Nitrogen mineralization in the oldest climax communities in the eastern Mediterranean region

In this study,we investigated how tree species affect N mineralization in connection to some soil properties and seconder metabolite levels of litter,in the soil of the old-est native forest communities.In the oldest pure communi-ties of Pinus nigra(PN),Fagus orientalis(FO),and Abies bornmuelleriana(AB)in the mountain range of Mount Uludağ,Bursa,Turkey,annual net yield and N mineraliza-tion in the 0-5-and 5-20-cm soil layers were determined in a field incubation study over 1 year.Sampling locations were chosen from 1300 to 1600 m a.s.l.,and moisture content(%),pH,water-holding capacity(%),organic C,total N,and C/N ratio,and annual net mineral N yield of the soil and hydro-lyzed tannic acid and total phenolic compounds in litter were compared for these forest communities.F.orientalis had the highest annual net Nmin yield(43.9±4.8 kg ha^(-1) a^(-1)),P.nigra the lowest(30.5±4.2 kg ha^(-1) a^(-1)).Our findings show that in the oldest forest ecosystems,the seasonal soil moisture content and tree species play an essential role in N cycling and that hydrolyzed tannic acids and total phenolic compounds effectively control N turnover.Tannic acid and total phenolics in the litter were found to inhibit nitrification,but total phenolics were found to stimulate ammonification.

Mapping and Floristic Diversity of the Nakpadjouak Community Forest, Tami Canton, Togo (West Africa)

Since 2015, community forests have been promoted in Togo as an alternative to protect areas from 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 was 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 × 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: Heteropogon contortus (L.) P.Beauv. and Combretum collinum Fresen. followed by Pteleopsissuberosa 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.

Effects of functional phylogeny of light-response-related orthologous genes on seedling survival in a subtropical forest

Background: Light is an important environmental factor affecting the growth and survival of plants in forest communities. The competition for light resources and divergent responses to light may affect plant species coexistence in natural forests through niche partitioning and environmental filtering, respectively.Methods: In the present study, sequences of light-response-related functional genes were extracted from transcriptomic data of 99 tree species in a subtropical forest and average and nearest taxon phylogenetic diversity of adult(A_Apd’, A_NTpd’) and seedling neighbors(S_Apd’, S_NTpd’) around each focal seedling were calculated to evaluate effects of differentiation in light-response-related genes on community assembly processes.Results: The results showed that seedling survival was related to S_NTpd’, S_Apd’and A_Apd’of two chlorophyll ab-binding proteins involved in the assembly of photosystem Ⅱ and two genes responsive to light intensity,indicating seedlings surrounded by neighbors with distinct light responses tended to have high survival rates.Conclusions: Our results indicated that niche partitioning due to competition for light resources between plants may act as the key mechanism in determining seedling dynamics in subtropical forests.

Forest Fringe Communities Participation in Forest Reserve Sustainability in Ghana

The paper investigated the forest fringe community’s participation in forest reserve sustainability in Ghana using Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana as a case study. The key issues examined are the forest reserve management strategies, stakeholder’s participation and livelihood activities of forest fringe communities. Two stage sampling technique was used to sample forty-two respondents for the study. A structured questionnaire in an interview form was used to solicit information from the respondents. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data. The results of the study indicate that there is a management plan for the forest reserve but Forest Services Division (FSD) does not follow its prescriptions strictly, the involvement of Forest Fringe Communities (FFCs) by FSD in the management of the forest reserve was insignificant and evidence of FSD not establishing income generating activity for FFCs livelihood sustenance. It is therefore recommended that community members should be empowered to play the role of co-managers of the forest reserve and there should be regular visit and interaction between FSD and the FFCs.

Ethnobotanical Studies on the Use of Medicinal Plants among Forest Fringe Communities around the Kasewe Forest in Moyamba District, Southern Sierra Leone

Forests are home to many flora and fauna species. Forest flora have been very important to man and sustainability of forest ecosystem. Forest flora provides provisional, regulatory, protective and cultural services. These services have been the foundation of civilization and development. Local communities depend on these natural resources for livelihood generation and cultural services. Local communities have been using medicinal plants to cure different ailments. In this study, an ethnobotanical survey was conducted to document medicinal plants diversity and use in forest fringe communities. The study adopted a method used by Martin in 1995 on Ethnobotanical reviews of medicinal plants. Ethnobotanical information was gathered through structured questionnaires administered to 57 inhabitants constituting key informants, community leaders, and household heads who are believed to have vast indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants. The snowball technique was used to identify respondents in communities around the Kasewe forest. For the diversity of medicinal plants use and associated indigenous knowledge, a plot of size 25 m × 25 m was demarcated with a linear tape and ranging poles in the different habitat types in the study area. Sampling was stratified based on the size of habitat types. A total of 10 sample plots comprising of 4 plots in the closed forest;3 plots in disturbed areas, 2 plots in farmland, and 1 plot in the grassland were studied. A total of 3377 individual plant stems were documented comprising of 84 individual species belonging to 53 families and 78 genera. Of the 84 individual plant species, 42 were medicinal. The most dominant family was Malvaceae. Tree species were the most dominant life form representing 32.14% followed by shrubs 30.5, herbs 26.8% and climbers 10%. Majority of the plant species are of little conservation concern and few have been categorized as endangered and vulnerable that need special conservation attention. Species with the highest density was Chromolaena odorata 110 m2, while Xylopia quintais 0.1 m2 had the least density per hector. The Shannon-wiener index recorded 1.236 as the highest in plot 3 while plot 10 in the grassland was considered as the lowest with 0.757. The finding revealed that 92.98% of respondents around the Kasewe forest in the Moyamba district used medicinal plants to treat therapeutic ailments. At the same time, a very limited proportion depends on other medication sources to treat therapeutic ailments. 98.25% of the respondents, mostly older people, know medicinal plants to treat therapeutic ailments. All parts of the plant were indicated to be used for treatment of different ailments. However, the root (43.8%), bark (36.8%) and leaves (35%) are the most common plant parts used to treat different therapeutic ailments. 96.49% of the respondents have knowledge on administering prepared herbal medicine.

Understorey species distinguish late successional and ancient forests after decades of minimum human intervention: A case study from Slovenia

The main species composition drivers in temperate deciduous forests are environmental conditions, a stand?s age and the site history, e.g., the succession stage and past land use, as well as disturbance regime and current management. We compared plant species diversity and composition in late successional and ancient forests, cooccurring on the same small river island applying species accumulation curves and nonmetric multidimensional scaling, respectively. Given the island?s geomorphological characteristics, we expected these to be very similar before human intervention in the past. The forests experienced differing disturbance regimes in the past, while over the last 30 years, human intervention has been the same and reduced to a minimum. The ancient forest in this study had two major characteristics defining it as old, mature forest: continuity of presence for more than 200years and specific composition. The late successional forest experienced major disturbance in the 20th century and was allowed natural regeneration by bordering on the ancient forest, representing a potential species pool,and by decades of minimum human intervention. Our results showed that, even though there was no difference in species richness, we could still detect differences between the forests, particularly in the abundance and species composition of the understorey, among which geophytes had the most indicative importance. To make our results useful on a broader scale, we composed from the literature a species list of plants indicative for ancient forest and tested its application. These results are important for distinguishing between old and mature secondary stands and particularly for identifying old forest stands, which should be conserved and, in the case of fragmented landscapes, included in a network connecting forest fragments.

Plant Community Diversity in Dongtian Forest Park,Meizhou City,South China

Dongtian Park is a forest park in Dongtian Lake Ecological Tourism Resort in Meizhou City,South China.Through investigation and analysis of sample methods of the forest community structure and plant diversity in this park,the results showed that there were 181 plant species,belonging to 138 genera in 76 families,including 48 trees,60 shrubs,36 herbs and 37 lianas.The flora is a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest with some distinct tropical properties,and evergreen trees accounted for 48.62%of total plant species.The dominant species in the tree layer were Schima superba,Pinus massoniana,Cinnamomum parthenoxylon,etc.,and those in the shrub layer were Bambusa textilis,Aidia cochinchinensis,Rhaphiolepis indica,etc.,and in herb layer were Carex baccans,Adiantum flabellulatum,Cibotium barometz,etc.,and the lianas mainly included Smilax hypoglauca,Callerya dielsiana,Trachelospermum jasminoides,etc.There were few adults of dominant species in the tree layer,S.superba and P.massoniana also lacked seedlings,they would still maintain their dominant position for a quite long period,but Cyclobalanopsis neglecta had sufficient seedling reserves and would be most likely to become a dominant species in future.The community had relatively rich species,many ferns and lianas and complex hierarchy.The evenness,Shannon-Wiener diversity,Pielou uniformity and Simpson index were higher in the shrub layer than in the tree and herb layer,and the Simpson index was the lowest(0.9280)in the herb layer and Shannon-Wiener diversity index was the highest(7.5853)in the liana layer.

Forest Soil Management: A Mexican Experience

Forests improve the livelihoods and resilience of communities in diverse ways. In particular, soils provide important environmental services for communities in addition to performing many essential ecological functions in forest ecosystems, such as nutrient uptake, organic matter decomposition, water storage, and provision of anchorage for plant growth. The sound management of forest soils, although often disregarded, is a key element of sustainable forest management. From 2002 to 2016 the Forest Soil Conservation and Restoration Sub-Program was designed and implemented by the National Forest Commission (CONAFOR) in Mexico. Forests in Mexico have high biological diversity and are often owned, governed, and managed by communities or, in some cases, community forestry is practiced. Despite the importance of periodic monitoring to ensure that policies are both effective and suitable for diverse conditions and decision making, the policies implemented by this program were not evaluated during its years of operation. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to identify the deficiencies of this policy as well as opportunities based on a review of the official information available on the Forest Soil Conservation and Restoration Sub-Program of CONAFOR during the 2002-2016 period and interviews with key informants. In addition, we aimed to highlight experiences that may be useful for similar soil conservation policies in tropical forest regions. The identified limitations ranged from conceptual problems such as policy weakness and lack of understanding of local drivers of soil degradation to an overly rigid implementation of soil conservation measures across diverse forest ecosystems and socio-ecological contexts. These deficiencies had several unintended outcomes: perhaps the most relevant was the inability of forest communities to build capacities for soil conservation. Another important limitation was the complete lack of monitoring of the program and its outcomes, which could have prevented its poor results. Finally, a lack of transparency in the distribution and determination of funding was noted. In conclusion, the hierarchical approach of this policy appears to have compromised its long-term efficacy.

Six forests in one:Tree species diversity in the Bosque Protector Chongón Colonche,a lowland mountain range in coastal Ecuadorian

Tropical mountain ranges shape the structure of tree communities and promote highly diverse natural habitats.The“Bosque Protector Chong on-Colonche”(BPCC),an 86,000-ha mountain formation situated on the coast of Ecuador,is biogeographically important for the region by connecting floristic elements of the wet Choco and the dry Tumbesian forests.Our understanding of the factors that model tree and palm diversity and distribution in this mountain range are limited.We measured and identified all trees and palms(DBH≥10 cm)in 289 plots of0.2 ha,distributed throughout BPCC.We used generalized linear models to explain the relationship between forest diversity and structure and climatic variables(temperature,rain,aridity),and altitude.We then used cluster and non-metric multidimensional scale(NMDS)analyses to search for distinct forest communities within the BPCC.Variance partition(varpart)was used to determine which predictor variables best explained these distinct forest communities.A species indicator analysis identified the species most likely to define these distinct forest communities.Finally,we carried out a niche modeling approach to identify the potential distribution of these forest communities within BPCC.In total,we identified 220 tree and palm species in our survey.The average number of species per plot was 17.8±5.8,ranging from 3 to 40 species.Classification methods sorted the 289study plots into six different forest communities,three communities in the dry forest and three in the semi-humid Garúa forest.Precipitation and temperature,but not altitude or aridity,explained floristic composition.These results emphasize the high but little cataloged diversity in the lowland mountain rainforests of coastal Ecuador.

The influence of environmental factors on species composition and distribution in a community forest in Northern Thailand

Understanding the environmental factors that influence tree species composition is essential for successful management of biodiversity and sustainable use of community forest resources.This study aims to assess tree species composition and distribution in the deciduous Ban Mae Chiang Rai Lum Community Forest in Northern Thailand and to analyze the influence of environmental factors on tree biodiversity in the forest.We conducted a stratified systematic sampling of the forest’s total area of 3925 ha,and twenty-five 0.16 ha survey plots were established in three different stands of the deciduous forests to estimate and characterize the difference in biological diversity among the stands.Canonical correspondence analysis(CCA)was used to investigate the environment factors affecting such differences in biodiversity of the stands.The results showed a high diversity of trees in the forest as 197 species,144 genera,and 62 plant families were recorded.The CCA ordination identified the environmental factors—the most important of which were elevation,distance to streams,soil moisture,organic matter,and distance to communities—that signifi-cantly influenced the diversity and distribution of tree species(p<0.05)in the community forest.Our findings indicate that the implementation of drought reduction measures such as building check dams,fire protection,and monitoring community forest-product usage would be recommended to further biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of community forest resources.

Endangered lowland oak forest steppe remnants keep unique bird species richness in Central Hungary

The biodiversity of natural or semi-natural native,old oak woodlands have high conservation importance,especially in landscapes of monocultural forest plantations and arable fields.With a wider variety of microhabitats and foraging sources,such old oak forests can provide essential habitat for native forest bird communities.We conducted a study using bird point counts to compare the forest bird communities of old pedunculate oak(Quercus robur)remnants with native and non-native plantations in central Hungary in a landscape of mostly arable fields,settlements,and monocultural plantations.Avian surveys were carried out in old oak forest remnants,middle-aged oak,white poplar(Populus alba),hybrid poplar(Populus×euramericana),black locust(Robinia pseudoacacia),and pine(Pinus spp.)plantations.Fieldwork has been carried out in nine study sites,where all six habitat types were represented(with a few exceptions),to determine total abundance,species richness,Shannon–Wiener diversity,species evenness,dominant and indicator species,and guild abundances.We found that old oak forest remnants were the most diverse habitats among the studied forest types,while hybrid poplar and pine plantations exhibited the lowest avian biodiversity.The avian guilds most sensitive to the loss of old oak forest remnants were ground foragers,bark foragers,cavity-nesters,residents,and Mediterranean migratory birds.Native habitats were more diverse than non-native plantations.Our results suggest that it is important to conserve all remaining high biodiversity old oak stands and to avoid clear-cutting of monocultural plantations in favour of practices such as mixed-species plantations,longer rotation lengths,or retention forestry.

Rural coping and adaptation strategies for climate change by Himalayan communities in Nepal

Climate change has major impacts on the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.The unpredictable weather conditions in rural Nepal have been attributed to a changing climate.This study explored the climate change adaptation and coping strategies that rural communities adopt for the conservation of natural resources and livelihoods in the mid-hills of Nepal.This paper explored major climatic hazards,assessed different coping and adaptation measures,and barrier faced to climate change adaptation based on perceptions by forest-dependent communities.We conducted focus group discussions,questionnaire surveys,and semistructured interviews with local communities and stakeholders.The results showed that rural communities had experienced significant impacts of climate change and variability.In response,they are practicing diverse coping and adaptation strategies,including the construction of bioengineering structures and planting different species that grow quickly and establish promptly.

Resistance potential of soil bacterial communities along a biodiversity gradient in forest ecosystems

Higher biodiversity is often assumed to be a more desirable scenario for maintaining the functioning of ecosystems,but whether species-richer communities are also more disturbance-tolerant remains controversial.In this study,we investigated the bacterial communities based on 472 soil samples from 28 forests across China with associated edaphic and climatic properties.We developed two indexes(i.e.,community mean tolerance breadth[CMTB]and community mean response asynchrony[CMRA])to explore the relationship between diversity and community resistance potential.Moreover,we examined this resistance potential along the climatic and latitudinal gradients.We revealed that CMTB was significantly and negatively related to species richness,resulting from the changes in balance between relative abundances of putative specialists and generalists.In comparison,we found a unimodal relationship between CMRA and richness,suggesting that higher biodiversity might not always lead to higher community resistance.Moreover,our results showed differential local patterns along latitude.In particular,local patterns in the northern region mainly followed general relationships rather than those for the southern forests,which may be attributed to the differences in annual means and annual variations of climate conditions.Our findings highlight that the community resistance potential depends on the composition of diverse species with differential environmental tolerance and responses.This study provides a new,testable evaluation by considering tolerance breadth and response asynchrony at the community level,which will be helpful in assessing the influence of disturbance under rapid shifts in biodiversity and species composition as a result of global environmental change.

An Ecological Assessment of Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolin <i>Manis pentadactyla</i>(Mammalia: Pholidota: Manidae) in the Midhills Region of Nepal

The Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is a “Critically Endangered” insectivorous mammal. There is a lack of information on the ecology, distribution and behavior of this species in Nepal, even though community forests in the Midhills Region of Nepal are considered to be prime habitats for the species. We conducted an ecological assessment of the habitat use of this species in nine community forests covering an area of 170.69 ha in Balthali village in Kavrepalanchok district, Nepal. We divided each forest into 50 × 50 m grids and searched for Chinese Pangolin burrows along 50 m transects in each grid. We categorized burrows into two types, new and old burrows, and recorded 10 environmental variables for each burrow. We found a total of 542 burrows, including 323 old burrows and 219 new burrows. The average width and height of a burrow opening was 21.66 ± 3.94 cm (n = 542) and 22.42 ± 5.02 cm (n = 542). The total density of burrows in the study area was 3.1 ha−1, with new burrows density of 1.2 ha−1 and old burrows density of 1.8 ha−1. We found most burrows in sites with an elevation range of 1400 - 1500 m above sea level, gentle slopes, brown colored soil, high density of tree crown cover and undergrowth vegetation, southern exposure, within 150 m from a water source and less than 200 m from a human settlement. Our study has generated baseline data on the habitat use of Chinese Pangolin, which we hope will help in designing site-specific action plans for Chinese Pangolin conservation in Kavrepalanchok district, Nepal.

SECURITY OF USE RIGHT FOR FOREST LAND AND COMMUNITY FORESTRY-A Case Study of the CompensatedTransfer of Use Right over CollectiveWasteland in Yao'an County

1Background1.1BasicsituationofstudysiteYao'ancountyislocatedinthenorthwesternpartofcentralYunnanplateau.ItisoneoftheimportantgrainProductionbasecountiesofYunnanProvince.HanandYiarethemainethnicgroupsinthisprovince.BanliuAdministrativeVillagebelongsto...