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Sustainable Forest Management to Address Climate Change and Forest Disturbances

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Forestry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 12801

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Steve Chhin

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Guest Editor

Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, 26505, USA
Interests: sustainable forest management; climate change; disturbances; forest health; silviculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The sustainability of forest ecosystems in the 21st century will be threatened by the direct effects of climate change. Climate change is also expected to increase the incidences and severity of disturbance agents such as fire, insect pests, and fungal pathogens. It is essential to address these environmental challenges in a proactive manner by identifying effective forest management approaches that promote resiliency to environmental change. This Special Issue welcomes studies that consider biophysical, social, economic, or interdisciplinary perspectives of forest sustainability to address the management challenges posed by climate change and forest disturbances. In particular, this Special Issue will include papers that examine one or more of the following general themes of sustainable forest management: mitigation of climate change and inventories of forest carbon sequestration; historical impact of climate on forest productivity; maintenance of forest ecosystem health; adaptive forest management; conservation of forest diversity; forest optimization and other decision making frameworks; forecasting forest productivity under different emission scenarios of climate change; and development and utilization of bioenergy or forest products derived from forests impacted by climate change and disturbances. This Special Issue is also open to studies that consider sustainable forest management at any spatial (e.g., state/provincial, national, or international level) or temporal scale (e.g., decade or century).

Dr. Steve Chhin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

adaptive forest management
carbon sequestration
climate change
climate mitigation
decision making
forest disturbances
forest diversity
forest health
forest management
forest optimization
forest productivity

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 572 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Desirable Effects from Disturbance Ecology—A Paradox within Conservation Management

by Åsa Davidsson, Magnus Johansson and Carl Bonander

Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7049; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13137049 - 23 Jun 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2400

Abstract

The importance of natural disturbances for biodiversity is well-documented in the disturbance ecology literature. Natural disturbances such as fire, wind, and flooding strongly influence ecosystems by creating short and long-term ecological processes. Conservation management of protected areas should consider the importance of natural disturbances since natural shifts in ecosystems are, in a long-term perspective, necessary to maintain high biodiversity. The purpose of this study is to explore how and if natural disturbances are incorporated in the management of Swedish national parks and to identify possible examples of barriers for this incorporation. The design of the study is a multiple comparative case study based on a document study and completed with qualitative interviews. The cases consist of propositions and management plans for 15 Swedish national parks established between 1962 and 2018. The document analysis generated four main categories: historic/future and positive/negative perceptions of natural disturbances. The results indicate that there are positive perceptions concerning the inclusion of disturbance ecology in the management of national parks. However, there are also obstacles and challenges around natural disturbances within Swedish national parks. These obstacles are, in some cases, explained by practical implications such as the closeness to surrounding societies and in others explained by paradoxes such as visitors’ perceptions of national parks and the wilderness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Forest Management to Address Climate Change and Forest Disturbances)

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14 pages, 4004 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Species Distribution Modeling of Sassafras Tzumu and Implications for Forest Management

by Keliang Zhang, Yin Zhang, Diwen Jia and Jun Tao

Sustainability 2020, 12(10), 4132; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12104132 - 18 May 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2840

Abstract

Sassafras tzumu (Chinese sassafras) is an economically and ecologically important deciduous tree species. Over the past few decades, increasing market demands and unprecedented human activity in its natural habitat have created new threats to this species. Nonetheless, the distribution of its habitat and the crucial environmental parameters that determine the habitat suitability remain largely unclear. The present study modeled the current and future geographical distribution of S. tzumu by maximum entropy (MAXENT) and genetic algorithm for rule set prediction (GARP). The value of area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), Kappa, and true skill statistic (TSS) of MAXENT was significantly higher than that of GARP, indicating that MAXENT performed better. Temperate and subtropical regions of eastern China where the species had been recorded was suitable for growth of S. tzumu. Relative humidity (26.2% of permutation importance), average temperature during the driest quarter (16.6%), annual precipitation (12.6%), and mean diurnal temperature range (10.3%) were identified as the primary factors that accounted for the present distribution of S. tzumu in China. Under the climate change scenario, both algorithms predicted that range of suitable habitat will expand geographically to northwest. Our results may be adopted for guiding the preservation of S. tzumu through identifying the habitats susceptible to climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Forest Management to Address Climate Change and Forest Disturbances)

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16 pages, 288 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Projecting Climate Change Potential of Harvested Wood Products under Different Scenarios of Wood Production and Utilization: Study of Slovakia

by Hubert Paluš, Ján Parobek, Martin Moravčík, Miroslav Kovalčík, Michal Dzian and Vlastimil Murgaš

Sustainability 2020, 12(6), 2510; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12062510 - 23 Mar 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3130

Abstract

The forestry and forest-based sector play a significant role in climate change mitigation strategies and can contribute to the achievement of a climate-neutral economy. In this context, the ability of harvested wood products (HWP) to sequester carbon is of significant importance. The objective of this work is to make a projection of climate change mitigation potential of HWP, under different scenarios of wood utilization in Slovakia. This study builds on the comparison of different scenarios of industrial wood utilization till 2035 and presents the resulting impacts on the national carbon balance. The results suggest that the development of timber supplies after 2020 in Slovakia will be influenced, in particular, by the future changes in the age distribution and tree species composition as well as the extent of future accidental felling. Consequently, a predicted structure and availability of wood resources in Slovakia will be reflected in a higher share of the production of products with shorter life cycle and thus will negatively affect the carbon pool in HWP. By comparing the results of the four designed scenarios, it follows that the scenario with the greatest mitigation potential, is the one assuming the optimal use of wood assortments and limitation of industrial roundwood foreign trade. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Forest Management to Address Climate Change and Forest Disturbances)

16 pages, 1543 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Climate Change and Vegetation Evolution during the Transition from Marine Isotope Stage 5 to 4 Based on Two Typical Profiles at the Southern Chinese Loess Plateau

by Tieniu Wu, Huaqing Wu, Henry Lin, Tiantian Yang, Xiaoyang Wu, Yi Jie and Pei Tian

Sustainability 2020, 12(4), 1372; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12041372 - 13 Feb 2020

Viewed by 1996

Abstract

The geological transitional period from the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 to 4 during the Quaternary period is a multidimensional change involving monsoon and precipitation variation, vegetation dynamics, and environmental evolution. The first loess layer (L1) and the first paleosol layer (S1) in the Chines Loess Plateau provide excellent high-resolution terrestrial sediment record for this transition. In this work, grain size (GS), CaCO₃ content, magnetic susceptibility (MS), and pollen composition were measured at intervals of 2-cm in two representative L1/S1 profiles in the southern Chinese Loess Plateau to reconstruct records of climatic and vegetative changes during this transition. Our results showed that, in general, the paleo-vegetation type was forest-steppe, with Pinus being the commonest tree, and Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia being common herbs in the study area. The topography had a significant impact on the distribution of paleo-vegetation. The increase of coarse particles, the decrease of magnetic susceptibility, and the rising percentage of Gramineae, Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae pollen, all indicated that the paleoclimate became cooler and drier over the transitional period. Besides, we identified a cool event at about 76.8 ka B.P. as revealed by grain-size curves, and in response to this event, the vegetation changed significantly but lagged several hundred years behind the grain size record. This study confirmed the cooling and drying tendency during the MIS 5 to 4 transition phase in the southern margin of the Chinese Loess Plateau. These findings shed light on the climatic change on vegetation evolution during the MIS 5 to 4 transition period. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Forest Management to Address Climate Change and Forest Disturbances)

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Review

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13 pages, 1506 KiB

Open AccessReview

Sustainable Management of Central Appalachian Red Spruce

by Eric Yetter, Sophan Chhin and John P. Brown

Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10871; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910871 - 30 Sep 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1737

Abstract

Red spruce (Picea rubens) was historically an important and dominant timber species in the central Appalachian mountain range. The tree species is now found in a small fraction of its original home range. Threatened and endangered organisms such as the Cheat Mountain Salamander (Plethodon nettingi) rely on red spruce associated forests for survival. This review provides a background on the history of forest management of red spruce in the central Appalachian region. A meta-analysis was conducted on recent literature (published 2000 or later) of red spruce in the central Appalachian region to highlight key management and conservation concerns. In particular, forest health concerns related to air pollution and climatic stress also are addressed. Approaches to examine the impact of environmental factors on red spruce site productivity are covered. This review also provides sustainable management options for restoration of red spruce in the central Appalachian mountain range. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Forest Management to Address Climate Change and Forest Disturbances)

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