Recommendations for Construction and Management of Ecological Public Welfare Forest in Hainan Province

This paper firstly evaluated ecological service functions of ecological public welfare forest in Hainan Province. Then,it introduced value structure and existing problems of ecological service functions. Focusing on optimization and adjustment of scale and distribution of ecological public welfare forest,it came up with recommendations for construction and management of ecological public welfare forest in Hainan Province.

Application of Near-nature Management Theories in the Construction of Ecological Scenic Forest——With Shenzhen City as a Study Case

With the present unceasing development of science and society,ecological and social functions of forest have attracted more and more attention.This study with Shenzhen City as an example through elaborating the concepts and principles of ecological scenic forest and near-nature management,and combining with the present construction of ecological scenic forest in Shenzhen City,specifically stated the requirements,principles and implementation measures of different aspects involving in the construction of ecological scenic forest in Shenzhen,such as site classification,tree species selection,logging operation,community construction,tending management and benefit monitoring,and further expounded the application of near-nature management theories in this field.It was also stressed that the nature should be utilized and respected,artificial forest should be reformed into near-nature scenic forest with richer and more stable structure as well as higher protective eco-functions,so as to provide theoretical basis for the construction of ecological scenic forest and enhance its positive role in the urban construction of Shenzhen.

Present situation and prospects of forest ecological network in Jilin Province, China

This paper makes a brief introduction of the ecological environment, forestry achievements, and the existing questions of Jilin Province. The task of forest ecological network and eight questions demanding prompt solution were discussed based on the present situation of forestry in Jilin Province. The author also made prospects for future application of bio-technique, infor-mation technology, new material technology and nuisance-free forest health technology in forest ecological network.

A review of ecological mechanisms for management practices of protective forests

A protective forest,including shelterbelt,windbreak,and shelter forest as its synonyms,is characterized by the protective functions of various forest types distributed or planted on ecologically fragile areas or nearby the objects that need to be protected using the ecological effects of forests.Ecological mechanisms for management practices of protective forests is one of the disciplinary orientations in forest ecology and management.Most protective forest studies are dependent on forestry eco-engineering,such as the Great Plains Shelterbelt Project in the United States,the Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature in the Soviet Union,and the Three-North Afforestation Program in China.The development of sustainable management of protective forests has been given increasing attention by governments,scientists,and media due to their impacts on environment conservation and global change.We introduce forestry ecoengineering and provide a review of their main ecological mechanisms for management practices of protective forests.Ecological mechanisms for management systems currently applied are emphasized,i.e.,the theory of protection maturity and phase-directional management;the relationship between structure and protective functions and structural optimization measures;and,the decline mechanism and ecological restoration strategies.In addition,several unresolved problems in management practices of protective forests are discussed as well as the prospects for ecological mechanisms for management practices of protective forests in the future,which include:(1)theories and technologies for management practices of protective forests at the landscape or regional scale;(2)the decline mechanisms and corresponding ecological restoration approaches across multiple scales;and,(3)the comprehensive assessment of forestry eco-engineering at large-scales based on ecosystem principles.

The Cultural Ecology Protection and Management of Urban Forests in China

Forests have economic,ecological,social and cultural functions.Forests Cultural ecology,the counterpart of forest ecology,is the integration of human spirit formed on the basis of natural forest and living systems.In recent years,China's urbanization rate has increased from 28%in 1993 to 45.68%in 2008,and ecological protection of urban forest has made great progress,but insufficient attention was paid to the forest cultural ecology protection and the relevant regulatory was not well performed.In order to strengthen the protection of forest cultural ecology and the management,the study showed that the social economic development of China has become mature and entered the consumption phase,besides,cultural ecology protection of forest will be the essence of urban forestry development in the future,so more and more attention will be paid to the protection of urban forest cultural ecology,especially with the enhancement of urbanization in China.The study suggests that protection of urban forest cultural ecology should be included into the forest legislation and management.The development planning of urban forest development should be strengthened to highlight the organic combination of material wealth production and spiritual wealth production,and finally promote protection of urban forest culture and the development of green culture.

Construction and Management of Public Welfare Forest in Hainan Province

Through investigating ecological service functions of public welfare forest in Hainan Province, this paper explored type constitution and problems of its ecological service functional value, optimization of its scale and layout, promoted effective protection and benign development, and proposed strategies for the construction and management of public welfare forest in Hainan Province.

Ecological control of forest pest： a new strategy for forest pest control

In comparison with integrated pest management and chemical control, the authors put forward a new strategy of forest pest control, named ecological control of forest pest （ECFP）. This paper reviewed the development history, summarized the concept and principles of ECFP, discussed the technology and methods of ECFP, and evaluated the ECFP and its application conditions.

Utilisation and Management Changes in South Kyrgyzstan's Mountain Forests

Using political ecology as its conceptual framework,this paper focuses on the changes in forest utilisation and management of South Kyrgyzstan’s walnut-fruit forests over the last century. The aim of this study on human-environment interactions is to investigate the relationship between actors on the one side,their interests and demands,and the forests and forested lands on the other. Forest resource utilisation and management — and even the recognition of different forest products as resources — are connected with political and socio-economic conditions that change with time. The walnut-fruit forests of South Kyrgyzstan are unique,characterised by high biodiversity and a multiplicity of usable products;and they have been utilised for a long time. Centralised and formal management of the forests started with the Russian occupation and was strengthened under Soviet rule,when the region became a part of the USSR. During this era,a state forest administration that was structured from Moscow all the way down to the local level drew up detailed plans and developed procedures for utilising the different forest products. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union,the socio-political and economic frame conditions have changed significantly,which has brought not only the sweeping changes in the managing institutions,but also the access rights and interests in the forest resources. At present,the region is suffering from a high unemployment rate,which has resulted in the forests’ gaining considerable importance in the livelihood strategies of the local population. Political and economic liberalization,increased communication and trans-regional exchange relations have opened the door for international companies and agents interested in the valuable forest products. Today,walnut wood and burls,walnuts,wild apples and mushrooms are all exported to various countries in the world. Scientists and members of various international organisations stress the ecological value of the forests and are trying to establish nature conservation areas. Nevertheless,it is to fear that a multiplicity of interrelated factors — the present transformation and globalization processes,the appearance of new actors,the local population’s insecure economic situation and the erosion of managing institutions — are all leading to an intensified and unregulated exploitation of the forests,resulting in their degradation.

Using nonparametric modeling approaches and remote sensing imagery to estimate ecological welfare forest biomass

The spatial distribution of forest biomass is closely related with carbon cycle, climate change, forest productivity, and biodiversity. Efficient quantification of biomass provides important information about forest quality and health. With the rising awareness of sustainable development, the ecological benefits of forest biomass attract more attention compared to traditional wood supply function. In this study, two nonparametric modeling approaches, random forest（RF） and support vector machine were adopted to estimate above ground biomass（AGB） using widely used Landsat imagery in the region,especially within the ecological forest of Fuyang District in Zhejiang Province, China. Correlation analysis was accomplished and model parameters were optimized during the modeling process. As a result, the best performance modeling method RF was implemented to produce an AGB estimation map. The predicted map of AGB in the study area showed obvious spatial variability and demonstrated that within the current ecological forest zone, as well as the protected areas, the average of AGB were higher than the ordinary forest. The quantification of AGB was proven to have a close relationship with the local forest policy and management pattern, which indicated that combining remote-sensing imagery and forest biophysical property would provide considerable guidance for making beneficial decisions.

Aspects of forest restoration and hydrology:linking passive restoration and soil–water recovery in Brazilian Cerrado

Although the scientific knowledge about some associations between physical parameters of the soil is consolidated,studies focused on investigating the dynamics of forest restoration processes and the structure of soils remain incipient.The study area is located in Cerrado and is called as Private Natural Heritage Reserve(RPPN)Águas Perenes Forest(perennial water forest)and was selected as a“High Conservation Value Forest”,provides scope to investigate the soil physical properties recovery on passive restoration sites,with different ages but with the same land use history.So,the aim was to investigate the soil density,moisture,penetration resistance and infiltration rate with long-term from old(FA,46 year-old),medium(FB,11 year-old)and young(FC,8 year-old)passive restoration sites.It was observed differences in soil density,as well as in soil moisture,resistance to penetration and infiltration rate.Mean densities recorded for FA,FB and FC were 1.38,1.48 and 1.53 g cm^(-3),respectively.FA recorded higher mean soil moisture(14.9%)than FB(11.5%)and FC(10.0%),whereas mean soil resistance to penetration was increased from FA(0.87 MPa)to FB(0.91 MPa)and FC(1.10 MPa).The average infiltration rate was almost similar in FA and FB(FA=76.43 mm h^(-1);FB=77.48 mm h^(-1))and approximately 39%higher than FC(55.79 mm h^(-1)).Thus,although soil density and moisture were different in each passive restoration site,11 year-old passive restoration site showed similar resistance to penetration and infiltration rate to the old(46 years)passive restoration site.These features allowed seeing improvements in hydrological maintenance in the soil and revealed that passive restoration in Cerrado is able to improve the physical features on a soil presenting similar texture,climate and management history.

A Geographic Information Systems approach for classifying and mapping forest management category in Baihe Forestry Bureau, Northeast China

This paper demonstrates a Geographic Information Systems （GIS） procedure of classifying and mapping forest management category in Baihe Forestry Burea, Jilin Province, China. Within the study area, Baihe Forestry Bureau land was classified into a two-hierarchy system. The top-level class included the non-forest and forest. Over 96% of land area is forest in the study area, which was further divided into key ecological service forest （KES）, general ecological service forest （GES）, and commodity forest （COM）. COM covered 45.0% of the total land area and was the major forest management type in Baihe Forest Bureau. KES and GES accounted for 21.2% and 29.9% of the total land area, respectively. The forest management zones designed with GIS in this study were then compared with the forest management zones established using the hand draw by the local agency. There were obvious differences between the two products. It suggested that the differences had some to do with the data sources, basic unit and mapping procedures. It also suggested that the GIS method was a useful tool in integrating forest inventory data and other data for classifying and mapping forest zones to meet the needs of the classified forest management system.

Have some landscapes in the eastern Canadian boreal forest moved beyond their natural range of variability?

Background: In the contxt of ecosystem management, the present study aims to compare the natural and the present-day forested landscapes of a large territory in Quebec(Canada). Using contemporary and long-term fire cycles, each natural forst landscape is defined according to the variability of its structure and composition, and compared to the present-day landscape. This analysis was conducted to address the question of whether human activities have moved these ecosystems outside the range of natural landscape variability.Methods: The study encompassed a forested area of 175 000 km2 divided into 14 landscapes. Using a framework that integrates fire cycles, age structure and forest dynamics, we characterized the forest composition and age structures that resulted from three historical fire cycles(110,140, and 180 years) representative of the boreal forest of eastern Canada. The modeled natural landscapes were compared with present-day landscapes in regard to the proportion of old-growth forests(landscape level) and the proportion of late-successional forest stands(landscape level and potential vegetation type).Results: Four landscapes(39%) remain within their natural range of variability. In contrast, nine landscapes(54%)show a large gap between natural and present-day landscapes. These nine are located in the southern portion of the study area, and are mainly associated with Abies-Betula vegetation where human activities have contributed to a strong increase in the proportion of Populus tremuloides stands(early-successional stages) and a decrease of oldgrowth forest stands(more than 100 years old). A single landscape(7%), substantially changed from its potential natural state, is a candidate for adaptive-based management.Conclusion: Comparison of corresponding natural(reference conditions) and present-day landscapes showed that ten landscapes reflecting an important shift in forest composition and age structure could be considered beyond the range of their natural variability. The description of a landscape's natural variability at the scale of several millennia can be considered a moving benchmark that can be re-evaluated in the context of climate change.Focusing on regional landscape characteristics and long-term natural variability of vegetation and forest age structure represents a step forward in methodology for defining reference conditions and following shifts in landscape over time.

Mapping regional forest management units:a road-based framework in Southeastern Coastal Plain and Piedmont

Management practices are one of the most important factors affecting forest structure and function.Landowners in southern United States manage forests using appropriately sized areas,to meet management objectives that include economic return,sustainability,and esthetic enjoyment.Road networks spatially designate the socioenvironmental elements for the forests,which represented and aggregated as forest management units.Road networks are widely used for managing forests by setting logging roads and firebreaks.We propose that common types of forest management are practiced in road-delineated units that can be determined by remote sensing satellite imagery coupled with crowd-sourced road network datasets.Satellite sensors do not always capture roadcaused canopy openings,so it is difficult to delineate ecologically relevant units based only on satellite data.By integrating citizen-based road networks with the National Land Cover Database,we mapped road-delineated management units across the regional landscape and analyzed the size frequency distribution of management units.We found the road-delineated units smaller than 0.5 ha comprised 64%of the number of units,but only0.98%of the total forest area.We also applied a statistical similarity test(Warren's Index)to access the equivalency of road-delineated units with forest disturbances by simulating a serious of neutral landscapes.The outputs showed that the whole southeastern U.S.has the probability of road-delineated unit of 0.44 and production forests overlapped significantly with disturbance areas with an average probability of 0.50.

Review of forest ecology studies in China

As the most important type or component in the terrestrial ecosystems, forest ecosystem makes its role obviously prominent and important on environment and human being. It possesses non-substitutable functions in the process of sustainable development. However, due to the complexity of the forest ecosystem and the relatively delay or lack of the related research technology, the science is still in the case of immature and questions. This paper summarized and reviewed briefly the development and the present case of the forest ecology, then pointed out the existing problems in the forest ecosystem researches. In the end, we discussed several fields that need to pay more attention to in future researches.

Growth rates of Eucalyptus and other Australian native tree species derived from seven decades of growth monitoring

There is widespread interest in estimating and forecasting individual tree and forest growth rates for restoration and carbon sequestration objectives. Outside intensively managed forests, past attempts have been limited by the lack of accurate long-term monitoring in multi-age mixed native forests to provide estimates of both expected mean diameter increments and the statistical variation in those estimates. A dataset from Eucalyptus-dominated native forests in subtropical Queensland, Australia offers an opportunity to provide accurate estimates of tree and forest growth rates. Over 86,400 trees from 155 native species were identified and remeasured between 1936 and 2011 in 641 permanent sample plots across a 500-2000 mm mean annual rainfall gradient. Individual tree diameter at breast height （DBH） increments observed for all species ranged mainly from 0.01 to 0.5 cm yr-1 （94 % of values）, with consistentdifferences between rainfall zones （mean of 500- 2000 mm yr-1）, and varying differences between species （155） and stem diameter class （10-100 cm）. For some spe- cies, diameter increment increased progressively with rain- fall （e.g. Eucalyptus siderophloia, Eucalyptus propinqua, and Lophostemon confertus）, but in others （e.g. Corymbia citriodora subsp, variegata, Corymbia intermedia, and Eucalyptus biturbinata） the greatest diameter increments were recorded between 1200 and 1600 mm yr-1. Where there were sufficient data, most species exhibited a quadratic relationship between DBH increment and DBH class, but two species （ Callitris glaucophylla and Eucalyptus crebra） native to the 500-800 mm annual rainfall zone showed lin- ear increases in DBH increment with increasing DBH. Continued monitoring of these plots would add to their already great value.

Fungal diversity and community composition responses to the reintroduction of fire in a non-managed Mediterranean shrubland ecosystem

Background:More than a decade of fire suppression has changed the structure of fire-adapted shrubland ecosystems in Spain’s National Parks,which are now at extreme risk of uncontrolled wildfires.Prescribed burning can mitigate the risk of wildfires by reducing the fuel load but prescribed burning may also alter the soil properties and reduce microbial and fungal activity,causing changes in the availability of nutrients deep in the soil layer.Although fungal communities are a vital part of post-fire restoration,some fire effects remain unclear.To examine the short-term effects of prescribed burning on soil fungal communities in Doñana Biological Reserve(SW Spain),we collected soil samples pre-burn and 1 day,6 and 12 months post-burn from burned plots to perform physicochemical and metabarcode DNA analyses.Results:Prescribed burning had no significant effect on the total fungal operational taxonomic unit richness and abundance.However,changes in soil pH,nitrogen and potassium content post-burn affected fungal community composition.Small non-significant changes in pH and phosphorous affected the composition of ectomycorrhizal fungi.Conclusions:The ectomycorrhizal fungal community appears to be resilient to the effects of low-to moderate-intensity fires and saprotrophic taxa may benefit from this kind of fire.This finding revealed that prescribed burning is a potentially valuable management tool for reducing fire hazards in shrublands that has little effect on the total richness and abundance of fungal communities.

Contribution of Sumalindo Company:In Managing Forest Resources with Local Communities:Mahakam Ulu-East Kalimantan

The role of HPH(Forest Logging Concession)in developing rural communities is very significant.SLJ(Sumalindo Lestari Jaya)as HPH company has an important contribution in empowering local communities,especially in opening land transportation in the interior and helping to build agriculture and gardens.The existence of Sumalindo company participates in developing forest resource management with local communities,among others,increasing livelihoods,maintaining and developing biodiversity conservation and maintaining climate change.These efforts are in accordance with the regulations of the KLHK(Ministry of Environment and Forestry),that every HPH holder is required(mandatory)to obtain a certificate of“PHAPL”(Sustainable Production Natural Forest Management)and an“eco label”from the Indonesian Eco Label Institute.Besides,it is recommended that the holders of HPH concessions and HTI(Industrial Timber Plantations)have an FSC(Forest Stewardship Council)certificate from the EU(European Union),and must meet three indicator elements,namely economic,social and ecological in SFM(Sustainable Forest Management).This article examines three critical questions that show the role of Sumalindo Company in economic,ecological and social development and managing forest resources with the community as follows:(1)The role of Sumalindo company contributes to the development of road infrastructure in the interior;(2)The role of Sumalindo in improving livelihoods and economic and social empowerment of local communities;(3)The role of Sumalindo with local communities in managing forest resources,including maintaining and developing biodiversity conservation and maintaining climate change.

Success factors for high-quality oak forest(Quercus robur, Q. petraea) regeneration

Background: Within the framework of close-to-nature forestry, oak forest(Quercus robur, Q. petraea) regeneration techniques that consider both silvicultural and nature conservation demands have become a very important issue.While there are many experimental and local studies that aim at disentangling the relationships between different environmental and silvicultural factors and the success of oak regeneration, systematic supra-regional studies at the greater landscape level are missing so far.Against this background, the first objective(a) of this study was to present an efficient and sufficiently accurate sampling scheme for supra-regional forest regrowth inventories, which we applied to young oaks stands. The second, and major, objective(b) was to identify the crucial success factors for high-quality oak forest regeneration in northwest Germany.Results: Objective(a): Factors that have been identified as potentially crucial for the success or failure of oak regeneration were either included in a field inventory procedure or extracted from forest inventory databases. We found that the collected data were suitable to be analyzed in a three-step success model, which was aimed at identifying the crucial success factors for high-quality oak forest regeneration.Objective(b): Our modeling procedure, which included a Bayesian estimation approach with spike-and-slab priors,revealed that competitive pressure from the secondary tree species was the most decisive success factor;no competition, or low competition by secondary tree species appeared to be particularly beneficial for the success of high-quality oak regeneration. Also fencing and the absence of competitive vegetation(weeds, grass, bracken)seemed to be beneficial factors for the success of oak regeneration.Conclusions: Trusting in biological automation was found to be mostly useless regarding economically viable oak forest regeneration. To efficiently organize oak regeneration planning and silvicultural decision-making within a forest enterprise, it is strongly recommended to initially evaluate the annual financial and personnel capacities for carrying out young growth tending or pre-commercial thinning and only then to decide on the extent of regenerated oak stands. Careful and adaptive regeneration planning is also indispensable to secure the long-term ecological continuity in oak forests. Oak regeneration should therefore preferably take place within the close vicinity of old oak stands or directly in them. The retention of habitat trees is urgently advised.

Natural Regeneration in Tropical Secondary Forest in Southern Amazonia, Brazil

The study aimed to establish floral composition, diversity levels, category size, phytosociological structure, commercial use and ecological group of species present in the regeneration of open ombrophile forest in southern Amazon, Brazil. Data were collected at S?o Nicolau farm, in the municipality of Cotrigua?u, northwest of Mato Grosso state, coordinates 51°9'19.5"S and 58°14'53"W. One hundred plots of 10 × 10 m were allocated. All individuals between 29.9 and 59.9 cm had circumference at breast height (CAP) measure, with sub-plots of 5 × 5 m which were measured in all subjects between 1:50 m in height 29.9 cm CAP and sub-plots of 2 × 2 m for individuals between 0.30 to 1.5 m tall. The information obtained in the field were processed in excel spreadsheet. The results showed the occurrence of 610 individuals belonging to 82 species, 34 plant families, with a diversity index of Shannon & Weaver’s 2.77. The index of value of importance showed species Protium robustum, Maquira calophilla and Inga fagifolium with greater ecological importance in fitocenose. The higher values for Natural Regeneration were the species Protium robustum, Maquira calophilla and Inga fagifolium with 16.42, 8.03 and 7.76 respectively.

Spatiotemporal Patterns and Drivers of Forest Change from 1985–2000 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region of China

Forests are fundamental to maintaining ecological security and achieving regional sustainable development in China. Forest land change can result in many ecological problems including soil erosion, water shortages drought and biodiversity loss. Based on landscape ecology and logistic regression we explored the spatiotemporal patterns and factors affecting forest land changes from 1985 to 2000 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region of China. The results show decreased local fragmentation of woodland landscapes and that the shapes of forest patches have become more regular. For forest land cover change, soil organic matter content, slope type I （〈5°）, distance to the nearest village and per capita GDP were the most important independent variables from 1985 to 2000. This study indicates that spatial heterogeneity can affect the predictability of logistic regression models for forest land change.