last news from motive-project.net http://www.motive-project.net Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:41:50 +0200 WebDesign LTD. FeedCreator http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=97 02 September 2010

Seidl, R., Rammer, W., Lexer, M.J., 2010. Climate change vulnerability of sustainable forest management in the Eastern Alps. Climatic Change 2010, Pages 1-30. In press. Abstract Considering climatic uncertainties in management planning is a prerequisite for sustainable forest management (SFM). The aim of the study was to evaluate climate change vulnerability of the current SFM strategy for commercial forests managed by the Austrian Federal Forests. To that end vulnerability indicators were defined in a stakeholder process (selected indicators were productivity, timber and carbon stocks, biodiversity, disturbances, a tree species' position in fundamental niche space, silvicultural flexibility and cost intensity) and their performance under climate change scenarios assessed with an ecosystem model. Multi criteria analysis techniques were employed in a partial aggregation of indicators to locate forest stands on a vulnerability surface. Results revealed high vulnerability particularly in the second half of the twenty-first century, where 39.6% of the 164.550 ha study area were assessed highly vulnerable to climate change, indicating a strong decline in the functions and services represented by the indicator system. Water-limited sites on calcareous bedrock were most negatively affected whereas assessment units at higher altitudes responded predominately positive to climate warming. The presented approach, transparently integrating multiple management objectives and allowing a quantitative comp...]]> Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=98 02 September 2010

Ganatsios, H. P., Tsioras, P. A. and Pavlidis, T., 2010. Water yield changes as a result of silvicultural treatments in an oak ecosystem. Forest Ecology and Management, Article in Press Abstract Interception loss represents an important factor of water balance. The reduction of interception loss through silvicultural treatments to the benefit of water yield is very important for countries with large periods of limited rainfall like Greece. In the context of climate change and its possible effects on water availability, oak ecosystems can play a significant role in water production, as they comprise the largest part of the forested area in Greece. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationships between water interception changes, as a result of different forest management treatments, and water yield. For this reason, experimental watersheds have been established for the study of the hydrological impacts of thinning and clearcutting in an oak ecosystem in northern Greece. Two watersheds were used as control while different combinations of thinning (removal 50% of basal area) and clearcutting treatments were used in the other three study watersheds. Canopy annual interception amounted for 9.0%, 6.7% and 1.8% of the total precipitation in the untreated, thinned and clearcut plots respectively. The practiced thinning and clearcutting operations increased the available amount of water by a mean annual average of 13.2 mm and 42.8 mm respectively compared to the control watersheds....]]> Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=96 26 August 2010

A group of biodiversity experts have written a report “Natural Solutions” which provides a good perspective on the role that protected areas can play in mitigating and adapting to climate change. The report presents a set of options that so far have been under-represented in global response strategies. According to the report forests have a main role as carbon storage in mitigation to climate change. As well-managed ecosystems these areas can function as buffers against flood and tidal events, landslides and storms. Protected areas can serve as models for adaptation to climate change. For this reason the authors call on national and local governments to incorporate protected area systems into national climate change adaptation strategies and action plans. The report is published by International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN-WCPA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and The World Bank and WWF. Dudley, N., S. Stolton, A. Belokurov, L. Krueger, N. Lopoukhine, K. MacKinnon, T. Sandwith and N. Sekhran [editors] (2010); Natural Solutions: Protected areas helping people cope with climate change, IUCNWCPA, TNC, UNDP, WCS, The World Bank and WWF, Gland, Switzerland, Washington DC and New York, USA The full report is available at: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/natural_solutions_climate_climate_2009.pdf ]]> Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=93 23 August 2010

Felton, A., Lindbladh, M., Brunet, J., Fritz, O., 2010. Replacing coniferous monocultures with mixed-species production stands: An assessment of the potential benefits for forest biodiversity in northern Europe. Forest Ecology and Management 260(6): 939-947 Abstract: Conifer dominated plantations in central and northern Europe are associated with relatively low ecological values, and in some cases, may be vulnerable to disturbances caused by anthropogenic climate change. This has prompted the consideration of alternative tree species compositions for use in production forestry in this region. Here we evaluate the likely biodiversity costs and benefits of supplanting Norway spruce (Picea abies) monocultures with polycultures of spruce and birch (Betula spp.) in southern Sweden. This polyculture alternative has previously been evaluated in terms of economic, recreational, and silvicultural benefits. By also assessing the ecological implications we fill a gap in our understanding of the range of socio-ecological benefits that can be achieved from a single polyculture alternative. We project likely broad scale changes to species richness and abundance within production stands for five taxonomic groups including ground vegetation, tree-living bryophytes, lichens, saproxylic beetles, and birds. Our research leads us to three key findings. First, the replacement of spruce monocultures with spruce-birch polycultures in the managed forest landscapes of southern Sweden can be expected to result in an in...]]> Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=94 23 August 2010

Bussotti, F., Desotgiu, R., Pollastrini, M., Cascio, C., 2010. The JIP test: A tool to screen the capacity of plant adaptation to climate change. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 25 (SUPPL. 8), pp. 43-50. Abstract: Adaptation and acclimation are strategies that forests enact to cope with climate change. They consist of genotypic and phenotypic adjustments that allow plants to grow and reproduce successfully in a stressful environment. Both these aspects can be actively promoted by reforestation programmes. The key phases are: (1) selection of the most suitable provenances and genotypes; (2) adoption of adequate cultural techniques in nursery; and (3) monitoring of the plantations. Physiological techniques may be useful to assist all the phases of this process. Among these, chlorophyll fluorescence-based techniques, such as the JIP test, are relevant to monitor the stress conditions and the effectiveness of the cultural practices. JIP test is a non-destructive, non-invasive, informative, very fast and inexpensive technique, and can be used to support the cultural decision. Please see the attached files here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2010.485777 ]]> Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=95 23 August 2010

Crookston, N.L., Rehfeldt, G.E., Dixon, G.E., Weiskittel, A.R., 2010. Addressing climate change in the forest vegetation simulator to assess impacts on landscape forest dynamics. Forest Ecology and Management 260(7):1198-1211. Abstract To simulate stand-level impacts of climate change, predictors in the widely used Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) were adjusted to account for expected climate effects. This was accomplished by: (1) adding functions that link mortality and regeneration of species to climate variables expressing climatic suitability, (2) constructing a function linking site index to climate and using it to modify growth rates, and (3) adding functions accounting for changing growth rates due to climate-induced genetic responses. For three climatically diverse landscapes, simulations were used to explore the change in species composition and tree growth that should accompany climate change during the 21st century. The simulations illustrated the changes in forest composition that could accompany climate change. Projections were the most sensitive to mortality, as the loss of trees of a dominant species heavily influenced stand dynamics. While additional work is needed on fundamental plant-climate relationships, this work incorporates climatic effects into FVS to produce a new model called Climate-FVS. This model provides for managers a tool that allows climate change impacts to be incorporated in forest plans. Please see the attached files here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.f...]]> Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=91 27 July 2010

Schelhaas, M-J., Hengeveld G., Moriondo, M., Reinds, G-J., Kundzewicz, Z.W., ter Maat, H., Bindi,M., 2010. Assessing risks and adaptation options to fires and windstorms in European forestry. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, published online on 10 July 2010. Abstract Risks can generally be described as the combination of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Using this framework, we evaluated the historical and future development of risk of fire and wind damage in European forestry at the national level. Fire risk is expected to increase, mainly as a consequence of an increase in fire hazard, defined as the Fire Weather Index in summer. Exposure, defined as forest area, is expected to increase slightly as a consequence of active afforestation and abandonment of marginal agricultural areas. Adaptation options to fire risk should therefore aim to decrease the vulnerability, where a change in tree species from conifers to broadleaves had most effect. Risk for wind damage in forests is expected to increase mainly as a consequence of increase in exposure (total growing stock) and vulnerability (defined by age class and tree species distribution). Projections of future wind climate indicate an increase in hazard (storminess) mainly over Western Europe. Adaptation options should aim to limit the increase in exposure and vulnerability. Only an increase in harvest level can stop the current build-up of growing stock, while at the same time it will lower vulnerability through the ...]]> Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=92 27 July 2010

Nitrogen and Global Change Workshop and Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, 11-15 April 2011. This event aims to bring together scientists, policy makers and other stakeholders to discuss the scientific progress on the role of nitrogen in global change and the relevance for policy makers. It will celebrate the launch of the European Nitrogen Assessment and scientific results of major European Nitrogen research programmes such as the EU 6th Framework project NitroEurope IP. Important dates - Call for proposals for topical sessions - deadline July 31st, 2010 - Call for abstracts starting June 1st, 2010 (200 words) - Final decision on parallel sessions by August 15th, 2010 - Deadline for Abstracts 1st Nov 2010 - 2-page extended abstracts for conference proceedings by Feb 1st, 2011 More information: http://www.nitrogen2011.org/ ]]> Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=90 20 July 2010

Lo, Y.-H., Blanco, J.A., Kimmins, J.P., 2010. A word of caution when planning forest management using projections of tree species range shifts. Forestry Chronicle 86 (3), pp. 312-316. Abstract: In this note we raise our concerns about the use of climate envelope models as a basis for forest planning under climate change. Such models assume constant relationships among tree species presence, abundance or growth rates and climatic variables, and that these can be transferred from their current distribution areas to areas that are predicted to have a similar future climate. Climate is an important determinant of tree species distributions, but its effects are mediated through soils, competition from other plant species, herbivores, diseases, insects and fire. This complexity should be addressed when making predictions about plant species distribution changes. If forecasts based only on climate are accepted uncritically and become the basis for forest policy and practice, there could be important consequences for the success of forest management. We illustrate the issue with the historical response of tree growth to climate variability for three conifer species along an altitudinal gradient in southern interior British Columbia. The growth-climate relationships differ not only among species but also between ecological zones, which implies that the different combinations of tree species and site will react differently to the same change in climate. All things considered, caution is needed when dev...]]> Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=88 13 July 2010

Thürig, E., Kaufmann, E., 2010. Increasing carbon sinks through forest management: A model-based comparison for Switzerland with its Eastern Plateau and Eastern Alps. European Journal of Forest Research 129 (4), pp. 563-572. Abstract: The Kyoto Protocol brought a new forest function into focus: forests as carbon sinks. This new forest function may lead to new conflicts, because on the one hand, Switzerland has decided to account for forest management under Kyoto Protocol (Article 3.4), and on the other hand, Swiss Forestry statistics and the Swiss National Forest Inventory indicate that increasing amounts of wood are being harvested. This trend seems likely to continue. In this study, we used the empirical forest model MASSIMO and the soil model YASSO to analyse four different forest management scenarios. These scenarios basically feature different levels of harvesting frequencies and different rotation length, as well as their impact on regional potentials for carbon sequestration and harvesting amounts. Results were analysed both for the whole of Switzerland and for two very different regions: The Swiss Eastern Plateau and the Swiss Eastern Alps. The results indicate that Swiss forests can provide an increasing amount of harvested wood (+18% in relation to the base year 1996) for approximately 20 years and act as a carbon sink accountable under the Kyoto Protocol (0.5 million tons carbon per year). The corresponding forest management strategy aims for a sustainable and harvestable incre...]]> Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=89 13 July 2010

Hanewinkel, M., Hummel, S., Albrecht, A., 2010. Assessing natural hazards in forestry for risk management: a review. European Journal of Forest Research , pp. 1-23, in Press. Abstract: We address the problem of how to integrate risk assessment into forest management and therefore provide a comprehensive review of recent and past literature on risk analysis and modeling and, moreover, an evaluation and summary on these papers. We provide a general scheme on how to integrate concepts of risk into forest management decisions. After an overview of the risk management process and the main hazards in forests (storm, snow, insects, fire), the paper focuses on the principal methods used to assess risks from these hazards for commercial forestry. We review mechanistic models, empirical models, and expert systems and consider the needs for different spatial scales of risk assessment, from the regional to the single-tree level. In addition to natural hazards and their secondary effects, we deal with economic aspects of risk analysis. Monte Carlo simulations to deal with volatile timber prices and ways to include risk in classical Faustmann approaches are briefly discussed along with the integration of portfolio theory into forest management decision making and attitude toward risk. Special attention is paid to the implications for risk modeling under climate change. Please, see attached files here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10342-010-0392-1]]> Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=86 08 July 2010

Peltola, H., Ikonen, V.-P., Gregow, H., Strandman, H., Kilpeläinen, A., Venäläinen, A., Kellomäki, S., 2010. Impacts of climate change on timber production and regional risks of wind-induced damage to forests in Finland. Forest Ecology and Management. Abstract: In this work, we studied the impacts of climate change on timber production and regional risks of wind-induced damage to forests in Finland. The work employed: (i) national level forest inventory data, (ii) current baseline climate (1961-1990) and changing climate scenario (FINADAPT A2, 2001-2099), (iii) a forest ecosystem model (SIMA), (iv) a mechanistic wind damage model (HWIND), and (v) currently applied forest management recommendations as a baseline. The results showed that the timber production will increase significantly towards the end of this century under the changing climate, and in a relative sense the most in Northern Finland. At the same time, the share of Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) is expected to decrease, especially in southernmost Finland, mainly favoring the presence of birch (Betula spp.), but also Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), when no species preference is given in management. As a result, the proportion of forest area in the two lowest critical wind speed classes (i.e. winds of 11-14 and 14-17 m s-1) will decrease in the autumn (birch without leaves) throughout Finland. However, in summertime (birch is in leaf) the proportion of forest area with such critical wind speeds will even ...]]> Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=87 08 July 2010

Linares, J.C., Camarero, J.J., Carreira, J.A., 2010. Competition modulates the adaptation capacity of forests to climatic stress: Insights from recent growth decline and death in relict stands of the Mediterranean fir Abies pinsapo. Journal of Ecology 98 (3):592-603. Abstract: Long-term basal area increment (BAI) in Abies pinsapo was studied to investigate the way density-dependent factors modulate the responses of radial growth to climatic stresses in relict stands of a drought-sensitive Mediterranean fir. First, we verified that spatially explicit competition predicts mean A. pinsapo BAI at our study site; i.e. it modulates the degree to which the average climate-driven potential for growth is expressed. Second, we verified that the long-term pattern of temperature predicts the long-term pattern of BAI, estimated as the main trend over a time period of c. 40 years. Finally, we assessed whether the intensity of tree-to-tree competition restrains the potential improvements achieved by our model of BAI when a short-term, high-frequency stressor such as drought (inter-annual precipitation variability) is introduced. We applied Dynamic Factor Analysis (DFA) to characterize regional climatic trends and to test the hypothesis that trees subjected to contrasting competition intensity may differ in their growth pattern. Significant long-term climate trends obtained by DFA were used as predictors of long-term BAI. The mean BAI was mainly determined by competition, whereas growth trends obtained by DFA...]]> Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=85 11 June 2010

On Friday, June 11th 2010, after long negotiations over the functions of an Intergovernemntal Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), its guiding principles and the next steps, delegates at the Busan conference held in the Republic of Korea adopted the Busan Outcome document which sets the path for establishing an IPBES. Chair Chan-woo, in his closing remarks, emphasized the historic nature of this moment for Busan, Republic of Korea and the International Year of Biodiversity. For further information please visit: http://www.iisd.ca/ymb/biodiv/ipbes3 ]]> Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=84 04 June 2010

Durán, J., Rodríguez, A., Fernández-Palacios, J.M., Gallardo, A., 2010. Long-term decrease of organic and inorganic nitrogen concentrations due to pine forest wildfire. Annals of Forest Science 67 (2), 7 pages. Abstract: Growing concerns about fires and the increase of fire frequency and severity due to climate change have stimulated a large number of scientific papers about fire ecology. Most researchers have focused on the short-term effects of fire, and the knowledge about the long-term consequences of fires on ecosystem nutrient dynamics is still scarce. Our aim was to improve the existing knowledge about the long-term effects of wildfires on forest-labile N concentrations. We hypothesized that fires may cause an initial decline in organic and inorganic N availability, and in the amount of microbial biomass-N; this should be followed by the recovery of pre-fire N concentrations on a long-term basis. We selected a fire chronosequence in Pinus canariensis forests on La Palma Island (Canary Islands, Spain). These forests are under low anthropogenic atmospheric deposition, and forest management is completely lacking; wildfires are therefore the only significant disturbance. Soil samples were collected during the winter and spring at 22 burned and unburned plots. Fire produced a significant decrease in microbial biomass N, mineral N and dissolved organic N. Almost 20 y after fire, pre-fire levels of N concentrations had not recovered. These results demonstrate that P. canariensis...]]> Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=82 03 June 2010

Spies, T.A., Giesen, T.W., Swanson, F.J., Franklin, J.F., Lach, D., Johnson, K.N., 2010. Climate change adaptation strategies for federal forests of the Pacific Northwest, USA: ecological, policy, and socio-economic perspectives. Landscape Ecology , pp. 1-15. (Article in press) Abstract: Conserving biological diversity in a changing climate poses major challenges for land managers and society. Effective adaptive strategies for dealing with climate change require a socio-ecological systems perspective. We highlight some of the projected ecological responses to climate change in the Pacific Northwest, U.S.A and identify possible adaptive actions that federal forest managers could take. The forest landscape, ownership patterns and recent shift toward ecologically based forest management provide a good starting place for conserving biological diversity under climate change. Nevertheless, undesirable changes in species and ecosystems will occur and a number of adaptive actions could be undertaken to lessen the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems. These include: manipulation of stand and landscape structure to increase ecological resistance and resilience; movement of species and genotypes; and engaging in regional, multi-ownership planning to make adaptive actions more effective. Although the language and goals of environmental laws and policies were developed under the assumption of stable climate and disturbance regimes, they appear to be flexible enough to accommodate many adaptive ac...]]> Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=83 03 June 2010

Yousefpour, R., Hanewinkel, M., Le Moguédec, G., 2010. Evaluating the suitability of management strategies of pure Norway spruce forests in the Black Forest area of Southwest Germany for adaptation to or mitigation of climate change. Environmental Management 45 (2), pp. 387-402. Abstract: The study deals with the problem of evaluating management strategies for pure stands of Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst) to balance adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, taking into account multiple objectives of a forest owner. A simulation and optimization approach was used to evaluate the management of a 1000 ha model Age-Class forest, representing the age-class distribution of an area of 66,000 ha of pure Norway spruce forests in the Black Forest region of Southwest Germany. Eight silvicultural scenarios comprising five forest conversion schemes which were interpreted as "adaptation" strategies which aims at increasing the proportion of Beech, that is expected to better cope with climate change than the existing Norway spruce, and three conventional strategies including a "Do-nothing" alternative classified as "mitigation", trying to keep rather higher levels of growing stock of spruce, were simulated using the empirical growth simulator BWINPro-S. A linear programming approach was adapted to simultaneously maximize the net present values of carbon sequestration and timber production subject to the two constraints of wood even flow and partial protection of the oldest (nature protection). ...]]> Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=81 31 May 2010

The 2-day event is organised by the INTERREG project Transnational Forestry Management Strategies in Response to Regional Climate Change Impacts (ForeStClim) and it is the mid-team conference of the project. ForeStClim aims to strengthen the ecological and economic stability of North West Europe's forests through producing recommendations for transnationally harmonised forest management and protection strategies. The results of the project will feed into a newly developed decision support system for forest owners, administrations and policy makers. The overall focus of the conference is to have a results-driven meeting. It will provide the grounds for the ForeStClim partner organizations to show the progress made and milestones reached but also provide an opportunity to discuss open questions with a wider audience. “Early bird registration” to the conference is closing on 31 May 2010, but abstracts for posters can be submitted until 15 July 2010. More information on the conference: http://www.forestclim.eu/index.php?id=21&L=11%2F%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D&tx_ttnews%5btt_news%5d=56&tx_ttnews%5bbackPid%5d=11&cHash=74496e657c More information on the project: http://www.forestclim.eu/ ]]> Mon, 31 May 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=78 29 May 2010

PENSOFT is pleased to announce that the Atlas of Biodiversity Risk, a major multidisciplinary and multinational project, was published on 22nd of May 2010. This is one of the outputs of the European project ALARM (performed by 68 partner organisations from 35 countries), with contributions from 366 authors from more than 180 institutions in 43 countries. The book is first of its kind and summarizes in a comprehensive, easy-to-read and richly illustrated form the major threats to biodiversity at a global scale. The global climate and land use changes, environmental pollution, loss of pollinators and biological invasions are among the major risks for biodiversity identified by this comprehensive study. The impacts and consequences of biodiversity loss are analyzed with an emphasis on the socio-economic drivers and their effect on society. Three scenarios of potential future are the baseline for predicting impacts and explore options for mitigating adverse effects at several spatio-temporal scales. The Atlas is divided into chapters which mostly deal with particular pressures. It furthermore is based on case studies from different countries which are completed by introductory and concluding texts for each chapter. The Atlas targets a wide audience. Scientists will find summaries of useful contemporary methods, approaches and case studies, lecturers and teachers will discover examples to illustrate the main challenges of our century in terms of global environmental changes. Conservationists and po...]]> Sat, 29 May 2010 10:00:00 +0200 http://www.motive-project.net/news.php?n=75 14 May 2010

Kramer, K., Degen, B., Buschbom, J., Hickler, T., Thuiller, W., Sykes, M.T., de Winter, W., 2010. Modelling exploration of the future of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) under climate change-Range, abundance, genetic diversity and adaptive response. Forest Ecology and Management 259 (11), pp. 2213-2222. Abstract: We explored impacts of climate change on the geographic distribution of European beech by applying state of the art statistical and process-based models, and assessed possible climate change impacts on both adaptive capacity in the centre of its distribution and adaptive responses of functional traits at the leading and trailing edge of the current distribution. The species area models agree that beech has the potential to expand its northern edge and loose habitat at the southern edge of its distribution in a future climate. The change in local population size in the centre of the distribution of beech has a small effect on the genetic diversity of beech, which is projected to maintain its current population size or to increase in population size. Thus, an adaptive response of functional traits of small populations at the leading and trailing edges of the distribution is possible based on genetic diversity available in the local population, even within a period of 2-3 generations. We conclude that the adaptive responses of key functional traits should not be ignored in climate change impact assessment on beech. Adaptation to the local environment may lead to genetic and phenotyp...]]> Fri, 14 May 2010 10:00:00 +0200