Forest Restoration and Secondary Succession—Series II

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 July 2024) | Viewed by 3609

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Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 49, 23053 Alnarp, Sweden
Interests: regeneration; seedling physiology; light quality and quantity; seedling nutrition; seedling ecology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Deforestation and forest degradation have been commonplace in many parts of the world. These challenges are being caused by fire, storms, logging, forest pests, and conversion of land to other use types. Cognizant of losses in biodiversity, ecosystem services, land productivity, and climate regulation due to deforestation and forest degradation, several initiatives have been launched to restore degraded landscapes, such as the “Bonne Challenge”. The successes and failures of these forest restoration initiatives need to be better understood, as there is no one-model-fits-all approach to conservation. Equally, the factors that influence secondary succession, alongside the ways by which secondary succession could be expedited, need further exploration. In this Special Issue, we aim to attract restoration practitioners and forest scientists who can document site-specific restoration techniques, general restoration pathways, and the success and failure of restoration projects. We are particularly interested in the prospect of modelling the possible restoration outcomes and socio-economic issues regarding restoration endeavors, as well as ecosystem services accrued from restored forests. We encourage the submission of field studies—experimental studies, as well monitoring and evaluation studies of restoration approaches and models—to this Special Issue in order to promote the knowledge and practice necessary for the conservation and future development of forest ecosystems.

Dr. Mulualem Tigabu
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • forest restoration approaches
  • indicators of restoration success
  • cost of restoration
  • succession trajectories
  • ecosystem services accrued from forest restoration
  • carbon sequestration and forest restoration
  • policy and governance related to forest restoration
  • secondary succession in logged over areas

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 2355 KiB  
Article
Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process–Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution: A Hybrid Method for Assessing Vegetation Management Strategies under Electricity Distribution Lines to Prevent Deforestation Based on Ecosystem Service Criteria
by Ersin Güngör
Forests 2024, 15(9), 1503; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15091503 - 28 Aug 2024
Viewed by 771
Abstract
This study evaluated vegetation management (VM) strategies under electricity distribution lines (EDLs) through ecosystem service (ES) criteria. Deforestation, worsened by insufficient VM practices, poses a threat to ecosystem stability. Using a hybrid FAHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference [...] Read more.
This study evaluated vegetation management (VM) strategies under electricity distribution lines (EDLs) through ecosystem service (ES) criteria. Deforestation, worsened by insufficient VM practices, poses a threat to ecosystem stability. Using a hybrid FAHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) approach, ten VM strategies were assessed based on 15 ES criteria. The FAHP results identified biodiversity, timber resources, and erosion control as the most crucial criteria due to their significant weights. The TOPSIS analysis determined that VM6 (creation and restoration of scrub edges) was the most effective strategy, achieving a value of 0.744 for reducing deforestation and enhancing energy security. VM6 helps preserve forest cover and protect infrastructure by creating a “V”-shaped structures within the EDLs corridor. This study underscores the importance of ES-oriented VM strategies for sustainable vegetation management and deforestation mitigation. It also highlights the need for incorporating scientific, ES-based decision support mechanisms into VM strategy development. Future research should expand stakeholder perspectives and conduct a comprehensive assessment of ESs to ensure that VM strategies align with ecological and socio-economic sustainability. This study provides a framework for improving VM practices and offers directions for future sustainable energy management research. This study focuses exclusively on ecological criteria for evaluating VM strategies, neglecting other dimensions. Future research should use methods like ANP and fuzzy cognitive maps to explore inter-dimension relationships and their strengths. Additionally, employing SWARA, PIPRECIA, ELECTRE, and PROMETHEE for ranking VM strategies is recommended. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Restoration and Secondary Succession—Series II)
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15 pages, 3830 KiB  
Article
Beta Diversity of Plant Communities in Relation to Soil C:N:P Stoichiometry across 150 Years of Vegetation Restoration in a Temperate Zone
by Qilong Tian, Xiaoping Zhang, Xiaoming Xu, Haijie Yi, Jie He and Liang He
Forests 2023, 14(3), 553; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14030553 - 10 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2311
Abstract
Natural solutions by which humans can overcome challenges have been severely hampered by biodiversity losses. It is essential to understand the key natural variables that influence changes in community diversity to maintain ecosystem function. The Ziwuling area has a natural recovery succession history [...] Read more.
Natural solutions by which humans can overcome challenges have been severely hampered by biodiversity losses. It is essential to understand the key natural variables that influence changes in community diversity to maintain ecosystem function. The Ziwuling area has a natural recovery succession history of 150 years. Therefore, a survey was conducted to compare species composition characteristics across different vegetation recovery stages while also providing a phylogenetic and taxonomic response to the correlation between beta diversity and soil stoichiometry. The results showed that beta diversity and endemic plants had a similar single-peak temporal pattern. Soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation was significantly positively correlated with total nitrogen (TN) and was also negatively correlated with total phosphorus (TP). Overall, soil TN, time since vegetation restoration (TVR in years), and W-SS (endemic woody plants at each stage) were able to explain 94.3% of the total variation in beta diversity. Temperate species such as Carex lanceolata, Lespedeza bicolor, and Sophora davidii are the basis for community construction. Community beta diversity patterns are the result of a mixture of ecological (e.g., climate patterns and soil nutrients) and evolutionary processes. This study combined plant resource needs with how they respond to natural recovery times in order to provide useful knowledge to protect biodiversity, the nutrient cycle, and the function of restoration ecology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Restoration and Secondary Succession—Series II)
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