Forest Ecology and Management最新文献

{"title":"Peeking under the bark: Within-tree densities of the spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) and its enemies in forest conservation areas","authors":"Simon Kärvemo,&nbsp;Dragoş Cocoş,&nbsp;Evelina Andersson,&nbsp;Joachim Strengbom","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122424","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122424","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The European spruce bark beetle <em>Ips typographus</em> is a major forest pest in Europe, with outbreaks intensifying due to climate change-induced weather events. In this study, we evaluated within-tree densities of the spruce bark beetle and its natural enemies during an outbreak in northern Europe. Densities were compared across different forest management types: managed forests and two conservation areas (woodland key habitats and nature reserves). We assessed beetle colonization density, production, reproductive success, predator abundance, and forest characteristics through bark sample analysis during four years. Our results indicate that spruce bark beetle densities were positively associated with surrounding tree mortality, with no significant differences in within-tree densities across forest types. Instead, variations in density were more pronounced across different outbreak phases and forest conditions, derived from remote sensing data. Enemy abundance, particularly <em>Plegaderus</em> spp. and two fungivorous insect groups, were generally higher in nature reserves compared to managed forests. We conclude that complex interactions between forest conditions, outbreak phases, and the occurrence of some specific predators play more crucial roles in bark beetle dynamics than whether a forest is a conservation area or not. For example, in wetter forests, more beetles are needed to overcome defences, while in deciduous forests, non-host volatiles may inhibit pheromones. Specifically, we highlight the less known clown beetle <em>Plegaderus</em> spp. as an important predator, negatively affecting bark beetle reproductive success. These findings emphasize the importance of local forest characteristics in managing bark beetle infestations, suggesting that infestation risk assessments should focus on these variables rather than on forest conservation status, though potential variations at larger scales are beyond the scope of our study.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"578 ","pages":"Article 122424"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Increased drought mortality in fast-growing silver fir trees in the Black Forest","authors":"Julia Schwarz ,&nbsp;Georgios Skiadaresis ,&nbsp;Anna-Lena Reinhart ,&nbsp;Jürgen Bauhus","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122441","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122441","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Silver fir (<em>Abies alba</em> Mill.) has been considered a suitable tree species for drought-resilient mountain forests but recent observations of increased mortality rates in Central Europe challenge this notion, prompting the need for in-depth assessments of drought-induced mortality. Here we analyzed whether the death of individual silver fir trees during drought was indicated by early warning signals in radial stem growth patterns and declines in drought-tolerance of radial growth. For this purpose, we compared tree-ring data of silver fir trees with drought-related dieback and their nearest living neighbors in three forest reserves in the Black Forest region (500–1000 m asl). Early-warning signals in radial growth (EWS) were successful in separating dead from living trees. Long-lasting (ca. 30 years) growth reductions were found to be the strongest mortality signal in fir trees, and these were accompanied by increases in first-order autocorrelation of radial growth series. Dying firs exhibited initially faster growth rates and were larger compared to surviving neighbors at the onset of growth decline, which coincided with a period of increased air pollution in the 1970–80 s. Growth of dead trees was more sensitive to soil moisture fluctuations compared to that of living trees, and this was accompanied by a lower growth resilience to drought in the former. In addition, decreases in growth recovery and resilience to drought were synchronized with the appearance of EWS (reductions in growth) in trees that eventually died during drought. The results of this study raise the question whether the long-term growth reductions preceding tree death, closely linked with declining drought resilience, are contributing factors to tree mortality or merely symptoms of rapidly decreasing vigor in initially fast-growing, larger trees—potentially due to factors such as higher exposure to pre-1980s air pollution or mistletoe infestation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"578 ","pages":"Article 122441"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Adaptation of plantations to drought events in arid and semi-arid regions: Evidence from tree resilience","authors":"Xu Zhang ,&nbsp;Meng Chen ,&nbsp;Taoying Shao ,&nbsp;Guangqi Zhang ,&nbsp;Qiuxiao Duan ,&nbsp;Xiaochun Wang ,&nbsp;Yang Cao","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122437","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122437","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Increasing drought frequency and severity pose a significant risk to global forest plantations, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Developing drought-adaptive plantations is particularly important for vegetation restoration in the context of climate warming. Despite the importance of drought response and adaptation, systematic research on these aspects for major tree species remains limited. Here, we collected 467 tree ring cores from eight paired sites of <em>Robinia pseudoacacia</em> L. (a broad-leaved species) and <em>Pinus tabulaeformis</em> C. (a coniferous species) plantations across a typical semi-arid region of the Loess Plateau (LP) to discern the climate-growth patterns of both species using linear mixed models. We employed hypothesis testing to analyze the differences in tree resilience metrics, including drought resistance and recovery ability, and linear mixed models combined with partial least squares path analysis to clarify the driving factors of tree resilience between <em>R. pseudoacacia</em> and <em>P. tabulaeformis</em>. Our findings demonstrated that Palmer Drought Severity Indices is the key limiting climate factor, without spatial variation, on the growth of <em>R. pseudoacacia</em> and <em>P. tabulaeformis</em>, explaining 47.7 % and 69.8 % of the variables effect percentage, respectively. Compared to <em>P. tabulaeformis</em>, <em>R. pseudoacacia</em> is more limited by atmospheric drought stress and soil moisture, with 11.0 % and 17.9 % of the explained effect percentage, respectively. <em>R. pseudoacacia</em> exhibited lower drought resistance ability, evidenced by a lower resistance (the average value is 0.62) and a higher average growth reduction (0.20) than <em>P. tabulaeformis</em> (0.85 and 0.17, respectively). In contrast, <em>R. pseudoacacia</em> had higher drought recovery ability, evidenced by a higher recovery (the average value is 1.19), a shorter recovery period (1.0), and a faster average recovery rate (0.14), than <em>P. tabulaeformis</em> (1.07, 2.0, and 0.08, respectively). Importantly, all tree resilience metrics for both species exhibited spatial consistency across the LP. Tree characteristics had a stronger effect on drought resistance and recovery ability in <em>R. pseudoacacia</em> than in <em>P. tabulaeformis</em>. Soil properties improved <em>R. pseudoacacia</em> drought resistance ability and reduced its drought recovery ability, but had weaker effects on <em>P. tabulaeformis</em>. Additionally, tree size and age strongly influence tree resilience in <em>R. pseudoacacia</em> through preceding year tree growth of drought events and climate sensitivity. These findings underscore the complementary drought resilience of broad-leaved and coniferous species, emphasizing the necessity for adaptive plantations and diversified tree species plantations as a strategic response to the anticipated increase in drought frequency and severity in arid and semi-arid regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"578 ","pages":"Article 122437"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tree growth responses to severe droughts for assessment of forest growth potential under future climate","authors":"M. Bouwman ,&nbsp;L. Akhmetzyanov ,&nbsp;F. Mohren ,&nbsp;J. den Ouden ,&nbsp;U. Sass-Klaassen ,&nbsp;P. Copini","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122423","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122423","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>More frequently occurring droughts, related to climate change, lead to reduced growth and loss of vitality in trees. The recent drought of 2018 was extreme, long-lasting and resulted in high evaporative demands due to the concurrent high temperatures. The aim of this study was to compare the drought resilience of nine temperate tree species in the Netherlands, and to determine their responses to the severe drought of 2018 in comparison with five earlier drought events since 1970. To assess drought effects on tree species, we analysed tree-ring series of 678 trees in 45 plots throughout the Netherlands. Resilience indices were calculated based on growth reactions and growth recovery after drought. Furthermore, the impact of drought events on species productivity was quantified. We observed species-specific differences in growth responses to drought timing. All species in nearly all sites responded with growth reductions to drought, except sessile oak (<em>Quercus petraea</em> (Matt.) Liebl.). The most productive species in our study were found to be drought sensitive, with productivity losses of up to 30 % during drought in some sites. Productivity losses were highest on the driest soils. Resilience to the 2018 drought did not differ significantly from other drought years for six out of the nine studied species. However, 77.5 % of the individual trees of all studied species did not fully recover in growth within the following two years. Low post-drought growth remains poorly understood and should be taken into account in future studies to safeguard the health and productivity of the forest under climate change. We consider sessile oak a promising species for future forests in the Netherlands. Based on our results, we provide an outlook on future resilience and growth potential of the species studied under projected climate change for the Netherlands.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"578 ","pages":"Article 122423"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Variability increased underneath growth enhancement of Mongolian pine natural forests in northeastern China in response to climate change","authors":"Ming-Yong Li ,&nbsp;Miao Wang ,&nbsp;Na Li ,&nbsp;Jin-Nan Ge ,&nbsp;Guang-You Hao","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122414","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122414","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Clarifying tree growth variability in response to long-term climate change and short-term climate extremes is crucial for predicting future trends of forest performances. With climate change accompanied by more frequent climate extremes, tree mortality has been recently observed in the natural distribution areas of Mongolian pine (<em>Pinus sylvestris</em> var. <em>mongolica</em>), an important species used for afforestation in water-limited environments of northern China. However, the growth dynamics of the naturally grown pine trees and their associations with climate change are not well understood. We combined tree-ring and remote sensing approaches to investigate long-term growth performances and their responses to climate change from tree individual to landscape scales of Mongolian pine natural forests in a water-limited region in northeastern China. We found that the tree-ring width index (RWI) was highly correlated (<em>r</em> = 0.927, <em>P</em> &lt; 0.0001) with satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) during growing season (May-September) and both metrics consistently showed an obvious increasing trend in recent two decades, indicating <u>enhancements of</u> growth and their strong associations at both individual tree and landscape scales. However, long RWI time series also revealed obviously greater variations in radial growth (reflected by increased coefficient of variation) and lower resilience to potential disturbances (higher first-order antocorrelation) underneath such enhanced growth during the past two decades than earlier periods. RWI was found to be positively influenced by water-related climate factors (i.e., precipitation, relative humidity and drought index-SPEI) and negatively affected by temperature during growing season, which were further corroborated by similar relationship patterns between these climate variables and NDVI. Such impacts seemed to have strengthened over time, particularly at short time scales, which likely contribute to the increased growth variability with increasing climate extremes. Comprehensive examinations on growth performances of Mongolian pine natural forests through integrating multiple approaches imply that such forests would suffer from increasing growth instability and risks of die-off under climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"578 ","pages":"Article 122414"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unveiling wind-thrown trees: Detection and quantification of wind-thrown tree stems on UAV-orthomosaics based on UNet and a heuristic stem reconstruction","authors":"Stefan Reder,&nbsp;Melissa Kruse,&nbsp;Luis Miranda,&nbsp;Nicole Voss,&nbsp;Jan-Peter Mund","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122411","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122411","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Severe storm events cause significant biomass losses in European forests. In addition to direct storm damage, biotic, abiotic, and market-related factors contribute to further damage with far-reaching effects on forest and nature conservation. These subsequent damages can be minimized if the amount of damaged timber and its spatial distribution are known and can be used to plan salvage operations. Traditional methods and satellite-based remote sensing can only delineate affected areas and estimate the amount of damaged timber. Aerial remote sensing can determine the spatial distribution of tree trunks with a detection rate of up to 92%, but it cannot quantify the volume of individual trunks. Newer UAV approaches are promising, but a methodology for quantifying fallen trees has not yet been published. This work addresses this gap by using UAVs orthomosaics and a hybrid heuristic and deep learning approach to capture the spatial distribution of tree trunks and estimate their volume while even reconstructing occluded stem parts. For the training of the deep learning model, high-resolution orthomosaics were used, in which 760 trunks were manually outlined and labeled. The method achieved an average stem detection rate DR25 of 92.6%. while an average classification error rate (CE) of 1.6% and a reconstruction error rate of 0.2% were reported. In the consecutive quantification of the stem volume, a relative bias <span><math><mrow><mi>r</mi><mi>b</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>s</mi></mrow></math></span> of <span><math><mo>−</mo></math></span>4.35% was reported for 560 reference stems at 15 investigation sites, whereas the result differ between the site (<span><math><mrow><mi>r</mi><mi>b</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>s</mi><mspace></mspace><mo>=</mo></mrow></math></span> [<span><math><mo>−</mo></math></span>22.44%, 9.06%]) due weather conditions during the flight, stand parameters and the wind-throw pattern itself. The proposed method provides additional information for the management of wind-throw areas and the monitoring of biomass and carbon cycles, supports the understanding of wind-throw dynamics, and promotes the development of sustainable management strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"578 ","pages":"Article 122411"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rational eucalypt logging site management patterns enhance soil phosphorus bioavailability and reshape phoD-harboring bacterial community structure","authors":"Yuxing Xu,&nbsp;Chao Li,&nbsp;Zhichao Wang,&nbsp;Runxia Huang,&nbsp;Apeng Du,&nbsp;Wankuan Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122434","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122434","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Continuous planting of eucalypt plantations negatively affects soil nutrient effectiveness, especially soil phosphorus (P) availability. Therefore, exploring the response characteristics of soil P-mineralising microbial communities and the distribution mechanism of soil P fractions under different transformation patterns on eucalypts logging sites holds great practical significance for improving soil nutrient effectiveness in plantations. This experiment investigated the effects and correlations between four different transformation patterns on soil phoD-harboring bacterial communities, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and P fractions. Management patterns mainly included non-forest area formed upon eucalypt stump germination suppression after two generations of <em>Eucalyptus</em> afforestation (TWE), the third generation of pure plantation planting (THE), mixing of <em>Eucalyptus</em> with <em>Manglietia glauca</em> (EM), and rotation of pure <em>M. glauca</em> plantation (MM), with previous mixed coniferous and broadleaf forest (CK) as the control. The results showed that, TWE and THE significantly reduced soil (0–10 cm and 10–20 cm) organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), bioavailable P, and labile Po, and increased the occluded P and ALP activity compared to CK; however, SOC, TN, bioavailable P, and labile Po indices improved in plantations of EM or MM compared to TWE and THE. Meanwhile, the four management patterns on the logging site caused significant differences in phoD gene community structure and diversity. TWE and THE significantly increased the relative abundances (RAs) of Pseudomonadaceae and Comamonadaceae, which correlated negatively with soil bioavailable P and HCl-P and positively with ALP activity, suggesting a positive effect on Po mineralization and insoluble P mobilization. In contrast, Streptomycetaceae and Oxalobacteraceae were significantly enriched in EM or MM, implying that not all microorganisms carrying phoD genes play important roles in synthesizing ALP. The structure equation model showed that TN, resin-Pi, NaHCO₃-Pi, and HCl-P had indirect effects on ALP through phoD-harbouring bacterial diversity and community composition. These findings provide a basis for understanding the soil P cycling mechanism after eucalypt plantations logging site transformation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"578 ","pages":"Article 122434"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142745887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-term impacts of nurse plants on evergreen and deciduous oak saplings in Northern California","authors":"Chrysanthe Frangos ,&nbsp;Rodolfo Dirzo ,&nbsp;Marta Peláez","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122426","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122426","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Throughout California, oak savannas exhibit poor recruitment of saplings in natural populations. To prevent the decline of California oak (<em>Quercus</em> spp.) populations, management practices need to elucidate the drivers of recruitment limitations. Previous research suggests that nurse plants enhance the establishment of oaks by buffering them from stressors such as insolation and herbivory. However, their long-term effects on sapling performance remain poorly known. Here we explore the differential impacts of nurse plants on the growth and distribution of sympatric evergreen and deciduous oak species. We compared all naturally occurring saplings found underneath and around nurse plants in two environments with contrasting densities of herbivorous mule deer (<em>Odocoileus hemionus</em>) in 2015 and 2023. The nurse plants and oaks observed in 2015 were located and evaluated after eight years, along with all new oak saplings recruited between 2015 and 2023. We uncovered that beneficiary oaks protected by nurse plants had greater height growth compared to those exposed in the open. Additionally, increased herbivory stress is associated with a shift in the distribution of beneficiaries underneath the nurse plant, favoring recruitment closer to the nurse plant’s center. We conclude that nurse plants are only beneficial to the long-term growth of oak saplings under high herbivory scenarios. As nurse plants are not as effective facilitators for deciduous species compared to evergreen ones, further research devoted to management solutions for deciduous oak species is warranted.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"577 ","pages":"Article 122426"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142743874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Contrasting responses of bats and macro-moths to structural complexity in forest borders","authors":"Heather Wood ,&nbsp;Adam Kimberley ,&nbsp;Sara A.O. Cousins","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122416","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122416","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Habitat fragmentation increases the proportion of forest borders in the landscape and many forest borders lose their structural complexity due to modern forestry practices. However, remnants of structurally complex deciduous forests can remain as ecotones between plantations and agricultural fields. In this study we used terrestrial laser scanning to measure structural complexity of different forest borders, measured microclimate, and surveyed bats and macro-moths to understand how these taxa are affected. Our aim is to disentangle the main drivers, direct or indirect, that influence bat and moth assemblages. We studied 79 forest borders, and surrounding landscapes and compared them with adjacent agricultural fields and coniferous plantations. Overall, we found less bat activity and lower macro-moth diversity in simple compared to complex borders. Using structural equation modelling, we show the contrasting responses of forest-specialist bats and moths to structural complexity; with bats responding positively and moths negatively. We found similar divergent results in relation to understorey openness; with increasing forest-specialist bat activity but a lower diversity of forest-specialist moths in more open borders. Understorey vegetation also appears to regulate microclimate with more open borders being warmer and less humid. This has a potential knock-on effect for bats as they favoured borders that were warmer and more humid. Surrounding land-cover was more important than structural complexity for generalist species; with increasing generalist bat activity due to a higher proportion of local deciduous forest cover and increasing generalist moth diversity in landscapes with more forest borders. Overall, these complex relationships between forest structure, microclimate and landscape factors, coupled with divergent responses of both taxa highlight their diverse ecological needs. Therefore, we highlight the importance of managing forest borders to retain complexity and connectivity within multifunctional landscapes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"578 ","pages":"Article 122416"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142745963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi-scale forest heterogeneity promotes occupancy of dusky-footed woodrats in the Sierra Nevada","authors":"Corbin C. Kuntze ,&nbsp;Jonathan N. Pauli ,&nbsp;John J. Keane ,&nbsp;Kevin N. Roberts ,&nbsp;Brian P. Dotters ,&nbsp;H. Anu Kramer ,&nbsp;M. Zachariah Peery","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122412","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122412","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Forested landscapes are naturally heterogeneous, with the distribution of resources influencing animal habitat selection at multiple spatial scales. However, anthropogenic activities and changing disturbance regimes have reorganized how forests are structured from fine- to landscape-scales, generally with unknown consequences for forest-associated wildlife. For instance, fire suppression and selective logging in the western US has led to more homogeneous forests with fewer small patches of early-successional vegetation. As forest management aims to improve forest resilience to extreme fire and drought by restoring historical disturbance regimes and modifying forest structure through fuel management, there is a need for studies that evaluate how animals respond to forest heterogeneity at multiple scales. Here, we estimated occupancy for the dusky-footed woodrat (<em>Neotoma fuscipes</em>), an important prey species for many forest predators including the California spotted owl (<em>Strix occidentalis occidentalis</em>), relative to forest structure and composition at site-, patch-, and landscape-scales within landscapes where forest heterogeneity was created by even-aged timber management. Woodrats were more likely to occupy sites with greater canopy cover, understory cover, and hardwoods – particularly tanoak (<em>Notholithocarpus densiflorus</em>) – and smaller patches of young forest. Woodrats were also more likely to occupy mature forests in close proximity to younger forests, suggesting that young forest patches with more favorable local conditions can produce populations that recruit into adjacent, lower-quality mature forests. Our results suggest that creating small (∼2 ha) patches of high-quality woodrat habitat (i.e., young forests with dense understory and hardwoods) could provide “fishing holes” for spotted owls and other predators by supporting higher woodrat densities in surrounding mature forests managed for fuels – thus helping to meet both spotted owl conservation and forest resilience objectives. More broadly, we highlight the benefits of multi-scale studies and demonstrate that restoring landscape heterogeneity, including the creation of small early-successional forests, may benefit species conservation without compromising efforts to improve resilience in forest ecosystems globally.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"578 ","pages":"Article 122412"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142745964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}