Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Forest Sciences
Extinction drives recent thermophilization but does not trigger homogenization in forest understory
Published: 2023-07-05
Subjects: Botany, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The ongoing climate change is triggering plant community thermophilization. This selection process is ought to shift community composition toward species adapted to warmer climates but may also lead to biotic homogenization. The link between thermophilization and homogenization, and the community dynamics that drive them (colonization and extinction) remain unknow, but is critical for [...]
Multilevel allometric growth equations improve accuracy of carbon monitoring during forest restoration.
Published: 2023-03-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Sciences
Managing disturbed forests for climate mitigation and biodiversity requires monitoring the carbon (C) cycle consequences of replacing established exotic vegetation with native seedlings. Standard approaches rely on allometric growth equations with unexplored limitations for measuring C changes during restoration. Most plants lack species-specific allometric growth equations, which may perform [...]
Assessing the impact of deer on young trees in a Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) plantation based on field signs
Published: 2022-06-14
Subjects: Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences
Predicting the level of damage caused by deer browsing in young plantations is important for selecting appropriate damage control measures. In this study, we examined a method for assessing the level of deer damage in young Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) plantations by observing field signs of deer. First, a questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain information about the damage caused by deer [...]
A Systematic Map of Research Exploring the Ecological Modifiers and Consequences of Bark Damaging Behaviour in Squirrel Species
Published: 2022-05-18
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Zoology
Bark-stripping and browsing by mammals in woodlands can cause widespread damage to trees, inhibiting tree growth and leading to whole tree or canopy death. Sciurid species worldwide are known to incorporate inner bark or cambium tissue into their diets, and outer bark can additionally be used as nesting material. The drivers and causes of bark-stripping behaviour have been investigated and [...]
Hematological and Biochemical Reference Intervals of the Visayan Warty Pig in Negros Occidental, Philippines
Published: 2022-03-25
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Biology, Forest Biology, Forest Sciences, Laboratory and Basic Science Research Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Animal Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Physiology, Zoology
The Visayan warty pig is one of the endemic species of the Philippines that have been listed as "critically endangered." Conservation actions and efforts, such as health assessments, are being carried out to preserve the population. However, there is limited information about the normal hematological and biochemical profile of the species. The study presents reference intervals essential for [...]
The Global Forest Health Crisis: A Public Good Social Dilemma in Need of International Collective Action
Published: 2022-03-11
Subjects: Agricultural and Resource Economics, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Science, Agriculture, Behavioral Economics, Biodiversity, Biology, Biosecurity, Botany, Economics, Entomology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Environmental Studies, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, International Relations, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences, Other Plant Sciences, Pathogenic Microbiology, Plant Biology, Plant Pathology, Plant Sciences, Political Science, Science and Technology Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Society is confronted by interconnected threats to ecological sustainability. Among these is the devastation of forests by destructive non-native pathogens and insects introduced through global trade, leading to the loss of critical ecosystem services and a global forest health crisis. We argue that the forest health crisis is a public good social dilemma and propose a response framework that [...]
Achieving global biodiversity goals by 2050 requires urgent and integrated actions
Published: 2022-02-25
Subjects: Agriculture, Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Sciences, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Plant Sciences
Human impacts on the Earth’s biosphere are driving the global biodiversity crisis. Governments are preparing to agree on a set of actions intended to halt the loss of biodiversity and put it on a path to recovery by 2050. We provide evidence that the proposed actions can bend the curve for biodiversity, but only if these actions are implemented urgently and in an integrated manner.
A set of principles and practical suggestions for equitable fieldwork in biology
Published: 2022-02-05
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Forest Sciences, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Plant Sciences
Field biology is an area of research that involves working directly with living organisms in situ through a practice known as “fieldwork.” Conducting fieldwork often requires complex logistical planning within multiregional or multinational teams, interacting with local communities at field sites, and collaborative research led by one or a few of the core team members. However, existing power [...]
Evaluating critiques of evidence of historically heterogeneous structure and mixed-severity fires across dry-forest landscapes of the western USA
Published: 2021-12-30
Subjects: Forest Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences
The structure and role of fire in historical dry forests, ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and dry mixed-conifer forests, of the western USA, have been debated for 25 years, leaving two theories. The first, that these forests were relatively uniform, low in tree density and dominated by low- to moderate-severity fires was recently reviewed, including a critique of opposing evidence. The second, [...]
Amazon fire regimes under climate change scenarios
Published: 2021-11-17
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Systems Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Fire is one of the most important disturbances of the earth-system, shaping the biodiversity of ecosystems and particularly forests. Climatic change and other anthropogenic drivers such as deforestation and land use change could produce abrupt changes in fire regimes, potentially triggering transition from forests to savannah or grasslands ecosystems with large accompanying biodiversity losses. [...]
Optimizing aerial imagery collection and processing parameters for drone-based individual tree mapping in structurally complex conifer forests
Published: 2021-09-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Recent advances in remotely piloted aerial systems (“drones”) and imagery processing enable individual tree mapping in forests across broad areas with low-cost equipment and minimal ground-based data collection. One such method involves collecting many partially overlapping aerial photos, processing them using “structure from motion” (SfM) photogrammetry to create a digital 3D representation, and [...]
Make natures role visible to achieve the SDGs
Published: 2021-09-08
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Economics, Environmental Studies, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Central to the premise of the Sustainable Development Goals is the concept that the environment underpins the economic and social dimensions of development, yet the language and structure of the SDG framework are largely blind to these environment-development relationships beyond the "nature" Goals (14 and 15). As a result, ecosystem health continues to decline, development milestones lag, and [...]
Aboveground carbon stocks in Madagascar’s vanilla production landscape – exploring rehabilitation through agroforestry in the light of land-use history
Published: 2021-06-29
Subjects: Agriculture, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences
Forests and tree-dominated land uses store large amounts of carbon stocks in plant biomass. However, anthropogenic changes in land use and land cover decrease tree cover and associated carbon stocks. Agroforestry has the potential to maintain or restore carbon in plant biomass but the amount will be influenced by various factors that may include land-use history and management practices. However, [...]
A 25-years population dynamics of sika deer in Kyushu Island, Japan: Estimation using vector autoregressive spatiotemporal model and evaluation of a large-scale management
Published: 2021-02-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Regional management of large herbivore populations is known to be effective in reducing local economic damages and conserving local endemic plants. However, herbivores often move across management areas, and the effect of population management on a large spatial scale is poorly understood, even though it is necessary to use a large-scale approach across multiple management units to implement [...]
Hardwood content impacts the parasitoid community associated with Eastern spruce budworm (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)
Published: 2021-01-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences
A major pest of eastern North American forests is spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana Clemens (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), which outbreaks every 30–40 years and causes large scale tree mortality. Researchers have established that hardwood content reduces the defoliation and mortality of balsam fir and spruces during spruce budworm outbreaks. One mechanism posited to explain these patterns is [...]