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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2022) | Viewed by 19771

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Susete Marques

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Forest Research Centre and Associate Laboratory Terra, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: forest management planning; fire management; multiple criteria decision analysis; ecosystem services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Emin Z. Başkent

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1. Department of Forest Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
2. Faculty of Forestry, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey
Interests: forest ecosystem management; ecosystem services; decision support systems; NWFP; operations research and geographical information science
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Dr. Brigite Botequim

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ForestWise-Collaborative Laboratory for Integrated Forest & Fire Management, Quinta de Prados, Campus da UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: fire-adapted silviculture; fire-modelling landscapes; fire management planning; ecosystem services assessment; forest disturbance dynamics; multicriteria optimization techniques; environmental stewardship in forest management; innovative solutions for resilient communities and territories; community-based burning efforts
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Dr. Karol Bot

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Forest Research Center, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: forest management planning; sustainable systems; computational learning; modelling and simulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forest ecosystem management or multiple-use forest management is multi-faceted providing opportunities to identify, quantify and integrate various ecosystem services into the planning for the wellbeing of society. Ecosystem services such as wood production, carbon sequestration, water production, soil conservation, habitat for biodiversity conservation, and aesthetic and recreation are commonly classified as provisioning, regulation, supporting, and cultural services. Management of multiple ecosystem services across a landscape has recently received substantial attention by researchers and practitioners. Both design and regulation of multiple ecosystem services with a decision support system based on a participatory approach are challenging research endeavors Plenty of research has been devoted to the study of various aspects of ecosystem services mainly to address economic, ecological, and sociocultural aspects of forest ecosystems and contribute to the creation of socio-economic opportunities, rural development, mitigating climate change effects, addressing soil and biodiversity conservation concerns, and creating carbon-neutral societies. Ample opportunities exist to unlock the full potential of multiple ecosystem services to create new knowledge and tools to optimize the sustainable provision and profitability of ecosystem services, fostering the development of legislative and participatory conditions for the integrated management of multiple ecosystem services. Thus, we encourage research endeavors involving the development of models, methods, processes, and decision support tools to address Inventory, Planning, Modeling, Mapping, Governance, Certification, and Marketing of ecosystem services to contribute to this Special Issue. Such an initiative will also contribute to the ecosystem services knowledge-base and to the strengthening of research strategies to support a full encapsulation of multiple ecosystem services in the framework of multiple uses of ecosystem services. Papers submitted for publication in this Special Issue will undergo a rigorous peer-review process with the aim of prompt and wide dissemination of research results and applications.

Dr. Susete Marques
Prof. Dr. Emin Z. Başkent
Dr. Brigite Botequim
Dr. Karol Bot
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

forest ecosystem management
multiple uses
ecosystem services
inventory and planning
modeling productivity
decision support system

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 5544 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Ecosystem Service Evaluation and Multi-Objective Management of Pinus massoniana Lamb. Plantations in Guangxi, China

by Rongjian Mo, Yongqi Wang, Shulong Dong, Jiangming Ma and Yanhua Mo

Forests 2023, 14(2), 213; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020213 - 22 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2517

Abstract

Research on forest ecosystem service (ES) assessments is currently a topic of much interest in forest ecology combined with geography. Forests are the mainstay of terrestrial ecosystems and provide a wide range of welfare supports for humans. Pinus massoniana (PM) Lamb. is a major silvicultural timber species in southern China and plays an important role in meeting domestic timber demand as well as providing ESs. The assessment of the ESs of PM plantation forests is beneficial for their sustainable management. In this study, we used the woody biomass method, the InVEST water content model and the USLE, a generalized soil loss equation model to assess the values of four Ess, including wood supply, carbon sequestration and oxygen release, water conservation, and soil conservation, in PM plantations in the Guangxi Paiyangshan Forest Farm, which is a national PM seed base. A spectral clustering method was used to identify the ecosystem service clusters (i.e., partitions) in the case study area, and certain strategies were provided for different partitions to form a management strategy for the sustainable management of PM plantation forest ecosystems. This study showed that the value of each ES per hectare in the northern tropical pine plantation, ranked from the largest to the smallest, was water conservation; carbon sequestration and oxygen release; wood supply; and soil conservation, with the values of the wood supply in addition to carbon sequestration and oxygen release per hectare increasing with the age of the plantation. Based on the different service characteristics within the service clusters, the northern tropical PM plantation area was divided into wood supply, ecological nourishment and ecological restoration areas, which can focus more on wood supply and ecological nourishment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple-Use and Ecosystem Services of Forests)

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12 pages, 3159 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Forest Conversion on Soil Ecosystem Services in Liuxihe National Forest Park, China

by Changwei Zhuang, Xiuyu Zhang, Yu Han, Mingang Dong and Weijie Chen

Forests 2022, 13(10), 1650; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13101650 - 9 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1986

Abstract

The transition from natural forest to plantations has increased dramatically in the past decades. Forest conversion will affect soil properties and thus soil ecosystem services. Based on soil indicators, we studied the differences of soil ecosystem services among three forest types in Liuxihe National Forest Park and analyzed the effects of conversion from natural forest to artificial forest on soil ecosystem services. The results showed that the soil carbon sequestration of evergreen broadleaf forest (EBF) was stronger, and the soil organic carbon density (36.43 ± 0.97 kg m⁻³) was significantly higher than that of moso bamboo forest (MBF) (25.46 ± 1.72 kg m⁻³) and sugar orange forest (SOF) (19.31 ± 2.68 kg m⁻³) in the 0–10 cm soil layer. The soil water conservation of MBF was higher, and its soil water content was significantly higher than that of EBF in the three soil layers, which was more than 20% higher than that of EBF. There was no significant difference in soil total nitrogen content among the three forest types, while the soil total phosphorus content of MBF and SOF was more than twice that of EBF. It is important to consider soil ecosystem services in forest protection and restoration in forest parks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple-Use and Ecosystem Services of Forests)

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13 pages, 3350 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

The Relationships of Supporting Services and Regulating Services in National Forest City

by Qiongrui Zhang, Linyishu Yang and Songjun Xu

Forests 2022, 13(9), 1368; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13091368 - 27 Aug 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1468

Abstract

The establishment of national forest city (NFC) is to regulate the urban climate and realize the integrated development of urban and rural areas. We explored the changes and relationships between ecosystem supporting services and regulating services before and after the construction of NFC in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration (PRD). InVEST and CASA models were used to evaluate five ecosystem services (ESs), and correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between ESs. The results showed that (1) Construction land increased significantly from 2005 to 2020, while cultivated land decreased the most, followed by woodland. (2) All ESs except NPP decreased from 2005 to 2020 in the PRD. (3) There was a synergistic relationship between supporting service and regulating service, and their internal services are positively correlated. This study proved the guaranteed effect of supporting services on regulating services, and we found that the construction of NFC can restrain the decline of ESs. Based on the above results, we proposed nature- based solutions for the development of forest cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple-Use and Ecosystem Services of Forests)

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17 pages, 3806 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental and Plant-Derived Controls on the Seasonality and Partitioning of Soil Respiration in an American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) Bioenergy Plantation Grown at Different Planting Densities

by Suna Morkoc, Maricar Aguilos, Asko Noormets, Kevan J. Minick, Omoyemeh Ile, David A. Dickey, Deanna Hardesty, Maccoy Kerrigan, Joshua Heitman and John King

Forests 2022, 13(8), 1286; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13081286 - 14 Aug 2022

Viewed by 1977

Abstract

Bioenergy is one of the most considered alternatives to fossil fuels. Short-rotation woody crops (SRWCs) as bioenergy sources are capable of alleviating energy constraints and sequestering atmospheric CO₂. However, studies investigating soil carbon (C) dynamics at SWRC plantations are scarce. We studied American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) as a model tree species for SRWC at different planting densities ((1) 0.5 × 2.0 m (10,000 trees·ha⁻¹ or tph), (2) 1.0 × 2.0 m (5000 tph), and (3) 2.0 × 2.0 m (2500 tph)) to examine seasonal variation in total soil respiration (R_total), partitioned into heterotrophic (R_h) and autotrophic (R_a) respiration, and we evaluated climatic and biological controls on soil respiration. R_total and R_h exhibited larger seasonal variation than R_a (p < 0.05). During the nongrowing seasons, the average R_total was 0.60 ± 0.21 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in winter and 1.41 ± 0.73 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in fall. During the growing season, R_total was 2–7 times higher in spring (3.49 ± 1.44 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹) and summer (4.01 ± 1.17 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹) than winter. Average R_total was 2.30 ± 0.63 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in 2500 tph, 2.43 ± 0.64 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in 5000 tph, and 2.41 ± 0.75 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in 10,000 tph treatments. Average R_h was 1.72 ± 0.40 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in 2500 tph, 1.57 ± 0.39 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in 5000 tph, and 1.93 ± 0.64 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in 10,000 tph, whereas R_a had the lowest rates, with 0.59 ± 0.53 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in 2500 tph, 0.86 ± 0.51 g·C·m⁻²·d⁻¹ in 5000 tph, and 0.48 ± 0.34 g·C·m⁻²·day⁻¹ in 10,000 tph treatments. R_h had a greater contribution to R_total (63%–80%) compared to R_a (20%–37%). Soil temperature was highly correlated to R_total (R² = 0.92) and R_h (R² = 0.77), while the correlation to R_a was weak (R² = 0.21). R_total, R_h, and R_a significantly declined with soil water content extremes (e.g., <20% or >50%). Total root biomass in winter (469 ± 127 g·C·m⁻²) was smaller than in summer (616 ± 161 g·C·m⁻²), and the relationship of total root biomass to R_total, R_h, and R_a was only significant during the growing seasons (R² = 0.12 to 0.50). The litterfall in 5000 tph (121 ± 16 g DW·m⁻²) did not differ (p > 0.05) from the 2500 tph (108 ± 16 g DW·m⁻²) or 10,000 tph (132 ± 16 g DW·m⁻²) treatments. In no circumstances were R_total, R_h, and R_a significantly correlated with litterfall amount across planting densities and seasons (p > 0.05). Overall, our results show that R_total in American sycamore SRWC is dominated by the heterotrophic component (R_h), is strongly correlated to soil environmental conditions, and can be minimized by planting at a certain tree density (5000 tph). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple-Use and Ecosystem Services of Forests)

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18 pages, 1820 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Establishing an Evaluation Framework for Endangered Species Conservation Preferences for the Eurasian Otter

by Yi-Hsing Lin, Chun-Hung Lee and Chun-Fu Hong

Forests 2022, 13(8), 1280; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13081280 - 12 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1978

Abstract

Wildlife conservation and management are critical issues that attract substantial attention. To develop a sustainable conservation project for the Kinmen Eurasian otter, the present study established a wildlife conservation framework and constructed a management program suitable for Kinmen Eurasian otter conservation based on the preferences of tourists and residents. The results of this study show that residents and tourists were not satisfied with the current status of Eurasian otter conservation in Kinmen and were willing to pay to change the status quo. Respondents preferred to maintain and artificially construct otter habitats, increase the otter population, limit traffic speed and establish underpasses, Kinmen Eurasian otter products, and educational parks. The findings of the market segmentation analysis divided respondents into two groups, passive conservationists and active conservationists. Both groups preferred protecting the Kinmen Eurasian otter to some extent. Passive conservationists, which included mostly residents and individuals with lower levels of education, lacked awareness of the Kinmen Eurasian otter and preferred to establish Kinmen Eurasian otter products and educational parks. Active conservationists were primarily tourists with higher levels of education who were familiar with the Kinmen Eurasian otter and had previously participated in Kinmen Eurasian otter conservation activities. These tourists preferred all conservation attributes and levels. Both groups of conservationists disliked the decline in the number of Eurasian otters in Kinmen. In addition to understanding respondents’ preferences for conservation strategies, these findings reveal the importance of promoting education about the Kinmen Eurasian otter. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple-Use and Ecosystem Services of Forests)

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19 pages, 8216 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Trends in Research on Forest Ecosystem Services in the Most Recent 20 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis

by Shiyou Chen, Jie Chen, Chunqian Jiang, Richard T. Yao, Jianming Xue, Yanfeng Bai, Hui Wang, Chunwu Jiang, Silong Wang, Yehui Zhong, En Liu, Lina Guo, Shoufang Lv and Shuren Wang

Forests 2022, 13(7), 1087; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13071087 - 11 Jul 2022

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 5380

Abstract

Forest resources and the flow of ecosystem services they provide play a key role in supporting national and regional economies, improving people’s lives, protecting biodiversity, and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Based on the ISI (Institute of Scientific Information) Web of Science (WoS) database, we used a bibliometric approach to analyze the research status, evolution process, and hotspots of forest ecosystem services (FES) from a compilation of 8797 documents published between 1997 and 2019. The results indicated that: (1) research on forest ecosystem services has developed rapidly over the past 23 years. Institutions in the United States and other developed countries have significantly contributed to undertake research on the topic of ecosystem services. (2) The 11 hotpot key focus areas of completed research were payments for ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, forest governance, ecosystem approaches, climate change, nitrogen, ecosystem management, pollination, cities, ecological restoration, and policy. (3) The trade-off relationships among ecosystem services, ecosystem resilience and stability have become the research frontier in this field. (4) Future research on FES will likely focus on the formation and evolution mechanism of ecosystem services; the interaction, feedback and intrinsic connections of ecosystem services at different scales; analysis of the trade-offs and synergies; unified evaluation standards, evaluation systems, model construction and scenario analyses; in-depth studies of the internal correlation mechanism between forest ecosystem services and human wellbeing; and realization of cross-disciplinary and multi-method integration in sustainable forest management and decision-making. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple-Use and Ecosystem Services of Forests)

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20 pages, 4445 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

An Ecological-Economic Approach to Assess Impacts of the Expansion of Eucalyptus Plantations in Agroforest Landscapes of Northern Ethiopia

by Dagm Abate, José G. Borges, Susete Marques and Vladimir Bushenkov

Forests 2022, 13(5), 686; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13050686 - 28 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3334

Abstract

The conversion of fertile croplands to Eucalyptus woodlots in Ethiopian highlands, due to its business attractiveness to smallholders, raises concerns related to food production, water resources, carbon and other ecosystem services. This study was therefore designed to examine land allocation and plantation management decisions. Our emphasis was on the analysis of tradeoffs between the economic gains obtained from harvesting Eucalyptus timber and food production, carbon and water use. For that purpose, we considered a 1987 ha agroforest landscape in the Amhara region, Northern Ethiopia. With a planning horizon covering nine one-year periods, we developed and used nine Model I single objective linear programming (LP) models, and analyzed tradeoffs between objectives (e.g., land expectation value (LEV), Carbon, volume of ending inventory (VolEI), crop production and water use) using an LP-based Pareto frontier approach. The study revealed that the objective of maximizing the total economic gain from the sale of Eucalyptus wood poles favored a complete conversion of the available cropland into Eucalyptus woodlots. To meet the minimum annual crop production/consumption/requirements of households in the study area, the land under Eucalyptus should be limited to 1772 ha, with a sequestration potential of 1.5 to 1.57 × 10⁷ kg yr⁻¹ of carbon in the aboveground biomass. However, this land cover limit should be decreased to 921 ha so as to limit the total annual water use (for biomass production) below the amount available from rainfall (11,000 m³ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). Moreover, the study highlighted that maximizing the harvested wood volume or LEV would come at the cost of a decreased aboveground carbon stock and volume of ending inventory and higher total water use. It also provided alternative optimal Pareto-front points, among which decision makers will be able to select their preferred targets. The current study also showed the potential for the application of Pareto frontier approaches to support the development of effective ecological/economic management strategies and the design of land use policies in an Ethiopian context. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple-Use and Ecosystem Services of Forests)

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