Forest ecosystems

Latitudinal shifts in tree species distributions are a potential impact of climate change on forest ecosystems. It has been hypothesized that some tree species may become extirpated as climate change effects may exceed their migration ability. The goal of this study was to compare tree species compositions in northern urban areas to tree compositions in forestland areas in the eastern U.S. as an indicator of the potential for urban trees to facilitate future forest tree species migration. Results indicated that a number of tree species native to eastern U.S. forests of southern latitudes are currently present in northern urban forests. The biomass density (Mg/ha) of urban tree species is typically less than half of forestland densities with the majority of urban tree species found in nearby (<100 km) forestland. Urban tree propagation is often facilitated by humans, whereas the necessary pollinators and agents of tree seed dispersal in forestlands may be lacking regardless of climate change. It is suggested that urban areas may serve divergent, dual roles as both a native tree seed source and refuge for a limited number of forestland tree species, but also a facilitator of non-native tree invasion.

Within the Ecological Footprint methodology, the carbon Footprint component is defined as the regenerative forest capacity required to sequester the anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions that is not absorbed by oceans. A key parameter of the carbon Footprint is the Average Forest Carbon Sequestration (AFCS), which is calculated from the net carbon sequestration capacity of forests ecosystems.
The aim of this paper is to increase the clarity and transparency of the Ecological Footprint by reviewing the rationale and methodology behind the carbon Footprint component, and updating a key factor in its calculation, the AFCS. Multiple calculation options have been set to capture different rates of carbon sequestration depending on the degree of human management of three types of forest considered (primary forests, other naturally regenerated forests and planted forests). Carbon emissions related to forest wildfires and soil as well as harvested wood product have been included for the first time in this update of the AFCS calculation. Overall, a AFCS value range of 0.73 ± 0.37 t C ha−1 yr−1 has been identified. The resulting carbon Footprint and Ecological Footprint values have then been evaluated based on this value range. Results confirm that human demand for ecosystem services is beyond the biosphere's natural capacity to provide them.

Over the last decades, the stock of natural capital has been globally reduced by human-induced effects such as climate change, and land use and cover modifications. In particular, the continuous flow of goods and services from ecosystems to people is currently under threat if the current human activities still remain unsustainable. The recent bioeconomy strategy is an important opportunity to halt the loss of biodiversity and the reduction of services provision, from global to local scale. In this framework, forest sector plays a fundamental role in further enhancing the sustainable development and the green growth in degraded environments, such as marginal and rural areas. This paper provides an overview of the bioeconomy-based natural resources management (with a focus on forest ecosystems), by analyzing the related challenges and opportunities, from international to national perspective, as in Italy. At first, the role of forest sector in addressing the purposes of green growth i...

ÖZET: Orman ekosistemleri; içinde barındırdığı ağaçlar, çalılar, otsu bitkiler ve diğer canlı grupları ile birlikte
çeşitli olumsuzluklarla karşı karşıyadır. Ekosistem üzerindeki geri dönülmesi mümkün olmayan yanlış
uygulamalar neticesinde ormanların yapısı giderek bozulmakta, doğal orman alanları doğrudan insan etkisi ile ya
da dolaylı olarak insanın neden olduğu olumsuz çevre koşulları nedeni ile gün geçtikçe azalmakta veya tahrip
olmaktadır. Ülkemizin de içinde bulunduğu ılıman zondaki ormanların büyük bir bölümü ilk ormanların
kesilmesi veya tarım alanlarının terk edilmesi ile gelişen sekonder ormanlardır. Bu verimli bölgede insanların
yerleşimi çok eski dönemlere uzanır ve geçmişten günümüze değin süregelen insan faaliyetleri bölgenin
biyolojik çeşitliliği üzerinde önemli etkiler yapmıştır. Var olan pek çok doğal ekosistem yok edilmiş ve geriye
kalan habitatların büyük bir kısmı da parçalanmıştır. Ilıman zon ormanlarının yanı sıra dünya biyolojik
çeşitliliğinin yaklaşık %70’ini ihtiva eden tropik bölge ormanları da aynı tehlike ile karşı karşıyadır. Bu nedenle
günümüzde habitat parçalanmaları biyolojik çeşitliliğin en büyük tehdidi olarak kabul edilmektedir. Orman
ekosistemlerinde parçalanma ya habitatların tamamen kaybı, ya parça boyutlarının küçülmesi ya da p arçaların
konumsal izolasyonlarının iyice artması şeklinde seyredebilir. Orman ekosistemlerindeki bu parçalanma; yeterli
suyun sağlanamaması ve kalitesinin bozulması, zengin ve sağlıklı orman habitatlarının yok olması, rekreasyon,
kereste ve diğer orman ürünlerinden sağlanan ekonomik gelirin azalması ve sellerin artması gibi ekosistemin
imkanlarının bozulmasına neden olmaktadır. Ayrıca biyolojik çeşitliliği azaltmakta ve istilacı egzotik türlerin
girişini artırmaktadır. Bu bildiri ile orman ekosistemlerinde habitat parçalanmaları ve kenar etkisi, parça
şekillerinin nasıl değerlendirileceği, bunların biyolojik çeşitlik üzerine nasıl etkide bulunduğu ve parçalanmanın
engellenmesi için ne gibi önlemler alınabileceği üzerinde durulmuştur.
Anahtar Sözcükler: Habitat parçalanmaları, kenar etkisi, parça şekli, biyolojik çeşitlilik

Forests are rich in biodiversity and valuable for recreation, water regulation and soil protection. As well as for providing timber and other non-wood forest products, forests are important for mitigating climate change and for the renewable energy sector. Forest ecosystems are exposed to a range of environmental, economic and social pressures that challenge their sustainability. The forest sector is influenced by the unprecedented pressures arising from climate change and the growing demands of society on natural resources. The aim of this report is to assess the current state of forest ecosystems in Europe on the pathway to healthy, diverse, resilient and productive forests for the benefit of present and future generations.

A list of recent records of stag beetles (Coleoptera Lucanidae) species occurring in Mediterranean countries is given to improve the current knowledge on their geographic distribution. The saproxylic larvae of the stag beetles are very important for forest ecosystems, and some lucanid species are included in the IUCN Red List and in several national protection lists. However, the knowledge on their distribution is rather heterogeneous for several countries and taxa because the distribution records are scattered in poorly known papers or hidden in Museum or private collections. This paper is an attempt to better understanding the distribution of the stag beetle species across the Mediterranean region, to facilitate research and conservation efforts.

The paper presents the importance of research which characterizes the natural forest structure for the forest management. The lessons learned in these particular forest ecosystems can be integrated by the forest management objectives, in order to increase the sustainability of this type of resources. The project NATFORMAN was focused on the structure of the natural forest, thus research methodologies and modern technology (such as Field-Map) investigation and determination were used in order to record information on forest structural parameters. The results obtained refer to these structural parameters and to the possibility of transferring such information in practice, in order to achieve forest sustainable management.

Background: Tectona grandis (teak) is one of the most important tropical timber species occurring naturally in India. Appropriate growth models, based on advanced modeling techniques, are not available but are necessary for the successful management of teak stands in the country. Long-term forest planning requires mathematical models, and the principles of Dynamical System Theory provide a solid foundation for these. Methods: The state-space approach makes it possible to accommodate disturbances and avarying environment. In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop a dynamic growth model based on the limited data, consisting of three annual measurements, collected from 22 teak sample plots in Karnataka, Southern India. Results: A biologically consistent whole-stand growth model has been presented which uses the state-space approach for modelling rates of change of three state-variables viz., dominant height, stems per hectare and stand basal area. Moreover, the model includes a stand volume equation as an output function to estimate this variable at any point in time. Transition functions were fitted separately and simultaneously. Moreover, a continuous autoregressive error structure is also included in the modelling process. For fitting volume equation, generalized method of moments was used to get efficient parameter estimates under heteroscedastic conditions. Conclusions: A simple model containing few free parameters performed well and is particularly well suited to situations where available data is scarce.

Religious motivations for the protection of forest ecosystems, The shrinking area of forests urges intensification of efforts to restore damaged forest ecosystems and protect the existing ones. Religions may become an important ally in this process. Their ecological potential remains under-exploited. Owing to their &#39;ecological advantages&#39;, i.e. their capacity to shape cosmologies (worldviews), their moral authority and broad base of adherents, significant material resources and community-building capacity, religions can help shape ecological lifestyles. All major religious traditions have a lot to offer. Evoking religious motivations of a substantial part of humanity can greatly improve the condition of forests, increase effectiveness of their protection and encourage broad sections of societies to get involved in this task.

Background National forest inventory and forest monitoring systems are more important than ever considering continued global degradation of trees and forests. These systems are especially important in a country like Bangladesh, which is characterised by a large population density, climate change vulnerability and dependence on natural resources. With the aim of supporting the Government’s actions towards sustainable forest management through reliable information, the Bangladesh Forest Inventory (BFI) was designed and implemented through three components: biophysical inventory, socio-economic survey and remote sensing-based land cover mapping. This article documents the approach undertaken by the Forest Department under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to establish the BFI as a multipurpose, efficient, accurate and replicable national forest assessment. The design, operationalization and some key results of the process are presented. Methods The BFI takes advan...

Acidic deposition is comprised of sulfuric and nitric acids and ammonium derived from atmospheric emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and ammonia, respectively. Acidic deposition has altered soil through depletion of labile pools of nutrient cations (ie calcium, magnesium), ...

The forest-soil-water model PnET-CN/CrtESS was applied to an intensive data base available for a spruce stand at Soiling, Germany. Model results of hydrology, forest growth (net primary production of foliage, wood and fine roots) and element cycling, as well as soil and drainage water chemistry generally showed good agreement with measured values. PnET-CN/CHESS was able to predict average concentrations and the increases of NO 3 in Soiling drainage waters over the 20-year study period , but was not able to simulate some of the dynamics in the overall record. A minor discrepancy between measured and predicted concentrations of SO42-seems to be attributed to a missing source of S in the ecosystem S budget. Model calculations were not able to predict a large decline in pools of exchangeable basic cations observed at the site. Hypothetical simulations of the impact of atmospheric deposition on drainage water chemistry suggest that the Norway spruce (Picea abies) site at Soiling is experiencing conditions of N saturation. Future decreases in S and N loading will likely result in marked declines in leaching losses of SO 2-and NO3, causing an increase in pH.

Mangrove forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Mangrove planting is the most common method of restoring these forests. However, this approach is not often successful, especially when the reasons for mangrove degradation were not removed prior to planting new seedlings or propagules. A successful mangrove restoration project may not necessarily include a planting phase. When the stressors are removed and suitable environmental conditions such as correct hydrology and calm area, particularly on exposed coasts, are provided, natural regeneration processes could recover mangroves from degradation. This paper describes an approach to mangrove restoration applied to an exposed shoreline on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. In this method a detached breakwater was erected seaward at the shoreline to shelter the restoration area from wave action, prevent the ongoing erosion and promote sediment deposition raising the elevation of the substrate to the target elevation. Survival of Avicennia marina seedlings transplanted in the sheltered area was significantly affected by sediment burial (P< 0.05). However, about eight months after construction of the breakwater, the sedimentation rate decreased and the substrate became stable. Subsequently, natural recruits appeared on the site. We postulate that waterborne seeds or propagules were available from adjacent stands in the study area but wave exposure reduced the possibility of natural recruitment. Thus the breakwater presence provided favourable conditions which could attract mangrove recruits, facilitating reestablishment and natural recovery of the mangrove ecosystem without planting. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

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www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857410003198

Background: Tree species represent 20% of the vascular plant species worldwide and they play a crucial role in the global functioning of the biosphere. The Mediterranean Basin is one of the 36 world biodiversity hotspots, and it is estimated that forests covered 82% of the landscape before the first human impacts, thousands of years ago. However, the spatial distribution of the Mediterranean biodiversity is still imperfectly known, and a focus on tree species constitutes a key issue for understanding forest functioning and develop conservation strategies. Methods: We provide the first comprehensive checklist of all native tree taxa (species and subspecies) present in the Mediterranean-European region (from Portugal to Cyprus). We identified some cases of woody species difficult to categorize as trees that we further called "cryptic trees". We collected the occurrences of tree taxa by "administrative regions", i.e. country or large island, and by biogeographical provinces. We studied the species-area relationship, and evaluated the conservation issues for threatened taxa following IUCN criteria. Results: We identified 245 tree taxa that included 210 species and 35 subspecies, belonging to 33 families and 64 genera. It included 46 endemic tree taxa (30 species and 16 subspecies), mainly distributed within a single biogeographical unit. The countries with the highest tree richness are Greece (146 taxa), Italy (133), Albania (122), Spain (155), Macedonia (116), and Croatia (110). The species-area relationship clearly discriminated the richest central-eastern (Balkans) and northern (Alpine and Cevenno-Pyrenean) biogeographical provinces, against the five western provinces in the Iberian Peninsula. We identified 44 unrecognized "cryptic trees", representing 21% of the total trees. Among the 245 taxa identified, 19 are considered to be threatened (15 CR + EN + VU) or near threatened (4 NT) by IUCN. Conclusions: The Mediterranean-European region includes an unsuspectedly high number of tree taxa, almost 200 tree taxa more than in the central European region. This tree diversity is not distributed evenly and culminates in the central-eastern part of the Mediterranean region, whereas some large Tyrrhenian islands shelter several narrow endemic tree taxa. Few taxa are recognized as threatened in the IUCN Red list, and the vulnerability of these species is probably underestimated.

Background: Prosopis species have been introduced to many areas outside their native range to provide benefits to local communities. Several Prosopis species and their hybrids (hereafter "mesquite") have, however, become naturalised and invasive and now generate substantial costs. Management options are limited because of the complex conflicts of interest regarding benefits and costs. Management policies and strategies must take account of such conflicts, but further insights are needed on the dimensions of uses and impacts before such information can be usefully applied. Current policy in South Africa allows for the growth and use of mesquite in one province, but not in others where its control is mandatory. We report on a study to quantify the direct use and perceptions of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) from mesquite and native trees in South Africa. Methods: Semi-structures household interviews were conducted with various stakeholder groups to identify what tree products are used, to ascertain amounts used as well as to gauge perceptions of natural resource use between different tree species and use over time.

The accurate discrimination of forest from natural non-forest areas in Greece presents great interest, since nowadays there is an ongoing effort to develop a Forest Cadastre system. We evaluated the possibility to extract forest areas according to the legislation criteria, in a mountainous area in the Northern-central part of Greece, using an object oriented approach and a very high resolution image. The 240 hectares study area is occupied from deciduous and evergreen forest species, shrublands and grasslands. The segments were classified using two different algorithms, namely Nearest Neighbor, built-in the software eCognition and a logistic regression approach. Furthermore we evaluated for the same task the usefulness of a fused image with the Gram-Schmidt method, classified after the segmentation with the NN algorithm. After the classification of the first level we proceed with a classification based segmentation approach resulting to a second upper level. The later was classified...

Canada's boreal forest represents an important contributor of the world's wood supply industry. However, maintaining or increasing productivity of the boreal forest may be challenging in areas dominated by forested peatlands. Moreover, sustainable management of these forests must also consider other important aspects of the forest ecosystem such as biodiversity and carbon sequestration. To address these concerns, ecosystem-based management has been implemented in some Canadian jurisdictions, such as in regions where a large portion of the boreal forest is dominated by forested peatlands. The objectives of this paper are (1) to summarize our current understanding of how natural disturbances influence stand dynamics and biodiversity in forested peatlands, and (2) to review the main differences between natural and managed forest stands with respect to soil properties, stand productivity, understory plant communities. We also discuss how even-age management regime succeeds or fails to preserve old forests and how this loss affects both forest structure and habitat diversity at the landscape level. We conclude by showing how, in boreal forested peatlands, forest management could contribute to carbon sequestration and mitigate projected climate change.

There is an increasing demand for genuine public participation in Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) planning to address the various demands for forests to deliver a range of ecosystem services. However, as of yet, there are few developed and tested mechanisms to help authorities and stakeholders with diverse interests to effectively work together to reach a common goal. Integrated Forest Land-Use Planning (IFLUP) is an approach that has the potential to accommodate multi-stakeholders' demands in the field of SFM planning. In this paper an IFLUP framework process that facilitates stakeholder participation in future-oriented SFM planning is explored. This framework combines scenario analysis and stakeholder collaborative learning. Its application in a case study area in the West of Ireland is outlined and its effectiveness in accommodating conflicting stakeholder demands on forest ecosystem services as well as its potential opportunities and challenges are evaluated. Based on the results and participants evaluation feedback of the IFLUP workshop outcomes, there was a shared view that the IFLUP approach has potential to address conflicting societal demands on forest ecosystem services within local forest landscapes. Likewise, collaborative learning process helps build trust and respect among stakeholder groups as well as improving the legitimacy and acceptance of SFM planning outcomes.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool to assess the environmental sustainability of a product; it quantifies the environmental impact of a product's life cycle. In conventional LCAs, the boundaries of a product's life cycle are limited to the human/industrial system, the technosphere. Ecosystems, which provide resources to and take up emissions from the technosphere, are not included in those boundaries. However, similar to the technosphere, ecosystems also have an impact on their (surrounding) environment through their resource usage (e.g., nutrients) and emissions (e.g., CH 4 ). We therefore propose a LCA framework to assess the impact of integrated Techno-Ecological Systems (TES), comprising relevant ecosystems and the technosphere. In our framework, ecosystems are accounted for in the same manner as technosphere compartments. Also, the remediating effect of uptake of pollutants, an ecosystem service, is considered. A case study was performed on a TES of sawn timber production encompassing wood growth in an intensively managed forest ecosystem and further industrial processing. Results show that the managed forest accounted for almost all resource usage and biodiversity loss through land occupation but also for a remediating effect on human health, mostly via capture of airborne fine particles. These findings illustrate the potential relevance of including ecosystems in the product's life cycle of a LCA, though further research is needed to better quantify the environmental impact of TES.

In this model of a forest ecosystem the height growth strategy of individual trees is linked to ecosystem-scale budgets of energy and a growth-limiting nutrient. The model spans from the individual tree to stand scales up to one hectare with a yearly time resolution. Competition among trees above-ground for light and below-ground for nutrients is used to model adaptation to external input fluxes over several tree generations. The competition among leaves and roots is modelled by a representation of the geometrical structures and a functional balance among the corresponding biomass compartments of trees. Dead biomass is decomposed in relation to its initial quality and nutrients are thus recycled into the root zone. The model is used (i) to reconstruct biomass accumulation and stand structure for even-aged and thinned stands and (ii) to study the evolutionary stability of observed height growth curves as a function of external input fluxes characterizing the physical environment of the stand in an abstract manner. Empirically, height growth has been widely established as a site-specific growth potential index for Norway spruce stands (Picea abies Karst.) in Germany. The model is used to reconstruct typical height growth curves. Such an assessment of the initial potential in growth responses is a prerequisite for studying the transient growth response to an external disturbance in the nutrient budget of the stand, e.g. in stands receiving atmospheric deposition. * Corresponding author. the governing processes and principles within forest ecosystems.

The potential nutrient return in a chestnut coppice (Castanea sativa Miller) over a period of 3 years (1991)(1992)(1993)(1994) has been established and compared with the returns found in four deciduous oak (Quercus pyrenaica Wild.) forests (1990)(1991)(1992)(1993) located in the Sierra de Gata mountains (central Spanish system). A convergence of abscission phenology patterns was observed among the different ecosystems studied, together with a delay in leaf fall at the warmest plot. This similarity is logical since the plots harbour the same deciduous species which are, however, subjected to climatological variations. The chestnut coppice was found to be more productive than the oak forests, the amounts of leaves, branches, flowers and total litterfall being significantly greater. Statistical analysis showed a highly significant correlation between the chestnut coppice and the oak forest aboveground production, ranging between 0.82 and 0.96 for the leaves and between 0.72 and 0.89 for the total litter. In general, the leaf organs of the chestnut trees showed a higher concentration of bioelements than the oaks, with N and Ca predominant in the buds, Ca and Zn in the branches, K in the fruits, and above all Fe and Cu in the other plant remains. In all the forests studied, the potential nutrient supply fluctuated over the years and depended strongly on phenological factors; above all it was found to be governed by the leaves, which contributed most to the return of mineral nutrients to the soil. The most marked potential nutrient return through the oak aerial organs occurred on the plot with the lowest rainfall, particularly with respect to P and Ca. Considering all the forest plots, the general sequence of the amount of bioelements returning with the litterfall to the soil was as follows:

Auxological and dendrometrical study in uneven age stands from U.P.II Cucureasa – O.S. Coşna
The objective of this study was the auxological and dendrometrical analysis of an uneven age stand from U.P.II Cucureasa. The results consist in finding experimental distribution for diameters and heights, relations between dendrometrical elements of the stand, stand growth, and correlations between growth and rainfall.

Forest ungulates affect woody plant species in many ways, e.g. by removing shoots and leaves, stripping bark, fraying, trampling, defecation and urination. High densities of ungulates can have a profound impact on plant populations, forest structure and ecosystem processes. We focus here on plant responses at two levels of population organisation in woody plants: modules and genets. Modules are defined as leaves and winter shoots, and genets as the original zygotes. Our main concern is with boreal and temperate deciduous forests, but examples from other systems are included where appropriate. Our aims are: (1) to describe and evaluate the effect of ungulate browsers on the number and other characteristics of plant population units (modules and genets), and (2) to identify consequences of the resulting changes in module and genet populations for woody plants, the browser and the forest ecosystems. At the module level, the ungulate browsers can easily change not only the number, but also the size and quality of modules. The browser-module system is more dynamic than we commonly believe, and there is a strong seasonal effect of browsing. At medium to high ungulate densities we can expect different food selection processes and food intake rates of ungulates compared to those found at low densities. At the genet level, browsers affect the number of genets of preferred plant species, as well as their size and other qualities. Reductions in the abundance of one plant species can lead to increases in other species, followed by cascading effects involving many different biota. If species increasing in abundance differ in important respects from those being replaced (e.g. if nitrogenfixing or deciduous trees replace non-fixing or coniferous species, respectively) there may be dramatic long-term changes in ecosystem function. Both module and genet populations respond to ungulate activities, but over somewhat different time scales: the module responses being more short-term, with apparently more dynamic components. We need to better understand the dynamics of trees at both the module and genet levels, especially at high ungulate densities, and to monitor the responses of the woody plants as well as the ungulates. A better understanding of the interactions between population dynamics of ungulates and woody plants is also required.

Past In the early twentieth century, forestry was one of the most important sectors in Norway and an agitated discussion about the perceived decline of forest resources due to over-exploitation was ongoing. To base the discussion on facts, the young state of Norway established Landsskogtakseringen – the world’s first National Forest Inventory (NFI). Field work started in 1919 and was carried out by county. Trees were recorded on 10 m wide strips with 1–5 km interspaces. Site quality and land cover categories were recorded along each strip. Results for the first county were published in 1920, and by 1930 most forests below the coniferous tree line were inventoried. The 2nd to 5th inventories followed in the years 1937–1986. As of 1954, temporary sample plot clusters on a 3 km × 3 km grid were used as sampling units. Present The current NFI grid was implemented in the 6th NFI from 1986 to 1993, when permanent plots on a 3 km × 3 km grid were established below the coniferous tree line....

The study of vegetation phenology has great relevance in many fields since the importance of knowing timing and shifts in periodic plant life cycle events to face the consequences of global changes in issues such as crop production, forest management, ecosystem disturbances, and human health. The availability of high spatial resolution and dense revisit time satellite observations, such as Sentinel-2 satellites, allows high resolution phenological metrics to be estimated, able to provide key information from time series and to discriminate vegetation typologies. This paper presents an automated and transferable procedure that combines validated methodologies based on local curve fitting and local derivatives to exploit full satellite Earth observation time series to produce information about plant phenology. Multivariate statistical analysis is performed for the purpose of demonstrating the capacity of the generated smoothed vegetation curve, temporal statistics, and phenological metrics to serve as temporal discriminants to detect forest ecosystems processes responses to environmental gradients. The results show smoothed vegetation curve and temporal statistics able to highlight seasonal gradient and leaf type characteristics to discriminate forest types, with additional information about forest and leaf productivity provided by temporal statistics analysis. Furthermore, temporal, altitudinal, and latitudinal gradients are obtained from phenological metrics analysis, which also allows to associate temporal gradient with specific phenophases that support forest types distinction. This study highlights the importance of integrated data and methodologies to support the processes of vegetation recognition and monitoring activities.

Auxological and dendrometrical study in uneven age stands from U.P.II Cucureasa – O.S. Cosna The objective of this study was the auxological and dendrometrical analysis of an uneven age stand from U.P.II Cucureasa. The results consist in finding experimental distribution for diameters and heights, relations between dendrometrical elements of the stand, stand growth, and correlations between growth and rainfall.

Background: Replacement of fossil fuel based energy with biochar-based bioenergy production can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions while mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change and global warming. However, the production of biochar-based bioenergy depends on a sustainable supply of biomass. Although, Northwestern Ontario has a rich and sustainable supply of woody biomass, a comprehensive life cycle cost and economic assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production technology has not been done so far in the region. Methods: In this paper, we conducted a thorough life cycle cost assessment (LCCA) of biochar-based bioenergy production and its land application under four different scenarios: 1) biochar production with low feedstock availability; 2) biochar production with high feedstock availability; 3) biochar production with low feedstock availability and its land application; and 4) biochar production with high feedstock availability and its land application-using SimaPro®, EIOLCA® software and spreadsheet modeling. Based on the LCCA results, we further conducted an economic assessment for the break-even and viability of this technology over the project period. Results: It was found that the economic viability of biochar-based bioenergy production system within the life cycle analysis system boundary based on study assumptions is directly dependent on costs of pyrolysis, feedstock processing (drying, grinding and pelletization) and collection on site and the value of total carbon offset provided by the system. Sensitivity analysis of transportation distance and different values of C offset showed that the system is profitable in case of high biomass availability within 200 km and when the cost of carbon sequestration exceeds CAD $60 per tonne of equivalent carbon (CO 2 e). Conclusions: Biochar-based bioenergy system is economically viable when life cycle costs and environmental assumptions are accounted for. This study provides a medium scale slow-pyrolysis plant scenario and we recommend similar experiments with large-scale plants in order to implement the technology at industrial scale.

The issues of medical plant conservation have been the focus of many formal and informal discussions at national and international forums, seminars, workshops, conferences and congresses in the last 10 years. Caribbean and Central American countries are adopting common policies on medicinal plant conservation and establishing collaborative projects and appropriate agreements for research programs in order to achieve a new status for the protection of medicinal plant diversity. This paper for the most part reports on the the TRAMIL Program (Scientific Research on Medicinal Plants in the Caribbean Basin) coordinated since 1982. TRAMIL has focused on conserving traditional community knowledge of folk remedies, and providing scientific validation of safety and efficacy needed to encourage national health policies that include traditional medicine in primary health care programs.

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, countries are required to develop National Adaptation Plans. These plans must 13FOREWORD BUYING TIME: A USER'S MANUAL include strategies for natural systems, but very little work has been done thus far to ensure that these crucial natural resources are included in national adaptation strategies. It is WWF's hope that this manual will provide a tool to assist in completion of the biodiversity portion of National Adaptation Plans so that countries have strategies in place to buy time for biodiversity and natural resources. Numerous conversations are currently underway around the world noting the need for further support, both financial and intellectual, for adaptation strategies. While adaptation plans cannot in any way replace mitigation, they are vitally important to ensure that all countries receive the support necessary to protect their natural resources, especially those countries where such support is currently unavailable. Thus far support has been inadequate, especially for developing countries.