Urban forest health survey on Roznik in Ljubljana in 2013 by two methods

Urban forest health was surveyed on Roznik in Ljubljana (46.05141 N, 14.47797 E) in 2013 by two methods: ICP Forests and UFMO. ICP Forests is most commonly used monitoring programme in Europe - the International Co-operative Programme on the Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests, which is based on systematic grid. UFMO method - Urban Forests Management Oriented method was developed in the frame of EMoNFUr Project - Establishing a monitoring network to assess lowland forest and urban plantations in Lombardy and urban forest in Slovenia (LIFE10 ENV/IT/000399). UFMO is based on non-linear transects (GPS tracks). ICP forests monitoring plots were established in July 2013 in the urban forest Roznik in Ljubljana .The 32 plots are located on sampling grid 500 × 500 m. The grid was down-scaled from the National Forest Monitoring survey, which bases on national sample grid 4 × 4 km. With the ICP forests method the following parameters for each tree within the 15 plots were gathered according to the ICP forests manual for Visual assessment of crown condition and damaging agents: tree species, percentage of defoliation, affected part of the tree, specification of affected part, location in crown, symptom, symptom specification, causal agents / factors, age of damage, damage extent, and damage extent on the trunk. With the UFMO method, the following parameters for each tree that needed sylviculture measure (felling, pruning, sanitary felling, thinning, etc.) were recorded: tree species, breast diameter, causal agent / damaging factor, GPS waypoint and GPS track. For overall picture in the urban forest health problems, also other biotic and abiotic damaging factors that did not require management action were recorded.

Methods for sampling and assessing deposits of insecticidal sprays released over forests /

Issued Nov. 1978.

'Neighbourhood' size, dispersal and density estimates in the prickly forest skink (Gnypetoscincus queenslandiae) using individual genetic and demographic methods

Dispersal, or the amount of dispersion between an individual's birthplace and that of its offspring, is of great importance in population biology, behavioural ecology and conservation, however, obtaining direct estimates from field data on natural populations can be problematic. The prickly forest skink, Gnypetoscincus queenslandiae, is a rainforest endemic skink from the wet tropics of Australia. Because of its log-dwelling habits and lack of definite nesting sites, a demographic estimate of dispersal distance is difficult to obtain. Neighbourhood size, defined as 4 piD sigma (2) (where D is the population density and sigma (2) the mean axial squared parent-offspring dispersal rate), dispersal and density were estimated directly and indirectly for this species using mark-recapture and microsatellite data, respectively, on lizards captured at a local geographical scale of 3 ha. Mark-recapture data gave a dispersal rate of 843 m(2)/generation (assuming a generation time of 6.5 years), a time-scaled density of 13 635 individuals * generation/km(2) and, hence, a neighbourhood size of 144 individuals. A genetic method based on the multilocus (10 loci) microsatellite genotypes of individuals and their geographical location indicated that there is a significant isolation by distance pattern, and gave a neighbourhood size of 69 individuals, with a 95% confidence interval between 48 and 184. This translates into a dispersal rate of 404 m(2)/generation when using the mark-recapture density estimation, or an estimate of time-scaled population density of 6520 individuals * generation/km(2) when using the mark-recapture dispersal rate estimate. The relationship between the two categories of neighbourhood size, dispersal and density estimates and reasons for any disparities are discussed.

Impacts of vinasse and methods of sugarcane harvesting on the availability of K and carbon stock of an Argisol

ABSTRACT Soils of tropical regions are more weathered and in need of conservation managements to maintain and improve the quality of its components. The objective of this study was to evaluate the availability of K, the organic matter content and the stock of total carbon of an Argisol after vinasse application and manual and mechanized harvesting of burnt and raw sugarcane, in western São Paulo.The data collection was done in the 2012/2013 harvest, in a bioenergy company in Presidente Prudente/SP. The research was arranged out following a split-plot scheme in a 5x5 factorial design, characterized by four management systems: without vinasse application and harvest without burning; with vinasse application and harvest without burning; with vinasse application and harvest after burning; without vinasse application and harvest after burning; plus native forest, and five soil sampling depths (0-10 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50 cm), with four replications. In each treatment, the K content in the soil and accumulated in the remaining dry biomass in the area, the levels of organic matter, organic carbon and soil carbon stock were determined. The mean values were compared by Tukey test. The vinasse application associated with the harvest without burning increased the K content in soil layers up to 40 cm deep. The managements without vinasse application and manual harvest after burning, and without vinasse application with mechanical harvesting without burning did not increase the levels of organic matter, organic carbon and stock of total soil organic carbon, while the vinasse application and harvest after burning and without burning increased the levels of these attributes in the depth of 0-10 cm.

On sampling collection procedure effectiveness for forest soil characterization

One of the most important measures to prevent wild forest fires is the use of prescribed and controlled burning actions as it reduce the fuel mass availability. The impact of these management activities on soil physical and chemical properties varies according to the type of both soil and vegetation. Decisions in forest management plans are often based on the results obtained from soil-monitoring campaigns. Those campaigns are often man-labor intensive and expensive. In this paper we have successfully used the multivariate statistical technique Robust Principal Analysis Compounds (ROBPCA) to investigate on the sampling procedure effectiveness for two different methodologies, in order to reflect on the possibility of simplifying and reduce the sampling collection process and its auxiliary laboratory analysis work towards a cost-effective and competent forest soil characterization.

Soil sampling design and sampling techniques for soil properties monitoring – common difficulties related to forest soils

Mathematical models and statistical analysis are key instruments in soil science scientific research as they can describe and/or predict the current state of a soil system. These tools allow us to explore the behavior of soil related processes and properties as well as to generate new hypotheses for future experimentation. A good model and analysis of soil properties variations, that permit us to extract suitable conclusions and estimating spatially correlated variables at unsampled locations, is clearly dependent on the amount and quality of data and of the robustness techniques and estimators. On the other hand, the quality of data is obviously dependent from a competent data collection procedure and from a capable laboratory analytical work. Following the standard soil sampling protocols available, soil samples should be collected according to key points such as a convenient spatial scale, landscape homogeneity (or non-homogeneity), land color, soil texture, land slope, land solar exposition. Obtaining good quality data from forest soils is predictably expensive as it is labor intensive and demands many manpower and equipment both in field work and in laboratory analysis. Also, the sampling collection scheme that should be used on a data collection procedure in forest field is not simple to design as the sampling strategies chosen are strongly dependent on soil taxonomy. In fact, a sampling grid will not be able to be followed if rocks at the predicted collecting depth are found, or no soil at all is found, or large trees bar the soil collection. Considering this, a proficient design of a soil data sampling campaign in forest field is not always a simple process and sometimes represents a truly huge challenge. In this work, we present some difficulties that have occurred during two experiments on forest soil that were conducted in order to study the spatial variation of some soil physical-chemical properties. Two different sampling protocols were considered for monitoring two types of forest soils located in NW Portugal: umbric regosol and lithosol. Two different equipments for sampling collection were also used: a manual auger and a shovel. Both scenarios were analyzed and the results achieved have allowed us to consider that monitoring forest soil in order to do some mathematical and statistical investigations needs a sampling procedure to data collection compatible to established protocols but a pre-defined grid assumption often fail when the variability of the soil property is not uniform in space. In this case, sampling grid should be conveniently adapted from one part of the landscape to another and this fact should be taken into consideration of a mathematical procedure.

Analysis of Forest Fires by means of Pseudo Phase Plane and Multidimensional Scaling Methods

Forest fires dynamics is often characterized by the absence of a characteristic length-scale, long range correlations in space and time, and long memory, which are features also associated with fractional order systems. In this paper a public domain forest fires catalogue, containing information of events for Portugal, covering the period from 1980 up to 2012, is tackled. The events are modelled as time series of Dirac impulses with amplitude proportional to the burnt area. The time series are viewed as the system output and are interpreted as a manifestation of the system dynamics. In the first phase we use the pseudo phase plane (PPP) technique to describe forest fires dynamics. In the second phase we use multidimensional scaling (MDS) visualization tools. The PPP allows the representation of forest fires dynamics in two-dimensional space, by taking time series representative of the phenomena. The MDS approach generates maps where objects that are perceived to be similar to each other are placed on the map forming clusters. The results are analysed in order to extract relationships among the data and to better understand forest fires behaviour.

Using stated preference methods to assess environmental impacts of forest biomass power plants in Portugal

As a renewable energy source, the use of forest biomass for electricity generation is advantageous in comparison with fossil fuels, however the activity of forest biomass power plants causes adverse impacts, affecting particularly neighbouring communities. The main objective of this study is to estimate the effects of the activity of forest biomass power plants on the welfare of two groups of stakeholders, namely local residents and the general population and we apply two stated preference methods: contingent valuation and discrete choice experiments, respectively. The former method was applied to estimate the minimum compensation residents of neighbouring communities of two forest biomass power plants in Portugal would be willing to accept. The latter method was applied among the general population to estimate their willingness to pay to avoid specific environmental impacts. The results show that the presence of the selected facilities affects individuals’ well-being. On the other hand, in the discrete choice experiments conducted among the general population all impacts considered were significant determinants of respondents’ welfare levels. The results of this study stress the importance of performing an equity analysis of the welfare effects on different groups of stakeholders from the installation of forest biomass power plants, as their effects on welfare are location and impact specific. Policy makers should take into account the views of all stakeholders either directly or indirectly involved when deciding crucial issues regarding the sitting of new forest biomass power plants, in order to achieve an efficient and equitable outcome.

Biomass equations for forest regrowth in the eastern Amazon using randomized branch sampling

Forest regrowth occupies an extensive and increasing area in the Amazon basin, but accurate assessment of the impact of regrowth on carbon and nutrient cycles has been hampered by a paucity of available allometric equations. We develop pooled and species-specific equations for total aboveground biomass for a study site in the eastern Amazon that had been abandoned for 15 years. Field work was conducted using randomized branch sampling, a rapid technique that has seen little use in tropical forests. High consistency of sample paths in randomized branch sampling, as measured by the standard error of individual paths (14%), suggests the method may provide substantial efficiencies when compared to traditional procedures. The best fitting equations in this study used the traditional form Y=a×DBHb, where Y is biomass, DBH is diameter at breast height, and a and b are both species-specific parameters. Species-specific equations of the form Y=a(BA×H), where Y is biomass, BA is tree basal area, H is tree height, and a is a species-specific parameter, fit almost as well. Comparison with previously published equations indicated errors from -33% to +29% would have occurred using off-site relationships. We also present equations for stemwood, twigs, and foliage as biomass components.

Evaluating sampling strategies and logistic regression methods for modelling complex land cover changes

The role of land cover change as a significant component of global change has become increasingly recognized in recent decades. Large databases measuring land cover change, and the data which can potentially be used to explain the observed changes, are also becoming more commonly available. When developing statistical models to investigate observed changes, it is important to be aware that the chosen sampling strategy and modelling techniques can influence results. We present a comparison of three sampling strategies and two forms of grouped logistic regression models (multinomial and ordinal) in the investigation of patterns of successional change after agricultural land abandonment in Switzerland. Results indicated that both ordinal and nominal transitional change occurs in the landscape and that the use of different sampling regimes and modelling techniques as investigative tools yield different results. Synthesis and applications. Our multimodel inference identified successfully a set of consistently selected indicators of land cover change, which can be used to predict further change, including annual average temperature, the number of already overgrown neighbouring areas of land and distance to historically destructive avalanche sites. This allows for more reliable decision making and planning with respect to landscape management. Although both model approaches gave similar results, ordinal regression yielded more parsimonious models that identified the important predictors of land cover change more efficiently. Thus, this approach is favourable where land cover change pattern can be interpreted as an ordinal process. Otherwise, multinomial logistic regression is a viable alternative.

Large multi-gene phylogenetic trees of the grasses (Poaceae): progress towards complete tribal and generic level sampling.

In this paper we included a very broad representation of grass family diversity (84% of tribes and 42% of genera). Phylogenetic inference was based on three plastid DNA regions rbcL, matK and trnL-F, using maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods. Our results resolved most of the subfamily relationships within the major clades (BEP and PACCMAD), which had previously been unclear, such as, among others the: (i) BEP and PACCMAD sister relationship, (ii) composition of clades and the sister-relationship of Ehrhartoideae and Bambusoideae + Pooideae, (iii) paraphyly of tribe Bambuseae, (iv) position of Gynerium as sister to Panicoideae, (v) phylogenetic position of Micrairoideae. With the presence of a relatively large amount of missing data, we were able to increase taxon sampling substantially in our analyses from 107 to 295 taxa. However, bootstrap support and to a lesser extent Bayesian inference posterior probabilities were generally lower in analyses involving missing data than those not including them. We produced a fully resolved phylogenetic summary tree for the grass family at subfamily level and indicated the most likely relationships of all included tribes in our analysis.

When rare is just a matter of sampling: unexpected dominance of clubtail dragonflies (Odonata, Gomphidae) through different collecting methods at Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

When rare is just a matter of sampling: Unexpected dominance of clubtail dragonflies (Odonata, Gomphidae) through different collecting methods at Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Capture of dragonfly adults during two short expeditions to Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais State, using three distinct collecting methodsaerial nets, Malaise and light sheet trapsis reported. The results are outstanding due the high number of species of Gomphidae (7 out of 26 Odonata species), including a new species of Cyanogomphus Selys, 1873, obtained by two non-traditional collecting methods. Because active collecting with aerial nets is the standard approach for dragonfly inventories, we discuss some aspects of the use of traps, comparing our results with those in the literature, suggesting they should be used as complementary methods in faunistic studies. Furthermore, Zonophora campanulata annulata Belle, 1983 is recorded for the first time from Minas Gerais State and taxonomic notes about Phyllogomphoides regularis (Selys, 1873) and Progomphus complicatus Selys, 1854 are also given.

A simple device for sampling of volumetric forest soil cores

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Variation in soil organic carbon and thickness of soil horizons within a boreal forest stand - effect of trees and implications for sampling

Summary