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Sustainable Forest Management (sustainable + forest_management)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	80%

Selected Abstracts

Nest Selection by Cavity-nesting Birds in Subtropical Montane Forests of the Andes: Implications for Sustainable Forest Management

BIOTROPICA, Issue 3 2009
Natalia Politi
ABSTRACT Development of sustainable forestry has been hampered in tropical countries by a scarcity of research on the ecological effects of logging. We focused on cavity-nesting birds, a group known to be sensitive to logging. Cavities used for nesting were not a random subset of all available suitable cavities. Birds selected cavities that were relatively high above the ground, had smaller entrances, and were excavated by woodpeckers. The use of tree species was also not random: Calycophyllum multiflorum, Blepharocalyx gigantea, and Podocarpus parlatorei were disproportionately important. Cavity nests were also more likely to be found in areas with trees with high mean diameter at breast height. This study emphasizes the need to maintain some unlogged forest patches within logging areas and retain certain species of trees. This study has implications for forest management in Argentina, where a new law mandates the sustainable use of forest resources and where many landowners are interested in forest certification. RESUMEN En los países tropicales la implementación del manejo forestal sostenible se ha visto limitado debido a la escasez de estudios sobre los efectos ecológicos de la explotación forestal. Nos focalizamos en aves que nidifican en huecos de árboles porque este es un grupo sensible a las prácticas de manejo forestal. Los huecos en árboles utilizados para nidificar no fueron un conjunto al azar de todos los huecos adecuados disponibles. Las aves seleccionaron huecos en árboles que estaban a una altura elevada desde el suelo, con entradas chicas y excavadas por carpinteros. El uso de las especies de árboles tampoco fue al azar: Calycophyllum multiflorum, Blepharocalyx gigantea y Podocarpus parlatorei fueron desproporcionadamente importantes. Fue más probable encontrar nidos en parches de árboles que tuvieron un promedio de diámetro a la altura del pecho más alto. Este estudio resalta la necesidad de retener algunos parches del bosque sin intervención dentro del área de manejo y retener ciertas especies arbóreas. Este estudio tiene implicancias en el manejo forestal en Argentina, donde una nueva ley plantea un uso sostenible de los recursos forestales y donde muchos propietarios están interesados en obtener una certificación forestal. [source]

Patch-Occupancy Modeling as a Method for Monitoring Changes in Forest Floristics: a Case Study in Southeastern Australia

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2009
TRENT D. PENMAN
fuego prescrito; manejo adaptativo; modelo Bayesiamo; silvicultura; tala Abstract:,The ability to monitor changes in biodiversity is fundamental to demonstrating sustainable management practices of natural resources. Disturbance studies generally focus on responses at the plot scale, whereas landscape-scale responses are directly relevant to the development of sustainable forest management. Modeling changes in occupancy is one way to monitor landscape-scale responses. We used understory vegetation data collected over 16 years from a long-term study site in southeastern Australia. The site was subject to timber harvesting and frequent prescribed burning. We used occupancy models to examine the impacts of these disturbances on the distribution of 50 species of plants during the study. Timber harvesting influenced the distribution of 9 species, but these effects of harvesting were generally lost within 14 years. Repeated prescribed fire affected 22 species, but the heterogeneity of the burns reduced the predicted negative effects. Twenty-two species decreased over time independent of treatment, and only 5 species increased over time. These changes probably represent a natural response to a wildfire that occurred in 1973, 13 years before the study began. Occupancy modeling is a useful and flexible technique for analyzing monitoring data and it may also be suitable for inclusion within an adaptive-management framework for forest management. Resumen:,La habilidad para monitorear cambios en la biodiversidad es fundamental para demostrar el manejo sustentable de los recursos naturales. Los estudios de perturbación generalmente enfocan las respuestas a escala de parcela, mientras que las respuestas a escala de paisaje son directamente relevantes para el desarrollo del manejo sustentable de bosques. El modelado de cambios en la ocupación es una forma de monitorear respuestas a escala de paisaje. Utilizamos datos de la vegetación de sotobosque colectados a los largo de 16 años en un sitio de estudio a largo plazo en el sureste de Australia. El sitio fue sujeto a la cosecha de madera y a quemas prescritas frecuentes. Utilizamos modelos de ocupación para examinar los impactos de estas perturbaciones sobre la distribución de 50 especies de plantas. La cosecha de madera influyó en la distribución de nueve especies, pero los efectos de la cosecha generalmente se perdieron al cabo de 14 años. El fuego prescrito repetido afectó a 22 especies, pero la heterogeneidad de las quemas redujo los efectos negativos pronosticados. Veintidós especies decrecieron en el tiempo independientemente del tratamiento, y solo cinco especies incrementaron en el tiempo. Estos cambios probablemente representan una respuesta natural al incendio no controlado que ocurrió en 1973, 13 años antes de que comenzara el estudio. El modelado de la ocupación es una técnica útil y flexible para analizar datos de monitoreo y también puede ser adecuado para su inclusión en un marco de manejo adaptativo para la gestión de bosques. [source]

Toward Adaptive Community Forest Management: Integrating Local Forest Knowledge with Scientific Forestry,

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2002
Daniel James Klooster
Abstract: This case study of indigenous communities in highland Michoacán, Mexico, examines data on forest change, woodcutting practices, social history, and a recent forest inventory and management plan prepared by a professional forester. It assesses the social and environmental fit of both local knowledge and scientific forestry and considers their abilities to contribute to sustainable forest management. Both bodies of knowledge are limited in their ability to inform the social practice of environmental management. The local forest knowledge system is particularly hampered by a limited ability to monitor the forest's response to woodcutting, while scientific forestry lacks the institutional flexibility to ensure the just and effective implementation of restrictions and prescriptions. This article recommends cross-learning between scientific resource managers and woodcutters, participatory environmental monitoring to assess the results of different cutting techniques, and explicit management experiments to facilitate institutional learning at the community level. This kind of adaptive management approach permits the flexible integration of local knowledge, scientific forestry, and appropriate institutional parameters to modulate human needs and goals with the discordant harmonies of inhabited and heavily used forests in a constant state of flux under processes of succession, disturbance, and spatial variation. Several barriers to this kind of institutional innovation exist, but outside intervention has the potential to change the dynamics of institutional evolution. [source]

Recovery of bird populations after clearfelling of tall open eucalypt forest in Western Australia

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2001
M.R. Williams
Summary 1Increasing concern over the sustainable management of forested landscapes and the extent of forest clearance world-wide has led to a growing interest in the impacts of logging and associated habitat disturbance on biodiversity. 2We conducted an experimental study of the impact of clearfelling on birds of the karri Eucalyptus diversicolor forest in south-west Western Australia over a 17-year period, and a retrospective study of both clearfelled and naturally regenerated karri stands aged from 0 to 146 years. 3One-third of species still had significantly reduced abundance 14 years after disturbance ceased, although all affected species made limited use of regenerating forest. 4Multivariate analysis of changes in bird community structure showed that the effects of disturbance were still evident 14 years after clearfelling. Clearfelling may also have produced some temporary changes in community structure in adjacent unlogged forest. 5Species richness and total abundance of birds declined by 58% and 96%, respectively, in the first year after clearfelling, and 14 years after logging were still 17% and 55% below levels in adjacent undisturbed forest. During this early successional phase both measures increased as a simple function of stand age. Species richness of regrowth reached that of old-growth at 30,50 years and total abundance of all bird species in regrowth was similar to that of old-growth after approximately 70 years. 6Several bird species offer potential as indicators of the ecological sustainability of karri forest management. These species nest in large hollows in standing live trees (two cockatoo species) or have been slow to recolonize immature regrowth karri forests (six species). 7Post-hoc power analysis showed that even the long-term and intensive sampling employed in this study failed to detect declines in abundance of less than 80,90% for most bird species. For many uncommon species, trying to estimate changes in abundance is problematic and likely to require replication which is difficult to achieve in field situations where logged and unlogged forests are compared. Despite this, the present study identified some key impacts of forest clearfelling on bird communities, with implications both for the consequences of clearfelling of forests and the criteria for sustainable forest management. [source]

Phylogenetic Age is Positively Correlated with Sensitivity to Timber Harvest in Bornean Mammals

BIOTROPICA, Issue 1 2008
Erik Meijaard
ABSTRACT The reasons that forest vertebrates differ in their response to selective timber extraction in tropical forests remain poorly characterized. Understanding what determines response and sensitivity can indicate how forest management might yield greater conservation benefits, and help us identify which lesser-known species may be especially vulnerable. We assessed the response of 41 Bornean mammals to selective timber harvest and tested eight hypotheses regarding the correlation between those responses and a range of species characteristics. Multivariate analyses show that phylogenetic species age is a key variable determining sensitivity. Older species are less able to cope with the effects of selective timber harvest. Most of these species are endemic to insular southeast Asia, and do not occur on the Asian mainland. These species are more specialized, and appear less able to cope with habitat change. In contrast, species tolerant to logging evolved more recently. This group tends to be omnivorous or herbivorous, to use all vegetation strata, and to be regionally widespread. This finding allows the sensitivity to habitat disturbance of lesser-known species to be predicted, and therefore has important conservation implications. These new insights also help in the design of large-scale forest landscapes that combine sustainable forest management and species conservation requirements. We recognize that these functions can be compatible, but that some species still need completely protected areas for their survival. RINGKASAN Hingga saat ini belum banyak penelitian mengungkapkan bagaimana berbagai vertebrata hutan akan bereaksi ketika dilakukan pembalakan hutan secara selektif. Dengan mempelajari tingkat reaksi dan kepekaan vertebrata, maka dapat diketahui bagaimana pengelolaan hutan dapat memberikan manfaat konservasi yang lebih besar. Penelitian demikian dapat membantu kami mengidentifikasi spesies mana saja yang biologinya sedikit diketahui namun termasuk rentan kepunahan. Kami mengevaluasi tanggapan 41 spesies mamalia Kalimantan/Borneo terhadap pemanenan kayu secara selektif, dan selanjutnya menguji 8 hipotesa berkaitan dengan hubungan atau korelasi antara tanggapan yang terjadi dengan berbagai karakteristik dari masing-masing spesies yang diteliti. Berdasarkan analisis multivarian disimpulkan bahwa umur filogenetik dari masing-masing spesies merupakan penentu kelentingan masing-masing spesies tersebut terhadap dampak pemanenan selektif. Spesies yang berumur lebih tua cenderung kurang dapat mentolerir dampak pemanenan kayu. Kebanyakan spesies ini merupakan endemik kepulauan di Asia Tenggara. Spesies ini cenderung merupakan spesialis (memiliki niche yang lebih sempit), serta tampaknya tidak seberapa kuat menerima dampak perubahan habitat. Sebaliknya spesies yang lebih toleran terhadap pembalakan cenderung baru berevolusi belakangan ini. Kelompok ini cenderung bersifat omnivora atau herbivora, serta mampu menggunakan seluruh lapisan vegetasi yang ada, serta tersebar meluas. Berdasarkan penelitian ini, dimungkinkan dilakukan prakiraan terhadap kepekaan dan dengan demikian terdapat berbagai manfaat praktis dalam hal metodologi. Analisis ini juga dapat membantu perancangan lanskap hutan berskala besar, dengan menggabungkan pengelolaan hutan berkelanjutan serta kebutuhan konservasi spesies. Kami melihat bahwa kedua kebutuhan pengelolaan tersebut dapat dipadu-serasikan, namun untuk beberapa spesies akan mutlak dibutuhkan kawasan yang dilindungi penuh demi kelanjutan spesies-spesies tersebut. [source]