced tropical forest extent to a subset of its theoretical distribution, will lead to irreversible loss of tropical forests. Our modelling provides global mapping that can be used track further changes to distribution of rainforests.

Various studies on the physical characteristics of the canopy gaps in tropical and subtropical regions but that in the mangrove swamp forest in Malaysia is little known. The objectives of this study are to assess the canopy gaps physical characteristics (size, form, direction), to assess the changes in soil physical characteristics and microenvionment in and around the canopy gaps. Five canopy gaps were selected formed by lightning strikes, gaps size and shapes were determined using the portable Global Positioning System and photographic images were analysed using ForestCrown. Result shows that canopy gap opening has increased the total light reaching the forest floor, changed the canopy gap microenvironment. Strong correlation between canopy opening percentage and temperature of gaps explains the changes of canopy gaps characteristics. These changes have contributed to new seedling germination, regeneration and maintaining the canopy gap dynamics.

In tropical Africa, forests and savannas are the two most widespread biomes and potentially represent alternative stable states with divergent species composition. A classic, but untested, hypothesis posited by White (1983) suggests that the transition zones between forests and savannas contain a floristically impoverished assemblage with few representatives from each biome. Further, the evolutionary dimension of diversity has received limited attention, despite its importance for understanding the biogeographic history of biomes. Here, we quantify species richness and several measures of evolutionary diversity in 1° grid cells, using c. 300K occurrence records of trees and shrubs combined with biome affiliation data for 3,125 species. We find that assemblages in transition zones hold fewer woody species than assemblages in forest and savanna zones, as posited by White. However, transition zones hold more phylogenetic diversity than expected given their species richness, whether one considers forest and savanna assemblages separately or together. We also show that the Congo basin forest has low levels of phylogenetic diversity given the number of species and highlight south-eastern African savannas as a centre of savanna woody species richness and phylogenetic diversity. Regions with high phylogenetic diversity given the number of both forest and savanna species were centred around the Dahomey Gap and Cameroon, mainly in transition zones. Overall, our study shows that even if floristically impoverished, transition zones lead to unexpectedly high evolutionary diversity, suggesting they are important centres of evolutionary innovation and diversification.

Browsing of wild ungulates can have profound effects on the structure and composition of forests. In the Swiss National Park, the density of wild ungulates including red deer (Cervus elaphus), ibex (Capra ibex), and chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) is exceptionally high due to strict protection and the absence of large predators. We examined count data of larch (Larix decidua), cembra pine (Pinus cembra), spruce (Picea abies), upright mountain pine (Pinus mugo subsp. uncinata), and mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) of four sampling years between 1991 and 2021 and modelled how different topographic and location factors affected the probability of browsing on saplings of larch, cembra pine, and spruce. Despite the high density of wild ungulates, the numbers of saplings and young trees increased over the past 30 years. The probability of browsing on saplings was highest for larch at a height of 10 – 40 cm and increased with increasing elevation. In our study area, open grasslands are mainly located above the tree line, which might explain the positive correlation between elevation and the probability of browsing. Other factors like exposition and slope, available food resources and disturbance by humans did not have clear effects on the probability of browsing.

Forests are a large reservoir of biodiversity on which riparian populations frequently rely. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are an important source of income for millions of people living in forest-adjacent communities. This study aims at characterizing the types and uses of NTFPs in order to determine whether their exploitation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is sustainable. Interviews and direct observation were carried out with NTFP stakeholders (harvesters, sellers, and consumers) in Kalonge, near the Kahuzi-Biega National Park. The results showed that 40 NTFPs of plant origin and 10 NTFPs of animal origin are commonly exploited and used in food and traditional medicine. The most common NTFP harvesting techniques are debarking, picking, digging up, felling, and wine extraction, which are all tailored to the plant part. A significant relationship (p-value&lt; 0.001) has been established between the types of NTFPs used and harvesting methods as well as between the types of NTFPs used and organs retrieved. NTFP products are mainly obtained from the natural forest KBNP but also in the woodland, trees grown outside of forest or through domestication. Their abundance, however, is hampered by the extraction of wood for charcoal, energy, and timber, as well as agricultural expansion. The supply of NTFPs is determined by the market demand for the products, the nature of the product, and the ease of disposal. The NTFPs value chain in Kalonge is important to the local economy, however exploitation of NTFP products remains uncontrolled and should be well managed to ensure sustainability.

Fossil-based emissions can be avoided through using wood in place of non-renewable raw materials as energy and materials. However, increasing wood harvest influences forest carbon stocks. This effect may reduce the overall climate benefit of wood use significantly but is widely overlooked. We carried out a systematic review of simulation studies and compared differences in forest carbon and amount of wood harvested between more and less intensive wood harvest scenarios for three different time perspectives; short (1-30 years), mid (31-70 years) and long (71-100 years). Out of more than 450 reviewed studies 44 provided adequate data. Our results show that increased harvesting reduced carbon stocks over 100 years in temperate and boreal forests roughly 1.6 (stdev 0.9) t_C per t_C harvested. The value proved to be robust when outliers explicitly influenced by other factors than change in harvest rate, such as increase in fertilization or forest area, were removed. Interestingly, no significant difference in carbon impacts was found for average values of boreal and temperate forests or between short and long time-horizons. However, impacts tend to be greatest in the mid-term. This carbon balance indicator that we estimated can be interpreted as carbon debit of wood harvest in forests. It is significant compared with the typical GHG credits in technosphere generated by avoiding fossil emissions in substitution and increase in carbon storage in harvested wood products, and should not be ignored. Our estimates provide default values that can directly be included in GHG balances of products or assessment of mitigation policies and measures related to wood use. However, more systematic scenarios and transparent data in which different factors influencing forest carbon stocks are separately studied are clearly required to provide better constrained estimates for specific forest types.

According to several evidence, forest environmental seems able to provide beneficial effects on functional and psychological parameters, related to cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory functions as well depression and anxiety. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a one-day forest walking in Selva di Castelfidardo (AN, Italy) on 37 participants aged 21-68, most of them living in either urban or suburban areas of large cities. We observed a statistically significant effect on sympathovagal balance by the means of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body temperature, skin temperature, skin conductance, HRV parameters (AVNN, SDNN, rMSSD, pNN50, LF, HF, LF/HF ratio), oxygen oximetry, PEF, FEV1. A significant difference was also detected on the Perceived Stress Scale responses (19.27 pre vs 13.81 post-immersion, p=<0,05; -28,3% variation). Our data contribute to increase the body of literature about the effect of forest walking, adding data on an Italian area qualified for forest bathing.

Current satellite remote sensing methods struggle to detect and map forest degradation, a critical issue as it is likely a major and growing source of carbon emissions and biodiveristy loss. TanDEM-X InSAR phase height (hϕ) is a promising variable for measuring forest disturbances, as it is closely related to mean canopy height, and thus should decrease if canopy trees are removed. However, previous research has focused on relatively flat terrain, despite the fact that much of the worlds’ remaining tropical forests are found in hilly areas, and this inevitably introduces artifacts in sideways imaging systems. In this paper, we find a relationship between hϕ and aboveground biomass change in four selectively logged plots in a hilly region of central Gabon. We show that minimising the level of multilooking in the interferometric processing chain strengthens this relationship, and that degradation estimates across steep slopes in the surrounding region are improved by selecting data from the most appropriate pass directions on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This shows that TanDEM-X InSAR can measure the magnitude of degradation, and that topographic effects can be mitigated if data from multiple SAR viewing geometries are available.

Despite the use of commercial forest carbon protocols (CFCPs) for more than two decades, claiming ~566 MMtCO₂e and a market value of ~USD $15.7 billion, comparative analysis of CFCP methodology and offset results is limited. In this study, five widely used biometric-based CFCPs are characterized, and common characteristics and differences are identified. CFCP claims of net forest carbon sequestration are compared with results of directly measured CO₂ by eddy covariance, a meteorological method integrating gross vertical fluxes of forest and soil carbon, and the only alternative non-biometric source of net forest carbon sequestration data available. We show here that CFCPs share a structural feature delimiting forest carbon values by zero-threshold carbon accounting (gC m^-2 ≤ 0), a pattern opposite to natural emissions of forest CO₂ exchange based on direct measurement and a fundamental biological constraint on net forest carbon storage (i.e., soil efflux, ecosystem respiration). Exclusion of forest CO₂ sources to the atmosphere precludes net carbon accounting, resulting in unavoidable over-crediting of CFCP project offsets. CFCP carbon results are significantly different from global forest CO₂ net ecosystem exchange population results (FluxNet2015 gC m^-2) at the 95% to 99.99% confidence levels, inferring an annual median error of ~247% (gC m^-2), consistent with over-crediting. Direct CO₂ measurement provides an urgently needed alternative method for commercial forest carbon products that has the potential to harmonize global markets and catalyze the role of forests in managing climate change through nature-based solutions.

Deforestation and forest degradation mostly caused by human interventions affects the capacity of forest ecosystem to provide ecosystem services and livelihood benefits. Forest Land Restoration (FLR) is an emerging concept which focuses on the improvement of ecosystem as well as livelihood of the people at the landscape level. Nepal has successfully recovered degraded forest land mainly from the hilly region through forest restoration initiatives especially community based forestry. However, the Terai region is still experiencing deforestation and forest degradation. This study navigated the gaps related to forest restoration in the existing policies and practices and revealed that the persistence of deforestation and forest degradation in Terai is a result of a complex socio-economic structure, limitation of government to implement appropriate management modality, unplanned infrastructure, and urban development. We suggest that forest restoration should focus on ecological and social wellbeing pathways at the landscape level, to reverse the trend of deforestation and forest degradation in the Terai regions of Nepal. The study provides a critical insight to the policy makers and practitioners of Nepal and other countries (with similar context) who are engaged in forest/ecosystem restoration enterprise.

Rubbish in a forest environment is a great threat to this ecosystem, but this threat may also apply to the lost benefits for visitors to the forest. Previous studies proved that forest areas have a positive effect on obtaining psychological relaxation in the people visiting them. However, it was not known whether this restorative experience could be disturbed in any way by the presence of an open dump in the forest. To check how the presence of a landfill affects the visitors, an experiment was planned in which the respondents observed a forest area with a landfill and a forest landscape without a landfill for 15 minutes (control). The respondents then assessed the landscape using the semantic differential method and the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS). An analysis of these observations showed that the presence of a landfill in the forest significantly changed the appreciation of the landscape by the respondents, the values of positive experiences decreased, and the negative experiences increased. Restorativeness was also reduced. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the presence of garbage in the forest may interrupt the restorative experience of its visitors.

Truffles contribute to crucial dynamics in the soil systems, being involved in plentiful ecological functions important for ecosystems. Despite this, the interactions between truffles and surrounding mycobiota remain unknown. Here, we aimed to shed light on how much truffle species could affect its surrounding soil mycobiota. Using traditional chemical analysis and Illumina ITS amplicon sequencing, we compared soil nutrients and mycobiota surrounding two truffle species: Tuber indicum (Ti) and T. pseudohimalayense (Tp) inhabit in the same Pinus armandii forest in southwestern China. Tp soil was more acidic and had higher nutrients (total C, N, P contents) than Ti soil. Fungal richness and diversity of truffle ascomata and surrounding soils were significantly higher in Tp than in Ti. Redundancy analysis showed relationships between soil fungal taxa and soil properties had changed from negative (Tp) to positive (Ti) and shifted from a moisture-driving (Tp) to a total N-driving (Ti). Overall, our results showed that the interactions between truffle and soil system had been altered with species variation, although the causative peculiarity of these associations needs to be further studied.

In this study, the decision-making process management of forest tending in the forestry business is decentralized, and forest tending decision-making activities at different points in time are integrated by decision makers at different geographical locations. The decision-making process was analyzed and optimized from a system perspective. Based on the optimized decision-making process, a forest tending business group decision support system (FTGDSS) was established. We first reviewed and discussed the characteristics and development of the forest tending business and forestry decision support system. Business Process Modeling Notation was used to draw a current state flow chart of the forest tending business, to identify and discover important decision points in the process of tending decision-making. We also analyzed the content and attributes of each decision point, and described the system structure, functional framework, knowledge base structure, and reasoning algorithm of FTGDSS in detail. Finally, FTGDSS was evaluated from the two dimensions of the technology adoption model. FTGDSS integrates different levels of time-space decision-making activities, historical tending data, business plans, decision-makers' management tendencies into the decision-making process and automatically extracts decision-making data from the forest business process management enterprise resource planning system (Smartforest) that improves the ease of use of the decision support system (DSS). It also improves the quality of forest tending decisions, and enables the DSS to better support multi-target management strategies.

The import and export of tree seed carries with it risks of inadvertent introduction of pests and pathogens to hitherto unaffected regions. Although trade in seed of specified trees is regulated, phytosanitary requirements for most tree species are minimal, even those related to the most important forest tree species in a given region. A better understanding of the microbiome associated with seed intended for commercial production or ornamental use, and their potential risk with the transport from the source origin of distributors, will help regulatory agencies implement measures to prevent new and emerging risks. In this study we used high throughput sequencing to show that highly diverse fungal communities were associated with seed of 14 different Pinus species obtained from seed banks (seed orchards) and retail sources (online distributors) in North America and Europe. Fungal diversity differed among the 23 seedlots tested. Community composition did not relate to the species of Pinus nor the country of origin. Assigned potential functions based on sequence identity using FUNGuild provided an overall understanding of the likely life strategies associated fungal OTUs. Of those sequences classified to a trophic level, 453 were plant pathogens, with the Dothideomycetes having the highest prevalence. The most common plant pathogens detected included Sydowia polyspora, Lasiodiplodia theobromae, Diplodia intermedia and Diplodia sapinea. The evidence presented here illustrates an urgent need for plant protection authorities, practitioners and the general public to recognize the potential risk of introducing harmful pathogens through innocent transport of seed.

Forest fire is a major ecological disaster, which has economic, social and environmental impacts on humans and also causes the loss of biodiversity. Forest officials issue the warnings to the public on the basis of fire danger index classes. There is no fire danger index for the country India due to the sparsely distributed meteorological stations. Previous studies suggest that Static Fire Danger Index (SFDI) as well as Dynamic Fire Danger Index (DFDI) have been derived from the satellite datasets. In this study, we have made an attempt to integrate both the Static and Dynamic fire danger indices and also used the Near Real Time (NRT) data sets that can be available for download through NASA FTP server after one hour of the satellite overpass. In this study, DFDI has been calculated from the MODIS Terra NRT Land Surface Temperature (MOD11_L2) and MODIS TERRA NRT surface reflectance MOD09. Finally, The Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) has been developed from the static and dynamic fire danger indices by the additive model and the overall accuracy was around 81.27%. Thus, the FFDI has been useful to predict the fire danger accurately and can be useful anywhere, where the meteorological stations are un-available.

In recent years, remote sensing technology has been widely used to predict forest stand parameters. In order to compare the effects of different features of remote sensing images and topographic information on the prediction of forest stand parameters, multivariate stepwise regression analysis method was used to build estimation models for important forest stand parameters by using textural and spectral features as well as topographic information of SPOT-5 satellite images in northeastern Heilongjiang Province in China as independent variables. The study results show that the optimal window to predict forest stand parameters using textural features of SPOT-5 satellite image is 9×9; the ability of textural features was better than that of spectral features in terms of predicting forest stand parameters; with the inclusion of topographic information, the accuracy of prediction of all models was improved, of which elevation has the most significant effect. The highest accuracy was achieved when predicting the stand volume (SV) (R²_adj=0.820), followed by basal area (BA) (R²_adj =0.778), accuracy of both above models exceeded 75%. The results show that models combined use of textural, spectral features and topographic information of SPOT-5 images have a good application prospect in predicting forest stand parameters.

Deadwood represents a source of nutrients, carbon and water for metabolism within forest ecosystem. Nutrients are mobilized due to the decomposition of wood, which is a long-term process that can be best studied by analysing environmental data on a temporary scale. Our study provides physico-temporal data on the downed logs of three major tree species in European temperate forests: Abies alba Mill., Fagus sylvatica L. and Picea abies (L.) Karst. Time since death was obtained using tree censuses (repeated for 40 years) and dendrochronology for each single downed log, the oldest being 75 years old. Standard laboratory methods were used for the determination of wood density and moisture changes. F. sylvatica was decomposed rapidly in the initial phase – mass loss was 50% during the 5 years after death, while A. alba and P. abies lost 13% and 16%, respectively. Downed logs of F. sylvatica contained 391 kg of water per m³, while these of P. abies 279 kg. A log-transformed linear model was created that shows the dependence of time since death on mass loss. According to the model, F. sylvatica had the shortest total decomposition time (39 years), followed by A. alba (58 years) and P. abies (86 years).

This paper aims to build up a preference function to evaluate the public benefits of the type of agricultural farming, biodiversity, water provisions, land use type, ecotourism modes, and a monetary attribute (environmental trust fund and willingness to contribute) associated with an ecosystem service and land use program in a forest park. This study used the choice experiments to build a random utility model, analyze the average preference for the above land use attributes based on the conditional logit and used a latent class model to test the resident’s heterogeneous preferences for land use planning in the forest park. We also estimated the welfare derived from various land use programs. The empirical result had shown that: (1) increasing organic farming area, maintaining the status quo of species biodiversity, increasing the surface water provision, increasing the area of custom flora, increasing the wetland area, and setting up an integrated framework for ecotourism increase the public’s preference for the land use program; (2) we found that farmer and non-farmer haven’t the same land use preferences; (3) the ecotourism development program incorporating biodiversity, organic farming, ethnobotany, and wetland area with integrated ecotourism are more preferred than other land use program scenarios.

Indirect imaging methods involve at least two steps, namely optical recording, and computational reconstruction. The optical recording process uses an optical modulator that transforms the light from the object into a typical intensity distribution. This distribution is numerically processed to reconstruct the object’s image corresponding to different spatial and spectral dimensions. There have been numerous optical modulation functions and reconstruction methods developed in the past years for different applications. In most cases, a compatible pair of optical modulation function and reconstruction method gives optimal performance. A new reconstruction method termed non-linear reconstruction (NLR) was developed in 2017 to reconstruct the object image in the case of optical scattering modulators. During the years, it was revealed that the NLR could reconstruct an object’s image modulated by an axicons, bifocal lenses and even exotic spiral diffractive elements, which generate deterministic optical fields. Apparently, NLR seems to be a universal reconstruction method for indirect imaging. In this review, the performance of NLR has been investigated for many deterministic and stochastic optical fields. Simulation and experimental results for different cases are presented and discussed.

The interpretation of land use and land cover (LULC) is an important issue in the fields of high-resolution remote sensing (RS) image processing and land resource management. Fully training a new or existing convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture for LULC classification requires a large amount of remote sensing images. Thus, fine-tuning a pre-trained CNN for LULC detection is required. To improve the classification accuracy for high resolution remote sensing images, it is necessary to use another feature descriptor and to adopt a classifier for post-processing. A fully connected conditional random fields (FC-CRF), to use the fine-tuned CNN layers, spectral features, and fully connected pairwise potentials, is proposed for image classification of high-resolution remote sensing images. First, an existing CNN model is adopted, and the parameters of CNN are fine-tuned by training datasets. Then, the probabilities of image pixels belong to each class type are calculated. Second, we consider the spectral features and digital surface model (DSM) and combined with a support vector machine (SVM) classifier, the probabilities belong to each LULC class type are determined. Combined with the probabilities achieved by the fine-tuned CNN, new feature descriptors are built. Finally, FC-CRF are introduced to produce the classification results, whereas the unary potentials are achieved by the new feature descriptors and SVM classifier, and the pairwise potentials are achieved by the three-band RS imagery and DSM. Experimental results show that the proposed classification scheme achieves good performance when the total accuracy is about 85%.

This article takes an approach to explaining the behavioral manifestations of the decision making in US companies’ offer of health insurance that is grounded not only on their cost minimizing behavior, but also in a humanness dimension based on the African concept of Ubuntu. In this way, we define an Ubuntu based Random Utility modeling framework, describing the choice process as a tripartite decision making, and implemented using a nationally representative random sample of 1,061 American companies from the Dunn and Bradstreet Business data, supplied by Survey Sampling International to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The results from the three sequentially implemented specifications showed that the relationship between management culture and health plan offering strategy is dependent on other relevant co-variates, which when left out, leads to the problem of omitted variables bias. However, when all variables are included but assumed to enter the relationship exogenously, this results in management culture not having any statistically significant effect on companies' decisions about scope of health plan offering. When the exogeneity assumption is relaxed through a recursively Bivariate Probit model, the system of two equations produces a highly significant management culture effect. In fact, in this later case we see that companies with groups and formal committee management culture are 1.58 times less likely to choose a multiple plan strategy over a single plan strategy, hence failing to show the more wholesome plan offering that would theoretically prevail under Ubuntu style management.

Forest resources are renewable,rational exploitation and utilization of forest resources are not only conducive to sustainable development of population, but also can obtain higher economic benefits. Based on actual timber harvesting problems,a combined harvesting model of timber and non-timber with nonlinear harvesting term was established.Firstly, using the qualitative theory of ordinary differential equations, the dynamic behavior of the model is studied, and the existence and stability of the equilibrium point of the model are proved .Secondly, the optimal control solution is obtained by using the optimal control theory.Finally, the optimal harvesting strategy of timber and non-timber products is given based on the numerical simulation results, which provides a certain theoretical basis for the sustainable development of forestry ecological economy.

The wellness economy has developed rapidly recently, particularly in wellness tourism. Wellness tourism transforms sustainable strategy through the availability of extended multi-actor engagement in service innovation to further the tourism experience. Therefore, when operating a wellness tourism destination, it is necessary to encourage multi-actor engagement in service innovation to achieve sustainable development. This paper introduces a mixed research method with the SWOT-AHP-QSPM, as it qualitatively analyzes the advantages, disadvantages, opportunities, and threats, constructs an evaluation index system, conducts quantitative analysis using the analytic hierarchy process, determines the index weight and weighted score, and calculate the sustainable development strategy, which is appropriate for wellness development of Chongqing Tea Mountain and Bamboo Forest National Forest Park. Purposive field surveys and personal interviews were conducted in Chongqing forest tourism destinations, involving 356 effective respondents. The research reveals that multi-actor engagement significantly enhances sustainable development. These findings bridge service innovation knowledge gaps and provide valuable insights for forest tourism destination management and sustainable policy strategies to elevate multi-actor engagement in forest sites.

The Australian tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) is home to approximately 18 percent of the nation’s total vascular plant species. Over the past century, human activity and industrial development have caused global climate changes, posing a severe and irreversible danger to the entire land-based ecosystem, and WTWHA is no exception. The current average annual temperature of WTWHA in FNQ is 24 °C. However, in the coming years (by 2030), the average annual temperature increase is estimated to be between 0.5 and 1.4 °C compared to the climate observed between 1986 and 2005. Looking further ahead to 2070, the anticipated temperature rise is projected to be between 1.0 and 3.2 °C, with the exact range depending on future emissions. We identified 84 plant species endemic to the WTWHA in FNQ, which are already experiencing climate change threats. Few of these plants are used in herbal medicines. This study comprehensively reviewed metabolomics studies conducted on these 84 plant species until now toward understanding their physiological and metabolomics responses to global climate change. This review also discusses: i) recent developments in plant metabolomics studies that can be applied to study and understand the interactions of wet tropical plants with climatic stress, ii) medicinal plants and isolated phytochemicals with structural diversity, and iii) reported biological activities of crude extracts and isolated compounds.

Since 2015, community forests have been promoted in Togo as an alternative to protected areas degradation and as a means of contributing to forest landscape restoration. The study focuses on the Nakpadjouak Community Forest (NCF) in Tami (Togo, West Africa) which contributes to community forests sustainable management. It aims in (i) mapping forest ecosystems and analysing their dynamic and (ii) characterizing the floristic diversity of the NCF. The ecosystems were mapped and their dynamic evaluated based on Google Earth images of 2014 and 2020. Floristic and forestry inventories were carried out using the transect technique in a sample of 20 plots of 50 m x 20 m. The NCF was made up mainly by wooded/shrub savannahs (95.37%) and croplands/fallow (4.63%) in 2014. These two land use types undergone changes over the 6 years prior to 2020. By 2020, the NCF had 3 land use types: wooded/shrub savannahs (77.59%), open forest/wooded savannahs (22.23%), and croplands/fallows (0.18%). A total of 89 plant species belonging to 70 genera and 28 families were recorded within the NCF. The dominant species are: Hetopogon contortus (L.) P.Beauv. and Combretum collinum Fresen. followed by Pteleopsis suberosa Engl. & Diels, Annona senegalensis Pers. The most common species are: Lannea acida A.Rich. s.l., A. senegalensis, Vitellaria paradoxa C.F.Gaertner subsp. paradoxa, C. collinum and Acacia dudgeonii Craib ex Holland. Due to its small area of just 40 hectares and its diverse plant life, this community forest of Savannahs Region is a significant biodiversity hotspot and warrants conservation efforts.

Woodland bat assemblages are usually structured in space by distance from the ground, water and obstacles, features often defining chiropteran hunting tactics. Consequently, bat species composition differs strongly among various habitats even within the same forest patch. However, when conducting local bat survey in Wolin National Park (WPN), we revealed unexpected uniformity in qualitative and quantitative structure of bat assemblages, based on mist netting and ultrasound recording. In total, 10 vespertilionid species were detected. In all methods and sampled habitats a single species, Pipistrellus pygmaeus, predominated, while no Barbastella barbastellus, an old forest specialist, was detected, despite the abundance of preferred daily roosts. We also reviewed literature for mist netted bat samples in four different habitats of lowland Polish forests. Samples usually clustered based on habitats and the same habitat classes often clustered very closely, despite representing geographically distant forests. The exception was WPN, where all four habitat classes formed a tightly packed cluster. We suppose that P. pygmaeus might act as a hyperabundant native species, a successful generalist that reduces the contribution of more specialized taxa in the assemblage. It probably benefits from both forest renaturation and anthropogenic cross-boundary subsidy, the latter including both roost availability and prey abundance.

The author attempts to reconstruct the climatic vicissitudes of the Mediterranean to explain why only broadly distributed Eurasian forest species have penetrated the Mediterranean peninsulas. He has carried out a bibliographic survey of the status of breeding forest birds in Italy over 15 decades (1872-2022) in order to establish an objective long-term trend (stable, increasing, decreasing, etc.). The number of breeding forest birds in Italy amounts to 61; their distribution, with a few exceptions, indicates that they are widespread in Eurasia, but only a small percentage of Eurasian forest species have colonized Italy and the other Mediterranean peninsulas, namely 49 in Iberian, 61 in Italian and 64 in Balkan peninsulas; a small percentage of them (between 10.9 and 14.3%) belongs to trans-Saharan migrants. The similarity between the forest species on the three peninsulas (Iberian, Italian and Balkan) results between 0.45 and 0.48, indicating a certain differ-ence in the overall fauna on the three territories. Not all species have penetrated southwards into the three peninsulas; for example, some that stopped in the Italian Alps have instead arrived to the forests of Greece, at a latitude corresponding to southern Italy, or species that in Italy stopped in the northern Apennines in the other two peninsulas have instead arrived far south. Iberian peninsula and the island of Corsica hold three endemic species among breeding forest birds, Italian and Balkan peninsulas have not endemic species. Overall, the Mediterranean presently hosts mainly neo-endemic taxa among forest bird species; the only paleo-endemics can be considered the three species of nuthatches living in Corsica, Algeria, and Turkey (other than Caucasus and the islet of Lesvos) and Le Vaillant’s woodpecker in the Maghreb (North Africa). Italian forests cover ca. 40% of land surface and since 1980’ are increasing, but 22% of them do not have a natural origin. However, it is difficult to know the true increase of forests, because some of them are fired every year. The presence of some ecologically demanding forest birds depends on the age of the trees, permanent open spaces and other characteristics at the edge of woodland.

Deforestation brings vast and detrimental impact on the environment, economy, and social aspects of community. Thus, it is important to assess and analyze deforestation to inform the decision maker that oversees issued policy and development strategies. The present study aims to characterize deforestation in Central Kalimantan between 2006 - 2020. Utilized land cover map issued by Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry, we analyzed the change in natural forest cover using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) to find the rate the trend, location, and land cover replacement of deforestation in Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The research found that during the period Central Kalimantan lost 1.5 million ha of natural forest with the rate of deforestation 117,000 ha/year. In general, the deforestation shown decrease trend and fluctuated during the period. Deforestation majority takes place at secondary swamp and dry forest that are located at south part of the island. Most of deforestation resulted shrubs, plantations, and agriculture land. The finding of this research could be used as a base to determine the target location for rehabilitation strategy and approach to prevent further deforestation.

Depression is considered a widespread mental health problem worldwide. Moreover, anxiety symptoms are very closely related to depression patients, and it is known that the coexistence rate of depression and anxiety diagnosed simultaneously is high. Treatment and preventive management of depression and anxiety are essential for public health. Forest healing is attracting attention as a form of low-cost preventive medicine that is safe and has no side effects. However, although the physiological and psychological effects have been scientifically proven, it is insufficient to reveal a direct relationship between forest healing and depression. This study investigated the benefits of an urban forest healing program on depression and anxiety symptoms of depressive disorders. We employed a randomized controlled trial design. Forty-seven depression patients were randomly divided into an urban forest healing program group and a control group. Measures included the Montgomery-Asberg depression rating scale (MADRS), the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaires. Our results revealed that the combination of general treatment and forest healing programs for patients with depression is more effective in improving depression and anxiety than routine treatment alone. We expect our work to serve as a starting point for more sophisticated research in discussing the availability of non-pharmacological treatments in forest healing.

Windthrow (i.e., trees broken and uprooted by wind) is a major natural disturbance in the Amazon. Images from medium-resolution optical satellites (mostly Landsat) combined with extensive field data have allowed researchers to assess patterns of tree mortality and monitor forest recovery over decades of subsequent succession in different regions. Although satellites with high spatial-resolution have become available for the Amazon in the last decade, they have not yet been employed for the mapping and quantification of windthrow tree-mortality. Here, we address how increasing the spatial resolution of satellites affects plot-to-landscape estimates of windthrow tree-mortality. We combined forest inventory data with Landsat 8 (30 m pixel), Sentinel 2 (10 m), and WorldView 2 (2 m) imagery over an old-growth forest in the Central Amazon that was disturbed by a single windthrow event in November/2015. Remote sensing estimates of tree mortality were produced with Spectral Mixture Analysis and analyzed together with forest inventory data using Generalized Linear Models. Windthrow tree-mortality measured in 3 transects (30 subplots) crossing the entire disturbance gradient was 26.9 ± 11.1% (mean ± 95% CI). Based on this ground truth, the three satellites produced reliable and statistically similar estimates (from 26.5% to 30.3% windthrow tree-mortality, p&lt;0.001). The mean-associated uncertainties decreased systematically with increasing spatial resolution (i.e., from Landsat 8 to Sentinel 2 and WorldView 2). However, the overall quality of fit of models showed the opposite pattern, which may reflect the influence of crown damage not accounted for in our field study, and fast-growing regeneration of leaf area. Among the satellites studied, Landsat 8 most accurately captured field observations of variations in tree mortality across the disturbance gradient (i.e., lower under- and/or overestimation from undisturbed to extremely damaged forest). Although satellites with high spatial-resolution can refine estimates of windthrow severity by allowing the quantification of individual tree damage and mortality, our results validate the reliability of Landsat imagery for assessing patterns of windthrow tree-mortality in dense and heterogeneous tropical forests. Although high-resolution imagery may improve estimates of tree damage and mortality, these should be validated using field data at compatible scales.

Tree ordinances can be an effective means of preserving urban forests in the face of development pressures. Despite this, they also have the potential to be divisive among the public - especially when applied to privately-owned land. In this study we surveyed 1,716 Florida urban residents to understand how they value regulation and management of the urban forest. Specifically, we asked about: tree protection ordinances, incentive programs to manage or plant trees, justification for tree removal, and development. Most respondents supported tree protections, even when applied to trees on their own property or when they had the potential to limit development activities. Additionally, there was limited support for removing healthy trees for development. Respondents supported the use of funds for urban forestry efforts – particularly at the local or state level.

Home-field advantage (HFA) encompasses all the processes leading to faster litter decomposition in the 'home' environment as compared to that of ‘away’ environments. To determine the occurrence of HFA in a forest and adjacent clear-cut, we set up a reciprocal litter decomposition experiment within the forest and clear-cut for two soil types (Cambisols and Gleysols) in temperate Germany. The forest was dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies), whereas forest regeneration of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) after clearcutting was encouraged. Our observation that Norway spruce decomposed faster than European beech in 70-yr-old spruce forest, was therefore most likely related to specialized litter-microbial interaction under existing spruce, and leading to a HFA. The ‘spruce’ microbial biome and soil conditions of original forest were then rapidly changed even after a short-term regeneration following clearcutting, resulting in faster beech decomposition also masking any HFA for spruce, particularly in moisture- and nutrient-deficient Cambisols. Divergence between forest and clear-cut in the Cambisol of their litter δ15N values beyond 9 months, implied litter N decomposition was only initially independent of soil and residual C status. We conclude that clearcutting modifies HFA and helps promote the establishment or regeneration of European beech in this and similar forest mountain upland areas.

Remote sensing/GIS techniques are a versatile tool for x-raying serial forest structural changes in retrospect. It would be impossible to evaluate past occurrences and changes in forest extents in past decades at Effan Forest Reserve without non-conventional means. Therefore, we adopted remote sensing technology using Landsat images to evaluate land-use change and degradation rates in the area with a view to ascertaining causal factors for possible minimization of forest degradation in Effan Forest Reserve. Land-use/land-cover changes were analyzed using USGS-Landsat TM and ETM images of 1987, 2002, 2014 and 2019. Field-data were collected using handheld GPS receiver and spatial statistical analyses were conducted using the ground control points (GCPs). For inventory data, a systematic sampling technique was adopted using ten 1.05 km-transects at 500 m intervals. A total of 50 sample plots of 50 × 50 m were used. All tree species with Dbh ≥10 cm were enumerated. Nineteen tree species in ten families were encountered with Vitellaria paradoxa as the most-frequently occurring species in the area. IUCN-listed endangered Pterocarpus erinaceus, hitherto abundant in the area, was rarely encountered during the survey, while Vitellaria paradoxa is gradually shrinking, going the relative abundance in the area. The result further showed that primary and secondary forests decreased considerably by 258.03 ha (46.72%) and 9.18 ha (3.63%), respectively, with a total forest loss of 50.3% in 32 years (8.4 hayr-1, 1.6% per annum). While forest plantation size doubled by 369.72 ha within the period. This is worrisome as the remaining fragmented forests appeared to be on the decline, except the riparian vegetation, due to inaccessibility to the riparian by loggers. It thus appeared that forest protection approaches were ineffective. Increased protection efforts could save this forest reserve, and the concerned authority should consider a focused-enrichment planting involving indigenous species for ecosystem-repair.

Accurately mapping individual tree species in densely forested environments is crucial to forest inventory. When considering only RGB images, this is a challenging task for many automatic photogrammetry processes. The main reason for that is the spectral similarity between species in RGB scenes, which can be a hindrance for most automatic methods. State-of-the-art deep learning methods could be capable of identifying tree species with an attractive cost, accuracy, and computational load in RGB images. This paper presents a deep learning-based approach to detect an important multi-use species of palm trees (Mauritia flexuosa; i.e., Buriti) on aerial RGB imagery. In South-America, this palm tree is essential for many indigenous and local communities because of its characteristics. The species is also a valuable indicator of water resources, which comes as a benefit for mapping its location. The method is based on a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to identify and geolocate singular tree species in a high-complexity forest environment, and considers the likelihood of every pixel in the image to be recognized as a possible tree by implementing a confidence map feature extraction. This study compares the performance of the proposed method against state-of-the-art object detection networks. For this, images from a dataset composed of 1,394 airborne scenes, where 5,334 palm-trees were manually labeled, were used. The results returned a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.75 trees and an F1-measure of 86.9%. These results are better than both Faster R-CNN and RetinaNet considering equal experiment conditions. The proposed network provided fast solutions to detect the palm trees, with a delivered image detection of 0.073 seconds and a standard deviation of 0.002 using the GPU. In conclusion, the method presented is efficient to deal with a high-density forest scenario and can accurately map the location of single species like the M flexuosa palm tree and may be useful for future frameworks.

Produced in many world’s countries at over 1 million tonne/year rate by extraction of certain woods and barks with boiling water, tannin is a class of high molecular weight biophenols increasingly used in a number of industries. This study offers a new bioeconomy insight into an old natural product that, we argument in this study, will play a crucial role in the development of the bioeconomy of forest regions. After providing an updated picture of key economic and production aspects, we show how flourishing research on tannin’s biological activity and technological applications has revealed many new properties which are likely to drive significant growth in demand in the near and mid-term future. The study concludes with selected recommendations for bioeconomy scholars and for policy-makers based in forest areas.

The forest transition – or forest-area transition – has been put forward as a land-use concept by A.S. Mather in 1992 (The forest transition. Area 24, 367-379), to describe the historical trend generally observed in the forest area of developed countries, embodied in a V-shaped curve of the forest area over time, and that may serve as a paradigm to understand and anticipate deforestation in the developing world. Well in line with a geographical approach to forests, forest transition has thus been defined as one-dimensional, forest area being the reference state variable. From a forestry perspective, the analysis appears to be reductive, as forests are described by many other state variables than area, including forest growing stock, composition in tree species, or stand structure. Whether the drivers of forest transition (population dynamics, economic modes of production and consciousness, as classified by Mather) also impact these other forest state variables in a general way thus comes forth as a logical issue.From a deductive analysis of forest transition drivers, and from forest trends brought to light in Europe, France, and at other places in the world, we here argue that the forest transition concept can be extended to a multi-dimensional space of forest attributes, characterized by typical ideal dynamics. Cumulative impacts onto forests and irreversible losses in forest biodiversity over a forest transition are hence highlighted. Global change, as a parallel consequence of countries’ developing process, further appears as one additional albeit less coupled dimension of forest transition, as it modifies forest productivity and vitality over time. Since forest ecosystem services and forest profitability primarily depend on such attributes, we argue that the extension of the forest transition concept has significance for land-use change and forest protection issues. A prospect on future changes in the forests of developed countries with the European space as a benchmark is finally proposed that leads to extend the temporal significance of forest transition. Though poorly described, returning forests on abandoned agricultural lands are significant, and deserve greater attention.

The construction of sustainable urban forests follows the principle that well-being in people is promoted when exposed to tree population. Facial expression is the direct representation of inner emotion that can be used to assess real-time perception in urban forests. The emergence and change of facial expressions for forest visitors are in an implicit process. The reserved character of oriental races strengthens the requirement for the accuracy to recognize expressions through instrument rating. In this study, a dataset was established with 2,886 randomly photographed faces from visitors in a constructed urban forest park and a promenade at summertime in Shenyang City at Northeast China. Six experts were invited to choose 160 photos in total with 20 images representing one of eight typical expressions as angry, contempt, disgusted, happy, neutral, sad, scared, and surprised emotions. The FireFACE ver. 3.0 software was used to test hit-ratio validation as the accuracy (ac.) to match machine-recognized photos with those identified by experts. According to Kruskal-Wallis test on the difference from averaged scores in 20 recently published papers, contempt (ac.=0.40%, P=0.0038) and scared (ac.=25.23%, P=0.0018) expressions cannot pass the validation test. Therefore, the FireFACE can be used as an instrument to analyze facial expression from oriental people in urban forests but contempt and scared expressions cannot be identified.

The increase in arrivals of new forest pests highlights the need for effective phytosanitary legislation and measures. This paper introduces legislation targeted at prevention and management of potential introductions of forest pests and pathogens. A summary is given on plant health regulations on a global and regional level with detailed information on the situation in the European Union (EU). The current and new European legislation is discussed and a particular focus is given on eradication and contingency plans for Fusarium circinatum.

Human leptospirosis cannot be investigated without studying zoonotic and environmental as-pects of the disease. The objectives of this study are to explore the abundance of Leptospira in dif-ferent climate zones of Sri Lanka and to describe the presence of Leptospira in same water source at different time points. First, water and soil samples were collected from whole-island, secondly, water sampling continued only in dry-zone, finally serial sampling of water from ten open wells was performed at five different time points. Quantitative PCR for water and metagenomic se-quencing for soil were used to detect Leptospira. In first component, 2 out of 12 water sites were positive and both are situated in wet-zone. Very small quantities of Genus Leptospira was detect-ed by metagenomic analysis of soil. Only 5 out of 26 samples were positive in the second compo-nent. Six, five, four, five, six wells were positive respectively in serial measurements of third component. All wells were positive at least one measurement while only one well was positive in all measurements. Closer to tank and higher distance from main road were significant risk fac-tors associated with well positivity. Presence of Leptospira seems not consistent indicating ran-dom abundance of Leptospira in natural environment.

Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen, a valuable Chinese herb in Yunnan Province, is susceptible to leaf spot caused by Boeremia linicola. Nonetheless, effective control methods against leaf spot in P. notoginseng are lacking. We surveyed understorey P. notoginseng bases in Lincang, Lancang, and Xundian, with incidence rate reaching 80% and an average disease index of 25 in severe cases. We found that pathogenic bacteria overwinter in infected leaves and soil, with conidia and conidiophores serving as the primary infection source. The strain B. linicola LYB-2 showed the best growth at 20°C and pH 5.0. We also screened control agents using the plate and face-off culture methods. Tetramycin exhibited 38.56–74.67% inhibition with an EC50 of 0.60 mg/L. Copper abietate showed 3.10–34.76% inhibition with an EC50 of 3,120.05 mg/L. Trichoderma atroviride and T. harzianum exhibited inhibition rates of 52.48% and 44.19%, respectively, while Bacillus subtilis reached 78.45%. Field tests demonstrated significant control effects with 20% copper abresinate, B. subtilis, T. virenceae BH-10 preparation, and 0.3% tetramycin, achieving 82.57%, 72.56%, 71.3%, and 70.2% inhibition, respectively. These findings support their eco-friendly use for preventing and controlling leaf spot disease in P. notoginseng forests; we provide vital scientific evidence for disease prediction and green control strategies.

Participatory landscape conservation is an innovative approach that weaves theory and practice to bridge the gap between theoretical models and practical applications. Intertropical regions as the case of Mexico face challenges to conciliate regional governability, social justice, and nature conservation. The State of Michoacan is one of these regions where the challenges exacerbate since nature conservation is last due to its ongoing territorial disputes. We implemented the participatory landscape conservation approach by creating a complementary form of protected areas with ongoing conflicts, drought conditions, and extreme poverty. We conducted participatory mapping and land cover/use analyses as main methodological tools to reach consensus among stakeholders. We integrated, macro, micro and social scales to provide sound arguments to integrate local, scholar and policy makers perceptions. The outcomes of the participatory mapping analyses were assessed. The present papers provide evidence of the positive outcome of using a Participatory Landscape Conservation to establish a Biosphere Reserve, safeguarding one of the most biologically diverse and delicate ecosystems consisting of seasonally dry tropical forests within a rather disputed region. We discussed the relevance of our findings and compared them to ongoing regional and global trends in the light of other forms of establishing protected areas.

The large areas being targeted for tropical forest restoration as part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration will have major consequences for the flow of water through landscapes. Whilst the prevailing mantra that ‘more forest implies less streamflow’ remains true in terms of annual water yields, we demonstrate that opportunities for increased tree cover to improve seasonal flow regimes of streams, particularly baseflows, are important. We discuss several potential positive feedbacks of forest restoration on hydrological processes at various scales, including ‘trade-offs’ between changes in vegetation water use and infiltration after foresting degraded land; the recovery of the capacity of vegetation to capture ‘occult’ precipitation in specific coastal and montane settings; and enhanced moisture recycling and transport at various scales. Modelled changes in baseflow after foresting all degraded land climatically capable of carrying forest in the tropics suggested a positive effect in 10% of the land. For an additional 8%, the effect was predicted to be about neutral (<2 mm/y). We conclude that a more positive narrative regarding the relationship between tropical forestation and water availability is justified. It is time for greater involvement of hydrologists and atmospheric scientists in the development and assessment of forest landscape restoration efforts.

Amidst nature's enchanting embrace, forests stand as revered guardians, safeguarding biodiversity and nurturing rural livelihoods. In this journey, a qualitative study takes flight, exploring the cherished perspectives of the community within Iligan City's rustic expanse in Iligan City, Philippines. Its purpose? To unveil the intricate dance between forest conservation efforts and local livelihood strategies, weaving a tapestry of understanding. Through heartfelt conversations and keen observations, a diverse ensemble of 30 participants shares their wisdom, as thematic analysis reveals its breathtaking hues. In this symphony of voices, the community's resounding admiration for forest conservation emerges, painting a vivid portrait of its ecological significance and cultural splendor. As the canvas unfolds, the participants unfurl the whispered secrets of forest benefits—the gentle preservation of water resources and the enchanting pathways to ecotourism. Yet, amidst this beauty, they tenderly acknowledge the delicate trade-offs, where access to resources finds limitations. And so, the forest emerges as a steadfast companion in their livelihood odyssey, bestowing subsistence resources, opportunities for fruitful endeavors, and a profound sense of cultural heritage. These heartfelt discoveries beckon us to embrace the wisdom of the community, intertwining local perspectives into the fabric of forest conservation strategies, and championing participatory approaches that resonate with shared hopes and dreams. This study bestows upon us precious insights, illuminating the path towards sustainable forest management—a harmonious union where conservation goals and the vibrant tapestry of local livelihood needs dance hand in hand. Overall, locals must heed the profound symphony woven by forests and livelihood, as policymakers and practitioners craft a future where nature's melodies echo in the hearts of all who call the forest their home.

Linear programming formulations of forest ecosystem management (FEM) problems proposed in the 60s have been adapted and improved upon over the years. Generating management alternatives for forest management planning is a key step in building these models. Global forests are diverse, and a variety of models have been developed to simulate management alternatives. Climate change has made forest management calculations even more complex, requiring flexibility, diverse parameters, models, and methods. Despite this complexity, consistent concepts can be applied in developing management alternatives for forest management planning. This work describes iGen, a flexible forest prescription generator that applies the AI technique Rule-Based System (AI-RBS). iGen projects the state and associated inputs and outputs for a set of management units using rules from its knowledge base. An Inference Engine uses the rules to simulate a set of prescriptions in a tree-like graph structure. Without needing IT specialists, forest managers can describe the potential development of their forest through variables, rules, formulas, functions, and procedures. A key feature of iGen is that it is not limited to, adapted to, or focused on any specific region, landscape, forest condition, projection method, or yield function. Instead, it aims to maximize generality, enabling it to address a broad range of FEM problems. This article introduces iGen, explaining its concepts, structure, and algorithms through two FEM problems: natural regeneration with shelterwood harvests and plantation/coppice. For data and iGen source programs, visit github.com/…/iGen.

The 2030 global agenda of the United Nations emphasizes peace, human rights, gender equality, partnership, and women's empowerment. It balances the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The SDG framework was designed to be integrated and indivisible, making the interconnections of 17 Goals and 169 Sustainable Development Goals Targets (SDTs) more complex that need extensive and intensive investigative research. Recent studies have increased on the interrelationships of SDGs, but none of these have focused on integrating Climate Change (CC), Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), and Information and Communication Technology (ICT), also known as CSI Nexus. This study aims to investigate and identify the 169 SDTs linked to CC, SFM, and ICT and assesses the significance of the relationships between these variables. The alignment of SDTs to CSI Nexus was identified through clustering and mapping techniques. The result argued that 56 SDTs are directly connected within CC+SFM+ICT, 16 within CC+SFM, one within SFM+ICT, and 51 within ICT+CC. Our result suggests that CC is significantly associated with SFM; however, ICT has no significant association with CC and SFM. It further asserts that the ICT and SFM have minimal influence on the SDG 2030 framework. The proposed CSI Nexus and SDTs Integration Framework was a science-informed guide for priority-setting, policy coherence, and decision-making supporting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. This study does not include interactions, network analysis and visualization, simulations, and modeling between SDG targets.

This paper compares the Medieval (ca. 400–1500 CE) dynamics of forests from low-mountain (Montcortès; ca. 1000 m a.s.l.) and high-mountain (Sant Maurici; 1900 m a.s.l.) areas of the Iberian Pyrenees, both of which experienced similar climatic forcing but different anthropogenic pressures. The main aim is to identify forest changes over time and associate them with the corresponding climatic and anthropogenic drivers (or synergies among them) to test how different forests at different elevations respond to external forcings. This could be useful to evaluate the hypothesis of general Pyrenean deforestation during the Middle Ages leading to present-day landscapes and to improve the background for forest conservation. The study uses palynological analysis of lake sediments, historical documents and paleoecological reconstructions based on pollen-independent proxies. The two sites studied showed different forest trajectories. The Montcortès area was subjected to intense human pressure during regional deforestation up to a maximum of ca. 1000 CE. Further forest recovery took place until the end of the Middle Ages due to a change in forest management, including the abandonment of slash-and-burn practices. Climatic shifts indirectly influenced forest trends by regulating human migrations and the resulting shifts in the type and intensity of forest exploitation. The highland Sant Maurici forests exhibited a remarkably long-standing constancy and an exceptional resilience to climatic shifts, which were unable to affect forest extension and composition, and to local human pressure, from which they rapidly recovered. The Montcortès and Sant Maurici records did not follow the rule of an irreversible forest clearing during the Middle Ages leading to present-day landscapes. The present Montcortès landscape was shaped after a Medieval forest recovery, a new Modern-Age deforestation and a further forest recovery during the last centuries. The Sant Maurici forests remained apparently untouched since the Bronze Age and were never cleared during the Middle Ages. The relevance of these findings for forest conservation is briefly addressed, and the need for the development of more high-resolution studies on Pyrenean forest dynamics is highlighted.

Achieving sustainable management of forests in China is becoming increasingly important with more awareness and realization of the importance of forests in environmental protection. Forest certification, a market-based instrument to promote sustainable forest management, has been recognized by many countries including China. While landowners’ perception and perspective regarding this voluntary program have been well-documented in literature, how to motivate and incentivize landowners to participate in forest certification remained under-studied questions. With the face-to-face survey of landowners in Shandong, China, this study analyzed landowners’ willingness to accept compensation for participating in forest certification. Results indicated that landowners average accepted compensation, in terms of increased timber price, was about RMB120 (~$17.2)/m3 to have their forests certified. Results from multiple regression showed that the level of such compensation required for certification adoption was influenced by ownership size, owners’ demographics, certification program requirements, as well as importance placed on timber sale. These findings would inform policy-makers in designing compensation-related polices and establish incentive-based mechanisms to motivate landowners participate in forest certification programs in China.

The natural vegetation study was conducted in Kafta-sheraro national park (KSNP) North, Ethiopia to explore floristic composition, structure and regeneration of woody species in the home of African elephant. In the park, the above information is not well documented which is necessary for conservation. Data were collected From August to December 2018. The vegetation data were collected from 161 quadrats of size 20m×20m, 5mx5m for shrub ̸ tree, sapling and seedling respectively. Individual trees and shrubs DBH >=2.5cm and height >=2m were measured using Tape meter and Clinometer respectively. DBH, frequency, density, basal area, and IVI were used for vegetation structure. A total of 70 woody species 46 (65.7%) trees, 18 (25.7%) shrubs and 6 (8.6%) tree ̸ shrub) were identified. The total basal area and density of 79.3 m2 ha-1, and 466 ±12.8 (S.E.) individuals ha-1 were calculated for 64 woody species. Fabaceae was the most dominant family occupied 16 species (23.0%) followed by Combretaceae 8 species (11.4%). Acacia mellifera and Combretum hartmannianum were the most dominant and frequent species. Abnormal patterns of selected woody species were dominantly identified. Regenerating status all the woody plant species was categorized as “Fair” (18.75%), “Poor” (7.81 %) and “None” (73.44%). However, there is good initiation for conservation of the park; still the vegetation of the park was threatened by firewood collection, charcoal production, fire, intensive farming, mining and over grazing. Therefore, the study area as the habitat for the population of the African elephant; the KSNP should be recommended the highest conservation priority and studied the soil seed bank of species having poor regeneration condition.

Soil proteases are involved in the transformation of organic matter and thus influence the nutrient turnover in the ecosystem. Phytohormones, similarly to proteases, are synthesized and secreted into the soil by fungi and microorganisms and regulating their activity in the rhizosphere. The aim of our work was to find out how the presence of auxins, cytokinins, ethephone and chlorocholine chloride affects the activity of native soil proteases at the spruce tree stand. Auxins stimulated the native proteolytic activity in the spruce tree stand. Synthetic auxins most stimulated the activity of 2-naphthoxyacetic acid and the naturally occurring auxins of indole-3-acetic acid in the organic horizon of the spruce forest. Cytokinins, ethephone and chlorocholine chloride inhibited the activity of native soil proteases in the spruce tree stand. The highest inhibitory effect was found in ethephone and chlorocholine chloride. Overall, the negative effect of phytohormones on the activity of the native proteolytic activity may slow down the decomposition of organic matter and thus make plant nutrition more difficult. The outcomes of our work assist with understanding of the effect of substances produced by the rhizosphere on the activity of soil microorganisms and the soil nitrogen cycle.

China historically exhibits spatial differentiation from population distribution to ecological or economic development, and the forest pest control work is an epitome of this tendency. In recent times, global warming, man-made monoculture tree plantations, increasing human population density and intensified international trade aggravate forest pest outbreaks. Although Chinese government has complied with the internationally recommended practices, few stones remain unturned due to existing differential regional imbalance of forest pest distribution and control abilities. Evidence shows that the high-income provinces in the south have taken advantage of economic and technological superiority, resulting in the adoption of more efficient pest-control measures. To the contrary, in economically underdeveloped provinces of the northwest, a paucity of financial support has led to serious threats of pest damage that almost mirrored the demarcations of the Hu Huanyong Line. In this paper, we propose introducing public-private partnership (PPP) model into forest pest control and combining the national strategies to enact regional prevention measures in order to break the current spatially differentiated trends in China.

This study compared the use of chip and slash to minimize the loss of sediment on newly constructed forest road slopes and investigated the annual amount of sediment loss on bare forest road slopes. A runoff block (sample field) was established for each of the four designated test sites (two cutslopes and two fillslopes). Each block had three runoff plots. One of the runoff plots was left empty for the control (CNT), while chip (C) and slash (S), respectively, were deposited in the other two. A total of 108 water samples were taken from the test sites and the amount of their suspended sediment calculated in the laboratory. As a result of this study, it was determined that the amount of soil loss in the control plots was about 1.26 times higher than in the slash plots and 2.21 times higher than in the chip plots. According to the results of variance analysis on the amounts of sediment, a statistically significant difference was found between the suspended sediment quantities transported on the road slopes (P <0.05). However, no statistically significant difference between the suspended sediment quantities transported in the plots and the other variables of aspect, gradient or road slope was revealed by the t-test (P >0.05).

1) Background: Neotropical montane forests represent one of the most diverse ecosystems; however, they are also the most threatened for deforestation. Our main goal is to evaluate the change in Basal Area (BA), Density and Species Composition of montane forests in the southern Ecuador and to determine the influence on some critical ecological and geomorphological factors. 2) Methods: One hundred thirty-two temporary plots of 400 m² each were installed; we identified and measured all trees> 10 cm DBH. We modeled species diversity (Fisher’s alpha) change in relation to climatic, elevational and geomorphological gradients with GLM and Kruskall-Wallis analyses. The change in composition was determined using Cluster Analyses (BIOENV analysis followed by a LINKTREE procedure). Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) was used to analyze changes across climatic and geomorphological gradients. Finally, we used SIMPER analysis to identify the species that contributed most to the dissimilarity among the different elevations. 3) Results: Formation of floristic groups was influenced by altitude, temperature and Isothermality; physiographic province, great landscape, geological landscape and lithology. Plots located in low hills have higher alpha diversity with respect to the high hills and dissected mountains. 4) Conclusions: The elevation is first hierarchical factor responsible of the division of structural and floristic groups. Plots located on the whitish tuff have a higher alpha value diversity compared with plots in andesitic tuffs. Wettest quarter (> 839 mm) and Isothermality (> 90.5) are the climatic factors that driven de floristic divisions.

In Africa, 80% of households in urban areas are food insecure and is coupled with a dramatically changing urban food culture towards increased consumption of sugary and fatty foods. Consequently, incidences of obesity and undernourishment in many African cities are becoming escalating. Urban and peri-urban forestry emerges as a complementary measure to contribute towards elimination of urban hunger and improved nutritional security. However, there is scanty knowledge about the composition, diversity and socioeconomic contributions of urban food trees in African cities and this hinders policy discussions integrating urban forestry into the food security discourse. This paper examines the diversity and composition of the urban forest and food trees of Accra and sheds light on perceptions of urbanites regarding food tree cultivation and availability in the city. Using a mixed methods approach, about 105 respondents in six neighbourhoods of Accra were interviewed while over 200 100-m2 plots were surveyed across five land use types. Twenty-two out of the 70 woody species in Accra are edible. The food tree abundance in the city is about half of the total number of trees enumerated. The species richness and abundance of the edible trees and all trees in the city were significantly different among land use types (p<0.0001) and neighbourhood types (p<0.0001). The diversity of food bearing tree species was much higher in the poorer neighbourhoods than in the wealthier neighbourhoods. Respondents in wealthier neighbourhoods indicated that tree and fruit tree cover of the city was generally low and showed greater interests in cultivating fruit trees and expanding urban forest cover than poorer neighbourhoods. These findings demonstrate the need for urban food policy reforms that integrate urban grown tree foods in the urban food system/culture.

The productivity of forests is often considered to be limited by the availability of phosphorus (P). Knowledge of the role of organic and inorganic P in humid subtropical forest soils is lacking. In this study, we used chemical fractionation and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to characterize the form of P and its distribution in undisturbed perhumid Chamaecyparis forest soils. The toposequence of transects was investigated for the humic layer from summit to footslope and lakeshore. The clay layer combined with a placic-like horizon in the subsoil may affect the distribution of soil P because both total P and organic P (Po) contents in all studied soils decreased with soil depth. In addition, Po content was negatively correlated with soil crystalline Fe oxide content, whereas inorganic P (Pi) content was positively correlated with soil crystalline Fe oxide content and slightly increased with soil depth. Thus, Pi may be mostly adsorbed by soil crystalline Fe oxides in the soils. Among all extractable P fractions, the NaOH-Po fraction appeared to be the major component, followed by NaHCO3-Po; the resin-P and HCl-Pi fractions were lowest. In addition, we found no typical trend for Pi and Po contents in soils with topographical change among the three sites. From the 31P-NMR spectra, the dominant Po form in soils from all study sites was monoesters with similar spectra. The 31P-NMR findings were basically consistent with those from chemical extraction. Soil formation processes may be the critical factor affecting the distribution of soil P. High precipitation and year-round high humidity may be important in the differentiation of the P species in this landscape.

Prescribed burning and other active forest management treatments have been proven to be essential for maintaining suitable habitat conditions for many wildlife species, including the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW). This study examines the perception of forest management treatments of recreation users participating in various activities (hunting, hiking/backpacking, camping, off-highway vehicle riding, and canoeing/kayaking) in terms of scenic beauty and recreation satisfaction. We used photographic images to capture various forest management treatments of different intensity levels and times after treatments, and assessed users’ perception of scenic beauty and recreation satisfaction. Results indicated variation among users participating in different recreation activities, but that good quality RCW habitat offered both higher scenic beauty and higher recreation satisfaction than poor quality habitat for most user groups. Finally, recreation satisfaction was statistically equal to perceived scenic beauty from both good and poor-quality RCW habitats for most of the user groups, thus suggesting the importance of scenic beauty on forest sites in determining recreation users’ attainment of visit satisfaction. Findings conclude that forest sites developed as good quality RCW habitat in the present state also offer quality experience to recreation users, thus supporting multi-objective forestry practices in public forests.

The paper aims at presenting the results obtained in the development of a system allowing the detection and monitoring of forest fires and the continuous comparison of their intensity when several events occur simultaneously, as usually happens in the European Mediterranean countries during the summer season. The system, called SFIDE (Satellite FIre DEtection), exploits a geostationary satellite sensor (SEVIRI on board of MSG satellite series). The algorithm was developed several years ago in the framework of a project (SIGRI) funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). This algorithm has been completely reviewed in order to enhance its efficiency by reducing false alarms rate preserving a high sensitivity. Due to the very low spatial resolution of SEVIRI images (4x4 km² at Mediterranean latitude) the sensitivity of the algorithm should be very high to detect even small fires. The improvement of the algorithm has been obtained by: introducing the sun elevation angle in the computation of the preliminary thresholds to identify potential thermal anomalies (hot spots), introducing a contextual analysis in the detection of clouds and in the detection of night-time fires. The results of the algorithm have been validated in the Sardinia region by using ground true data provided by the regional Corpo Forestale e di Vigilanza Ambientale (CFVA). A significant reduction of the commission error (less than 10%) has been obtained with respect to the previous version of the algorithm and also with respect to fire-detection algorithms based on low earth orbit satellites.

Today, non-expensive remote sensing (RS) data from different sensors and platforms can be obtained at short intervals and be used for assessing several kinds of forest characteristics at the level of plots, stands and landscapes. Methods such as composite estimation and data assimilation can be used for combining the different sources of information to obtain up-to-date and precise estimates of the characteristics of interest. In composite estimation a standard procedure is to assign weights to the different individual estimates inversely proportional to their variance. However, in case the estimates are correlated, the correlations must be considered in assigning weights or otherwise a composite estimator may be inefficient and its variance be underestimated. In this study we assessed the correlation of plot level estimates of forest characteristics from different RS datasets, between assessments using the same type of sensor as well as across different sensors. The RS data evaluated were SPOT-5 multispectral data, 3D airborne laser scanning data, and TanDEM-X interferometric radar data. Studies were made for plot level mean diameter, mean height, and growing stock volume. All data were acquired from a test site dominated by coniferous forest in southern Sweden. We found that the correlation between plot level estimates based on the same type of RS data were positive and strong, whereas the correlations between estimates using different sources of RS data were not as strong, and weaker for mean height than for mean diameter and volume. The implications of such correlations in composite estimation are demonstrated and it is discussed how correlations may affect results from data assimilation procedures.

State Forest Management Organizations (SFMOs) play a crucial role in the European forest sector, managing almost half the forests in the region. SFMOs are often managed for timber production only whereas, being publicly owned, they should play an important role in providing a vast range of public goods (e.g. soil protection, biodiversity conservation). Their management goals depend on the history and current conditions of the forest sector at a national level, as well as different challenges and the potential for development. Although there is a lack of knowledge about the current performance of SFMOs, there have been recent changes to their management goals and practices in response to the new demands expressed by society (e.g. transparency, social inclusion). The main purpose of this study is to analyse the current situation of SFMOs by clustering them according to indicators that reflect three pillars of the common understanding of sustainable forest management (SFM) concept. With the help of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we grouped countries according to common characteristics of the forest sector at the national level. Results show three main clusters of SFMOs in Europe. The first cluster has rather small but commercially-oriented forestry unit together with other business activities and a strong focus on public services. The second sees itself as the protector of public interest, rather than commercially-oriented organisations. The third is mainly profit-seeking. The existence of diverse SFMO clusters shows the possibility of different approaches for SFM with a focus on different goals (e.g. profit gaining, public service delivery).

Lumpy skin disease (LSD), caused by a virus within the Poxviridae family and Capripoxvirus genus, induces nodular skin lesions in cattle, spreading through direct contact and insect vectors, significantly affecting global cattle farming. Despite available vaccines, their effectiveness is limited by poor bioavailability and adverse effects. Our study aimed to identify potential inhibitors targeting LSD-associated DNA polymerase protein, selecting LSDV039 for further investigation through comprehensive analysis and computational methods. Virtual screening revealed rhein and taxifolin as potent binders among 380 phytocompounds, with respective affinities of -8.965 and -7.195 kcal/mol. Canagliflozin and tepotinib exhibited strong affinities (-9.858 and -8.856 kcal/mol) among 718 FDA-approved antiviral drugs. Molecular dynamics simulations of canagliflozin, tepotinib, rhein, and taxifolin highlighted taxifolin's superior stability and binding energy. Rhein displayed compactness in RMSD and RMSF but fluctuations in Rg and SASA, while canagliflozin demonstrated stability compared to tepotinib. The study highlights the promising potential of repurposed drugs and phytocompounds as LSD therapeutics. However, extensive validation through in-vitro, in-vivo, and clinical trials is crucial for their practical application.

Non-Linear Simulation by Harmonic Balance Techniques of Load Modulated Power Amplifier Driven by Random Modulated Signals. Comparison with measured results.

This paper has a twofold objective. The first aim is to present a comprehensive bibliographical analysis of journal articles and book chapters on fuzzy-random option pricing (FROP) over the WoS and SCOPUS databases. It follows PRISMA criteria and takes special care of developments in continuous time. Thus, we described the principal findings about the research streams, outlets and authors of this topic and lets us suggest further research. The second contribution is motivated by the fact that the bibliographical revision has identified a lack of developments on equilibrium models on the yield curve. This question motivates extending Vasicek’s yield curve equilibrium model to introduce fuzziness in the parameters that govern interest rate movements (speed of reversion, equilibrium short-term interest rate, and volatility). Likewise, this paper develops an empirical application on the term structure of fixed income public bonds with the highest credit rating in the Euro area.

This article challenges the notion of the randomness of mutations in eukaryotic cells by unveiling stress-induced human non-random genome editing mechanisms. To account for the existence of such mechanisms, I have developed molecular concepts of the cell environment and cell environmental stressors and, making use of a large quantity of published data, hypothesized the origin of some crucial biological leaps along the evolutionary path of life on Earth under the pressure of natural selection, in particular, 1) virus-cell mating as a primordial form of sexual recombination and symbiosis; 2) Lamarckian CRISPR-Cas systems; 3) eukaryotic gene development; 4) antiviral activity of retrotransposon-guided mutagenic enzymes and finally; 5) the exaptation of antiviral mutagenic mechanisms to stress-induced genome editing mechanisms directed at “hypertranscribed” endogenous genes. Genes transcribed at their maximum rate (hypertranscribed), yet still unable to meet new chronic environmental demands generated by “pollution”, are inadequate and generate more and more intronic retrotransposon transcripts. In this scenario, RNA-guided mutagenic enzymes (e.g. AID/APOBECs), which have been shown to bind to retrotransposon RNA-repetitive sequences, would be surgically targeted by intronic retrotransposons on opened chromatin regions of the same “hypertranscribed” genes. RNA-guided mutagenic enzymes may therefore “Lamarkianly” generate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and copy number variations (CNV), as well as transposon transposition and chromosomal translocations in the restricted areas of hyperfunctional and inadequate genes, leaving intact the rest of the genome. CNV and SNP of hypertranscribed genes may allow cells to surgically explore a new fitness scenario, which increases their adaptability to stressful environmental conditions. Like the mechanisms of immunoglobulin somatic hypermutation, non-random genome editing mechanisms may generate several cell mutants, and those codifying for the most environmentally-adequate proteins would have a survival advantage and would therefore be Darwinianly selected. Non-random genome editing mechanisms represent a link between environmental changes and biological novelty and plasticity, and provide a molecular basis to reconcile gene-centered and “ecological” views of evolution.

The wood-based panel industry is experiencing an excessive accumulation of solid residues from the production of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) panels and moldings. It is possible to create new MDF products with acceptable physical and mechanical properties by revaluing MDF residues. Additionally, those products’ thermal properties can be improved by incorporating phase change materials (PCMs). This study aims to develop a wood-based fiberboard made of MDF residues, capable of storing thermal energy. Two types of PCMs, two PCM ratios, and two types of adhesives were used to produce eight different types of panels. The vertical density profile, thickness swelling, water absorption, internal bond (IB), and static bending properties – modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) – were determined for each panel type. The specific heat of the panels was also determined. The results show the panels’ densities were greater than 700 kg/m3. Thickness swelling in water improved by 23% compared to the reference value of the control panel PCMs after PCM incorporation. The highest IB value was 1.30 MPa, which is almost three times the minimum required by regulation standards. The incorporation of PCMs reduced the panels’ bending properties compared to the properties of the control panels. Even though the values obtained are sufficient to comply with the minimum values set out in ANSI standard A208.2 with a MOE value of 2072.4 MPa and the values obtained are sufficient to comply with the minimum standards with a MOE value of 2072.4 MPa and a MOR value of 16.4 MPa. When microencapsulated PCM is used, the specific heat of the panels is increased by more than 100% over that of the control panels. This study develops a feasible alternative for using MDF residues: to create fiberboard that is capable of storing thermal energy and has adequate physical and mechanical properties.

Forests have multifunctional roles. They not only increase forest carbon sinks through afforestation and management, but also indirectly realize multiple benefits of "economy + ecology + society". Therefore, we construct a multiple output-benefit system of forest carbon sinks based on the development of forest carbon sinks in provinces of China. This system is also able to distinguish the importance of forest carbon sinks from other outputs. For the efficiency evaluation of multi-level output systems, this paper constructs a cross-evaluation model based on evidential reasoning method, the original efficiency information by conducting efficiency evaluation before information fusion. Further, the spillover effects and influencing factors of forest carbon sink efficiency are analyzed through a spatial regression model to explore the spatial characteristics of forest carbon sink efficiency in China. The results show that: (1) there is a large gap between the cross-efficiency levels of forest carbon sinks in various regions of China, with significant spatial correlation. For the perspective of direct output benefits, the cross-efficiency of the eastern region is higher, while the cross-efficiency of the northwestern region is lower; for the perspective of indirect output benefits, the cross-efficiency of the southeastern region is higher. (2) China's forest carbon sink has a significant positive spillover effect, and the indirect output cross-efficiency has a significant negative impact on the forest carbon sink in its own region. Further analyzing the impact of indirect output cross-efficiency, it is found that the cross-efficiency of the ecological dimension and the cross-efficiency of the social dimension have a significant negative impact on the forest carbon sink in its own region, and the economic dimension has a significant positive impact on the forest carbon sink in its own region. In conclusion, corresponding policy recommendations are proposed for the development of forest carbon sinks to promote the realization of the dual-carbon goal.

Increasing evidence supports the direct healing effects of forests, partly attributed to the exposure to plant-emitted monoterpenes available in the forest atmosphere. The potential benefits on respiratory functions from inhaling monoterpenes have gained attention, especially due to the global rise in respiratory diseases. This study involved 42 asthmatic adolescents attending a summer rehabilitation camp at an Altitude Pediatric Asthma Center within a densely forested area in the Eastern Italian Alps. Volatile organic compound measurements indicated a pristine atmosphere, enabling modeling of continuous hourly monoterpenes concentration. Monoterpene concentration exposure and total inhaled dose were assessed over a 14-day stay, during which spirometry, lung oscillometry, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide were measured. Statistically significant correlations were observed between modifications in lung function parameters among asthmatic adolescents and monoterpenes exposure. These findings suggest a potential localized airway effect specific to monoterpenes. This pilot cohort study might pave the way for further investigations into the therapeutic effects of forest monoterpenes on lung function tests, asthma, and the broader healing potential of forest environments.

Mangroves play an important role as a carbon sink and in mitigation of climate change. This study aimed to assess the anthropogenic activities, water and soil quality, mangrove diversity, and carbon sequestration potential of mangrove trees in the Kaingen River, Kawit, Cavite. The sampling period was conducted from November 2022 to March 2023 with the established three sampling sites. The DENR Administrative Order (DAO)- 2016-08 was used as a standard for water quality parameters, except for phosphates which used DAO-2021-19. The soil parameters were identified using the soil test kit from the Bureau of Soil and Water Management (BSWM) and at the BSWM laboratory. Mangrove species were identified using The Field Guide for Philippine Mangroves and were verified by experts. The carbon sequestration potential was obtained using an allometric equation for Southeast Asian mangroves. There are three mangrove species found in Kaingen Riverine such as Rhizophora mucronata, Avicennia alba, and Xylocarpus granatum. Based on species importance value Rhizophora mucronata is the dominant mangrove species. The result for carbon sequestration of each mangrove species showed that Rhizophora mucronata yielded the highest carbon stored (35.16 tC/ha) and carbon sequestered (128.92 tCO₂/ha). Among all the sampling sites, site 3 yielded the highest carbon stored (30.76 tC/ha) and carbon sequestered (112.81 tCO₂/ha) in Kaingen River. Overall, the results of the study showed that Kaingen River can potentially store carbon at 71.89 tC/ha and CO2 sequestered at 263.62 tCO₂/ha. This urges to practice conservation and protection measures for the mangroves forest of Kaingen River.

Forest damage has become more frequent in Europe in the last decades, and remote sensing offers a powerful tool for monitoring them rapidly and cost-effectively. A novel approach was developed to utilize high-resolution ESA Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and Google Earth Engine cloud computing. The processing, analysing, and visualization of vegetation and water index (NDVI, NDVIch, Z NDVI, EVI, NDWI) maps and charts derived from satellite images took place in the cloud to ensure the detection of forest disturbances in the Hungarian study site for the period 2017-2020. The index maps were classified to reveal forest disturbances, and the cloud-based method successfully showed drought and frost damage in the oak-dominated Nagyerdő forest of Debrecen. Differences in the reaction to damage between tree species were visible in the index values, therefore a Random Forest Machine Learning classifier was applied to show the spatial distribution of dominant species. Accuracy assessment was accomplished with confusion matrices that compared classified index maps to field-surveyed data, demonstrating 71% Total Accuracy for forest damage and 76% for tree species. Based on the results of this study and the resilience of Google Earth Engine, the presented method has the potential to be extended to monitor the entire Hungary.

Forest vegetation dynamics (succession and dominance) is an ecological phenomenon that is still difficult to characterize and integrate into management practices. In this study, the understanding of forest dynamics is explored based on Grime’s theoretical triangular model of plant adaptive strategies using the example of Lithuania’s forest ecosystems. The idea behind this is the hypothesis that forest dynamics is linked to natural selection as an evolutionary process that exhibits differential species responses to competition, stress, and disturbance. The aim of this study is to explore the adaptive relationships in hemi-boreal forests. Grime’s and Pierce’s secondary CSR strategies, which describe various equilibria between competitiveness (C), stress tolerance (S), and ruderalism (R), were considered to reflect four establishment and development adaptive specialization characteristics of forest tree species. As a result of the study, four types of tree functional groups were identified: stress-resistant ruderals, competitive stress-sensitive ruderals, ruderal stress-sensitive competitors, and stress-resistant competitors. Based on this, we propose that reforestation move away from single species regeneration by implementing the maintenance of these four types of functional groups. In conclusion, forest management must consider the existence of the established equilibria between plant competitiveness, stress tolerance, and ruderalism. The formal concepts presented in this article can serve as a guide for future relevant research and development of appropriate methods for studying real forests. This study is unique in that no previous work has linked forest dynamics and natural selection in the context of Lithuania’s forest ecosystems.

Indigenous knowledge is proven to be one of the foundations of sustainable land and marine management. While indigenous knowledge is acknowledged as of important factors on maintenance of biodiversity of the planet, it also ensures the sustenance of social and economic system of indigenous community. To facilitate the application of indigenous knowledge on management of customary forest in Indonesia, since 2012, the Government of Indonesia has been providing formal access for indigenous communities to their forests to maintain forest sustainability and to enhance the welfare of indigenous community. Nonetheless, the achievement of sustainable development goals in the scope of forest and conservation area management is threatened by various competing interests and power imbalance, which mostly leads to conversion of naturally vegetated area, as well as the inability of the community to integrate new economic opportunities to its institution. Moreover, the Government of Indonesia has not been regulating the involvement of indigenous community on the management of conservation area. Most importantly, such a program provides no reference on indigenous community, especially on the assessment of authenticity of indigenous community’s forest. Cultural space methodology may fill the aforementioned gaps. The methodology was developed based on the notion of cultural space and land administration, particularly the people-and-land/marine space relationship. Moreover, such a methodology was also constructed based on the experiences of agricultural and maritime communities in Indonesia on the administration of their territories. The methodology provides a procedure to convert information on the interrelation of indigenous community, its cultural space in forest and conservation area, and indigenous knowledge into geospatial information and data that represent the cultural space unit as a geographic feature. Therefore, such methodology may be utilised to assess the authenticity of a long-existing relationship between a community, especially an indigenous one, and its land, particularly that serves conservational function.

Successful fertilization treatments targeted to improve stand productivity while reducing operational complexities and cost depend on a clear understanding of soil nutrient availability under varying environmental conditions. Soil nutrient data collected from 154 forest sites throughout the Inland Northwest, USA were analyzed to examine soil nutrient characteristics on different geologic soil parent materials and to rank soil fertility. Results show that soil parent material explains significant differences in soil nutrient availability. Soils developed from volcanic rocks have the highest CEC and are relatively high in P, K, S, Mg, Cu, Ca, and B, but generally poor in N. Forest soils developed from plutonic rocks exhibit the lowest CEC and are low in N, S, K, Mg, Cu, and Ca, but higher in P. Some soils located on mixed glacial till are low only in K, Cu, Mg, and Ca, but many glacial soils are relatively rich in other nutrients, albeit the second lowest CEC. Soils developed from metasedimentary and sedimentary rocks are among those with lowest soil nutrient availability for P and B. Sulfur was found to have the highest concentrations in metasedimentary influenced soils and the least in sedimentary derived soils. Our results should be useful in designing site-specific fertilizer and nutrient management prescriptions for forest stands growing on soils developed from these major geologies within the Inland Northwest region of the United States.

Wildfires have continued to increase in frequency and severity in Southern California due in part to climate change. To gain a further understanding of microbial soil communities’ response to fire and functions that may enhance post-wildfire resilience, soil fungal and bacterial microbiomes were studied from different wildfire areas in the Gold Creek Preserve within the Angeles National Forest using 16S, FITS, 18S, 12S, PITS, and CO1 amplicon sequencing. Sequencing datasets from December 2020 and June 2021 samplings were analyzed using DNA Subway, ranacapa, stats, vcd, EZBioCloud, and mixomics. Significant differences were found among bacterial and fungal taxa associated with different fire areas in the Gold Creek Preserve. There was evidence of seasonal shifts in the alpha diversity of the bacterial communities. In the sparse partial least squares analysis, there were strong associations (r>0.8) between longitude, elevation, and a defined cluster of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs). The Chi-square test revealed differences in fungi:bacteria (F:B) proportions between different trails (p=2*10^-16). sPLS results focused on a cluster of Green Trail samples with high elevation and longitude. Analysis revealed the cluster included the post-fire pioneer fungi Pyronema, and Tremella. Chlorellales algae, and pathogenic Fusarium sequences were elevated. Bacterivorous Corallococcus, which secretes antimicrobials, and bacterivorous flagellate Spumella, were associated with the cluster. There was functional redundancy in clusters that were differently composed, but shared similar ecological functions. These results implied a set of traits for post fire resiliency. These included photo-autotrophy, mineralization of pyrolyzed organic matter and aromatic/oily compounds, pathogenicity and parasitism, antimicrobials, and N-metabolism.

This paper presents ensemble learning of multi-source satellite sensors dataset to obtain better predictive performance of the forest biomass. Spectral, spectral-indices, and spectral-textural features were generated from two optical satellite sensors, Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI). In addition, two radar satellite sensors, Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (CSAR), and Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS-2) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR-2) were utilized to generate backscattering and backscattering-textural features. The plot-wise above ground biomass data available from five forests in New England region were utilized. Ensemble learning of multi-source satellite sensors dataset was carried out by employing four machine learning regressors namely, Support Vector Machines (SVM), Random Forests (RF), Gradient Boosting (GB), and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP). A five-fold cross-validation method was used to evaluate predictive performance of the multi-source satellite sensors. The integration of multi-source satellite features, comprising of spectral, spectral-indices, backscattering, spectral-textural, and backscattering-textural information, through ensemble learning and cross-validation approach implemented in the research showed promising results (R² = 0.81, RMSE = 46.2 Mg/ha) for the estimation of plots-level forest biomass in New England region.

(1) Background: Most hemodialysis patients may experience physiological and psychological stress. Exposure to nature has been previously reported to reduce the measures of psychological and physiological stress, and immune function. This study aimed to investigate psychological and physiological effects of integrated indirect forest therapy on chronic renal failure patients undergoing hemodialysis. (2) Methods: As a quasi-experiment, this study employed a nonequivalent control group, repeated measurements, and a non-synchronized design. A total of 54 participants were included: 26 and 28 in the experimental and control groups, respectively. During hemodialysis, five types of forest therapy stimuli (visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and motor) were applied 3 times per week for 4 weeks during 15-minute sessions. (3) Results: Positive but not negative emotion measures differed between the groups after the intervention. Fatigue and physiological stress levels were significantly reduced in the experimental group, whereas no significant difference was found between the groups on the measures of psychological stress. Activation of both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems was similar in both groups, as was the number of natural killer cells. (4) Conclusion: Integrated indirect forest therapy may help increase positive emotions and reduce fatigue and stress levels during hemodialysis in patients with chronic renal failure.

The southern extent of the boreal forest in North America has experienced intensive human disturbance in the past decades. Among these, forest harvesting leads to the substantial loss of late-successional stands that include key habitat attributes for several avian species. The American Three-toed Woodpecker, Picoides dorsalis, is associated with continuous old spruce forests in the eastern part of its range. In this study, we assess the influence of habitat characteristics at different scales on the occupancy of American Three-toed Woodpecker in a heavily managed boreal landscape of northeastern Canada, and we inferred species occupancy at the regional scale. We conducted 185 playback stations over two breeding seasons and modelled the occupancy of the species while taking into account the probability of detection. American Three-toed Woodpecker occupancy was lower in stands with large areas recently clear-cut, and higher in landscapes with large extents of old-growth forest dominated by black spruce. At the regional scale, areas with high probability of occupancy were scarce and mostly within protected areas. Habitat requirements of the American Three-toed Woodpecker during the breeding season, coupled with over-all low occupancy rate in our study area, challenge its long-term sustainability in such heavily managed landscapes. Additionally, the scarcity of areas of high probability of occupancy in the region suggest that the ecological role of old forest outside protected areas could be compromised.

Background and Research Highlights: Despite all the concerns and initiatives, natural resources like forests, as well as biodiversity are decreasing at an alarming rate worldwide. Conservation is considered as one of the major tools to prevent such loss and rapid degradation. Evidence around the world shows the adverse effects of conservation laws and policies on indigenous peoples and other local communities. Objectives: This study was conducted in one of the forest-dependent communities situated in Sundarban (world’s largest mangrove forest) to understand the impact of conservation laws and policies on their livelihood. Materials and Methods: A qualitative methodology was designed to collect data, using focus group discussions and case study with community people, and individual interviews with the personnel from NGOs and relevant government departments. Findings: Strict conservation policies and restrictions in accessing forest resources made lives and livelihoods of the local community insecure and unstable, thus putting the community in a vulnerable situation. The had to leave their traditional mode of income and look for alternative livelihood options. Almost no evidence was found in relation to upkeeping their rights in conservation activities. Prohibited movement, provision of punishment for entering into the forest without proper permission and struggles in everyday life were some of the highlighted issues. They had no participation in conservation activities, management of alternative livelihood options, and even they were not sensitized before putting restrictions. Although they had a history of emotional and physical attachment with the forest, existing activities did not consider these issues. In addition, corruption and abuse of power by law enforcement agencies towards the local community intensified the sufferings. Conclusion: This study argues that the realization of human rights in conservation activities and the sensitization of the implementing stakeholders are prerequisites for ensuring the sustainability of both biodiversity and the affected people.