Trees, Forests and People最新文献

{"title":"The neighborhood effects of ancient trees on stand growth: evidence, mechanisms and retention implications from individual trees to ancient-tree groups","authors":"Qian Liu,&nbsp;Fanglin Feng,&nbsp;Zhenzhao Zhou,&nbsp;Changcheng Mu,&nbsp;Zhiyuan Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101466","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101466","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Large old and ancient trees are persistent spatial drivers of forest neighborhood conditions, but their effects on neighboring plants cannot be reduced to either competition or facilitation. This review synthesizes evidence for how ancient trees influence nearby plant growth, regeneration and stand development across spatial and temporal scales. We first examine spatial patterns and growth responses that reveal where ancient-tree effects occur, then distinguish aboveground constraints, including canopy-mediated light limitation and litter filtering, from belowground processes involving roots, mycorrhizal connectivity, hydraulic redistribution and rhizosphere communities. We show that the net effect of an ancient tree is context dependent, varying with distance, ontogenetic stage, environmental stress, neighbor traits and neighborhood composition. We further distinguish nonlinear distance-dependent responses from genuinely non-additive effects among multiple neighbors. Following tree death, canopy gaps, coarse woody debris and soil biological legacies can extend neighborhood effects into subsequent regeneration. Finally, we examine how overlapping crowns, roots and microbial networks may generate emergent effects when individual ancient trees occur in groups. This framework identifies ancient-tree neighborhoods as context-dependent ecological units and provides a mechanistic basis for adaptive retention rather than universal removal or retention prescriptions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 101466"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148952647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A land race in formation: genome-wide diversity in Fiji’s mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) plantations and the case for ex situ conservation","authors":"Iliesa Koroi,&nbsp;Tamara Osborne-Naikatini","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101469","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101469","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Swietenia macrophylla</em> has been planted across Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, Fiji since the 1960s, establishing roughly 40,000 ha from imported seed of multiple Central and South American countries. The estate is a land race in formation and an unintended ex situ holding of a CITES Appendix II species, yet its genetic composition is uncharacterised. We quantified genetic diversity within and among Fiji’s plantation populations, characterised population genetic structure, and tested for spatial differentiation, expecting a priori that one to two generations since planting would be too few for isolation by distance to emerge. We genotyped 83 individuals from seven cohort-stratified populations at three Viti Levu sites using DArTseq™. After filtering (call rate≥0.80, reproducibility≥0.96, MAF≥0.05), 25,850 SNPs were retained. All individuals carried unique multilocus genotypes. Observed heterozygosity was 0.168–0.202 and inbreeding coefficients 0.092–0.173. Global Weir–Cockerham F<em>ST</em> was 0.0023, with AMOVA attributing 99.2% of variation to differences among-individuals within populations. Neither a Mantel test (r = 0.008, p = 0.378) nor dbMEM analysis (p = 0.159) detected isolation by distance, as expected. Diversity is retained across sites and recruitment cohorts, and differentiation is negligible—the pattern predicted by a broad, multi-provenance founding sample rather than by contemporary gene flow. Suva carries the greatest allelic richness and 1233 private alleles, a priority for ex situ conservation. Harvesting rules should weigh relatedness rather than phenotype alone to prevent genetic erosion under commercial harvesting. The recruitment sustaining this gene resource also marks an exotic reproducing unaided on a high-endemism archipelago.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 101469"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148952564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fire severity shapes asynchronous herbaceous and shrub recovery along contrasting soil-recovery pathways in a subtropical Pinus massoniana plantation","authors":"Jisi Han,&nbsp;Weixing Xue,&nbsp;Zeyao Zhao,&nbsp;Lin Chen,&nbsp;Zhaogui Yan,&nbsp;Pengfei Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101470","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101470","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Post-fire ecosystem recovery depends on both fire severity and the coupling between soil and vegetation processes, yet herbaceous and shrub layers may follow different recovery pathways. We examined how fire severity shaped surface-soil recovery and understory vegetation dynamics in a subtropical <em>Pinus massoniana</em> plantation in Daye, central China. Unburned reference, low-severity, moderate-severity, and high-severity plots were surveyed at 0.5, 1.5, and 3.5 years after fire. The final dataset comprised 20 permanent plots repeatedly surveyed across three recovery stages, yielding 60 plot-stage observations. Soil physical and chemical properties, herbaceous and shrub diversity, and aboveground biomass were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models, principal component analysis, extended biomass models, and piecewise structural equation modeling. Higher fire severity was associated with strong early soil displacement. At 0.5 years, soil organic carbon declined from 37.33 ± 0.89 g kg⁻¹ in unburned plots to 22.72 ± 0.68 g kg⁻¹ in high-severity plots, whereas bulk density increased from 1.175 ± 0.013 to 1.314 ± 0.018 g cm⁻³. Herbaceous biomass showed the opposite response, increasing from 108.65 ± 30.94 g m⁻² in unburned plots to 442.92 ± 14.71 g m⁻² under high severity. In contrast, shrub biomass decreased from 720.92 ± 126.53 to 110.31 ± 2.95 g per 4 m² at 0.5 years and remained lower in high-severity plots than in the unburned reference after 3.5 years. Soil PC1 explained 68.4% of the variation in soil properties and represented an integrated soil recovery gradient, with positive loadings of soil water content, soil organic carbon, and total nitrogen and negative loadings of bulk density, pH, and available phosphorus. The final piecewise SEM showed an acceptable fit (Fisher’s C = 0.208, df = 4, P = 0.995) and indicated contrasting pathways: fire severity was positively associated with herbaceous biomass (standardized coefficient = 0.486) but negatively associated with shrub biomass (−0.355), whereas soil recovery was positively associated with shrub biomass (0.311). These results show that early herbaceous expansion may obscure delayed shrub and soil recovery, highlighting the need to evaluate post-fire recovery as a layer-specific soil-vegetation process rather than as a single greenness or biomass trajectory.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"27 ","pages":"Article 101470"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148952649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Land cover changes and driving factors in highland peatlands of Humbang Hasundutan, Indonesia, based on multi-temporal remote sensing","authors":"Sarah Patumona Manalu,&nbsp;T. Sabrina,&nbsp;Rahmawaty,&nbsp;Delvian Delvian,&nbsp;Oding Affandi","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101354","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101354","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Highland peatlands are increasingly subjected to land-use pressures that threaten their ecological functions and carbon storage capacity. This study analyzed land-cover change, vegetation dynamics, and peatland-related carbon emissions in Humbang Hasundutan Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia, using multi-temporal Landsat imagery (2014, 2019, and 2023), vegetation indices (NDVI and GNDVI), and GIS-based spatial analysis supported by field validation. The results revealed substantial peatland transformation, characterized by an increase in cultivated land from 2906 ha (47.0%) in 2014 to 4364 ha (70.6%) in 2023, while natural forest declined from 1642 ha to 244 ha, representing an 85.1% reduction. Built-up land expanded from 115 ha to 1351 ha, reflecting increasing infrastructure and settlement development. Land-cover transition analysis indicated that the largest conversions involved open land and natural forest being transformed into cultivation areas. Vegetation index analysis showed that cultivated peatlands were predominantly associated with moderate vegetation density (NDVI and GNDVI values of 0.6–0.8), whereas the remaining natural forests exhibited values exceeding 0.8, indicating dense canopy cover. Estimated net greenhouse gas emissions reached 48,609 tCO₂e yr⁻¹, with biomass loss from deforestation contributing approximately 86% of total emissions. The land-cover classification achieved high reliability, with an overall Kappa coefficient of 95%. These findings demonstrate a rapid transition from natural peatland ecosystems toward intensive land use, resulting in ecological degradation, reduced forest cover, and increased carbon emissions. This study contributes to the limited body of knowledge on tropical highland peatlands and highlights the importance of sustainable land-use planning, peatland conservation, and continuous monitoring to support long-term ecosystem resilience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 101354"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148567248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecosystem services in miombo woodlands: challenges and opportunities to advance policy-relevant research","authors":"Helder Manjate,&nbsp;Natasha Ribeiro,&nbsp;Francisco Moreira,&nbsp;Angela Lomba","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101406","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101406","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Over time, African communities had a close relationship with miombo woodlands, a socio-ecological system providing key ecosystem services (ES) supporting the livelihoods of &gt;100 million people. Charcoal production and agriculture led to deforestation and forest degradation, contributing to the erosion of ES provided by miombo woodlands. While studies assessing ES across time and space have been published, assessments specifically targeting miombo woodlands are scarce. To synthesize research assessing ES provided by miombo woodlands a systematic review was developed, including methods and indicators used for ES evaluation. Overall, results show that publications have increased over time (2000–2024), with Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia as the main geographical areas of the publications assessed. The majority of the publications focused on provisioning services (food supply, wood fuels, raw materials and timber), followed by regulation and maintenance services (climate regulation and soil quality), and cultural services (scientific research and heritage). Modelling and mapping and forest inventories and/or field assessments were used to assess biophysical processes, while interviews, focus group discussions were methods applied to assess cultural ES. Wood biomass and volume, forest products, and edible plant records were pinpointed as indicators used to quantify forest products provided. Wood and soil carbon stock and soil nutrient stock were identified as applied to quantify the carbon in wood, grass and soil and the nutrients in the soil. An asymmetric distribution of research on ES in the miombo woodlands was observed, suggesting knowledge gaps between countries that may influence policies and labels for natural resource management. Based on the evidence synthesised, we propose a conceptual framework that integrates research priorities, ES assessment, and policy applications to guide future research and the sustainable management of miombo woodlands.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 101406"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148656704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Species-specific responses of three dominant urban tree species to artificial light at night: Phenological shifts, trait trade-offs and implications for urban forest management","authors":"Yuwu Li,&nbsp;Wenzhe Shan,&nbsp;Yi Liu,&nbsp;Luona Qiu,&nbsp;Sheng Lin,&nbsp;Yongxuan Song,&nbsp;Chun Gan,&nbsp;Yantao Xu,&nbsp;Chao You,&nbsp;Yujie Xia","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101422","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101422","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rapid global urbanization has driven the widespread expansion of artificial light at night (ALAN), a pervasive anthropogenic disturbance that alters nocturnal ecosystem dynamics. Urban trees are continuously exposed to ALAN, yet species-specific adaptive strategies underlying phenological shifts and leaf functional trait coordination remain poorly characterized. This study selected three dominant urban tree species (Platanus × acerifolia (Aiton) Willd., Prunus serrulata var. lannesiana (Carri.) Makino, and Ginkgo biloba L.) and combined in-situ field monitoring with laboratory physiological analyses to investigate the effects of long-term ALAN exposure in Qingdao, a coastal city in northern China. Results showed that ALAN significantly advanced spring bud break and floral bloom across all three species. In autumn, leaf senescence was delayed in P. × acerifolia and P. serrulata but markedly accelerated in the relict species G. biloba. P. × acerifolia employed a high light-use efficiency strategy, with elevated chlorophyll content and increased leaf mass per area (LMA). P. serrulata relied on morphological adjustment via enlarged leaf area, with no detectable change in chlorophyll levels. In contrast, G. biloba exhibited physiological–phenological decoupling: chlorophyll content increased passively, but leaf senescence occurred prematurely. ALAN induced divergent trait coordination patterns and distinct tolerance thresholds among the three species. These findings confirm that ALAN does not universally benefit urban trees, and reveal notable trade-offs between ecological effects and management risks. They provide actionable, species-specific guidance for urban forest planning, lighting design, and vegetation maintenance, supporting a balance between human lighting demands and urban ecosystem health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 101422"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148656889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing ecosystem services and economic valuation of urban trees: Combining field data and i-Tree Canopy in Hamadan city","authors":"Shiva Gharibi,&nbsp;Kamran Shayesteh,&nbsp;Arman Rastkhadiv","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101380","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101380","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a key component of nature-based solutions, urban trees play a vital role in enhancing ecosystem services for urban carbon storage. The i-Tree model is one of the most widely used tools for modeling and economically valuing urban carbon storage ecosystem services. This study compared and evaluated two for quantifying urban tree carbon storage in Hamadan: the i-Tree Canopy tool and field data. The first method used 400 random points within the study area, classifying each as either tree or non-tree cover. i-Tree generates outputs including the percentage of cover class, the amount of stored carbon, annual sequestration, and air pollutant removal. In the second approach, Hamadan's canopy cover was extracted from Google Earth images. During fieldwork, 800 trees were randomly selected, and canopy diameter and allometric data were collected. The average canopy cover of the 800 surveyed trees was used to estimate the average canopy area per tree. Dividing the total urban canopy area by this average provided an estimate of the total number of urban trees. Allometric equations were used to calculate the stored carbon for each tree species. Multiplying this by the canopy area (in square meters) yielded the stored carbon in kg C/m², which was then valued based on the global carbon market price. According to i-Tree results, trees in the study area annually sequester approximately 2.54 kt of carbon from the atmosphere and store it in their biomass. In addition to annual carbon sequestration, the trees have cumulatively stored 63.91 kt of carbon in their biomass (equivalent to 234.33 kt of CO₂). The total carbon stored by urban trees in the field was 58.82 kt (equivalent to 215.87 kt of CO₂). The consistency analysis revealed an absolute difference of 5.09 kt C and a relative difference of approximately 8.3%, indicating a high degree of similarity between the estimates produced by the two independent approaches. The research findings help improve the accuracy of ecosystem service assessment in developing cities and provide a scientific basis for urban planning, climate policy, and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 101380"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148554986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Towards operational tree-level timber quality and volume estimation using UAV multi-sensor remote sensing","authors":"Paul Eisenschink,&nbsp;Thomas Knoke,&nbsp;Wolfgang Obermeier,&nbsp;Lukas Lehnert","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101375","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101375","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Forests provide numerous ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, water purification, and serving recreational needs. However, many forest owners regard their forest primarily as a capital asset, intended to provide timber. Adapted forest management is required to ensure sustained provision of ecosystem services even under fastening climate change, which can strongly benefit from high-quality data. To facilitate that, some manual techniques exist, but the collection of data using those techniques often results in imprecise results and time-intensive when entire forest areas are to be investigated. We present a new framework based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) remote sensing, combining LiDAR and multispectral imagery, applied to a Bavarian forest owned by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. This framework combines tree-level species information obtained via a machine learning approach that integrates multispectral data with tree properties, such as stem diameter and tree height from LiDAR data. Additionally, we present novel methods for assessing stem straightness from LiDAR data, that are validated using photography-based reference data: Distance From Line (DFL) and Continuous Segment Assessment (CSA). The DFL method provides a single straightness index per tree stem, allowing the analysis of stand differences in stem straightness, whereas the CSA quantifies the length and number of straight stem segments. This combined framework enables the detection of growth-related differences, wood volume, and stem straightness with good accuracy within our study sites and allows for the identification of trees based on specific wood requirements. Integrating structural and spectral UAV data supports data-driven forest management decisions, such as balancing timber production with ecological sustainability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 101375"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148554916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Changes in microbial diversity and its response to soil physicochemical properties in the different forest stands of Tongzhou, Beijing","authors":"Xiuzhong Li,&nbsp;Yufei Zhang,&nbsp;Senyang Li,&nbsp;Shuailing Hou,&nbsp;Muhammad Awais Rasool,&nbsp;Jialin Lei,&nbsp;Qiuying Chen,&nbsp;María Daniela Artigas Ramírez,&nbsp;Rafael Fernández Da Silva","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101327","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101327","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil microbial diversity and its interactions with physicochemical properties are critical for forest ecosystem function and nutrient cycling. In this study, 40 soil samples were collected from four forest types in Tongzhou District—Locust Tree (<em>Styphnolobium japonicum</em>), White Poplar (<em>Populus alba</em>), Weeping Willow (<em>Salix babylonica</em>), and Chinese Pine (<em>Pinus tabuliformis</em>)—using metagenomic sequencing and standard soil assays. At the phylum level, the microbial community was dominated by Actinomycetota and Pseudomonadota, followed by Acidobacteriota, Nitrososphaerota, and other subdominant taxa, together with a long tail of low-abundance phyla.Nitrogen-fixing and potassium-solubilizing functional groups were the most abundant (43.5–46.7% and 22.6–25.7%, respectively), while saprotrophs accounted for a minor fraction (&lt;1%). Alpha diversity was highest in Locust Tree forests, with dominant Nitrososphaerota, whereas White Poplar forests showed lower richness but higher evenness. Beta diversity revealed similar community structures between Locust Tree and Chinese Pine, and between White Poplar and Weeping Willow. Soils were generally alkaline, poorly aerated, and deficient in organic matter, total nitrogen, and phosphorus, with heterogeneous distribution of available nutrients. Functional guilds were correlated with soil nutrient variables in Locust Tree and Weeping Willow, while weaker or contrasting patterns were observed in White Poplar and Chinese Pine. These patterns suggest potential implications for microbial–soil interactions under different forest types in urban ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 101327"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148567171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Determinants of local participation in forest governance under ecotourism using social exchange theory","authors":"Rahim Maleknia,&nbsp;Navid Zamani,&nbsp;Aureliu Florin Hălălișan","doi":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101373","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101373","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Forest-based ecotourism is increasingly promoted as a mechanism to align biodiversity conservation with livelihood sustainability in forest-dependent regions. However, the extent to which such initiatives foster meaningful local participation in forest governance remains insufficiently understood. Drawing on social exchange theory, this study develops and empirically tests a model explaining how forest-dependent communities evaluate ecotourism-related exchanges and how these evaluations shape their participation in governance processes. Data were collected from 398 residents in the Zagros forest region of western Iran and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated that participation in forest governance is primarily associated with residents’ overall evaluation of the balance between perceived benefits and costs, rather than by these factors in isolation. While perceived benefits positively influenced participation and perceived costs exerted a negative effect, the cost–benefit balance emerged as the strongest predictor and a key mediating mechanism. In addition, institutional trust and perceived fairness significantly enhanced participation, highlighting the importance of governance legitimacy alongside economic considerations. The model explained a substantial proportion of variance in participation behavior (R² = 0.62), indicating strong explanatory power. These findings advanced understanding of participatory forest governance by conceptualizing community engagement as a behavioral response to multidimensional exchange evaluations embedded in ecotourism systems. The study underscored that ecotourism can support inclusive and sustainable forest governance only when benefits are perceived as proportionate to local costs and when governance processes are transparent, trustworthy, and equitable.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36104,"journal":{"name":"Trees, Forests and People","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 101373"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148567191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}