Airborne and Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data for the Assessment of Standing and Lying Deadwood: Current Situation and New Perspectives

LiDAR technology is finding uses in the forest sector, not only for surveys in producing forests but also as a tool to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of the three-dimensional component of forest environments. Developments of platforms and sensors in the last decades have highlighted the capacity of this technology to catch relevant details, even at finer scales. This drives its usage towards more ecological topics and applications for forest management. In recent years, nature protection policies have been focusing on deadwood as a key element for the health of forest ecosystems and wide-scale assessments are necessary for the planning process on a landscape scale. Initial studies showed promising results in the identification of bigger deadwood components (e.g., snags, logs, stumps), employing data not specifically collected for the purpose. Nevertheless, many efforts should still be made to transfer the available methodologies to an operational level. Newly available platforms (e.g., Mobile Laser Scanner) and sensors (e.g., Multispectral Laser Scanner) might provide new opportunities for this field of study in the near future

Center for Research on Sustainable Forests 2021 Annual Report

The Center for Research on Sustainable Forests (CRSF) and Cooperative Forestry Research Unit (CFRU) continued to move forward on multiple fronts with a particularly productive and rewarding FY18-19. This included leadership on several key new initiatives such as the Forest Climate Change Initiative (FCCI), Intelligent GeoSolutions (IGS), and a funded National Science Foundation (NSF) Track 2 EPSCoR grant (INSPIRES). This is in addition to ongoing leadership and support for important CRSF programs such as NSF’s Center for Advanced Forestry Systems (CAFS), the Northeastern Research Cooperative (NSRC), and FOR/Maine. In short, CRSF is on a bold upward trajectory that highlights its relevance and solid leadership with a rather bright future

Micro-topography associated to forest edges

Forest edges are often defined as the discontinuity between the forest habitat and an adjacent open habitat, thus they are based on a clear difference in the structure of the dominant vegetation. However, beside this very general definition, in the field we can observe a large diversity of edges, with often different kinds of micro-topography features: bank, ditch, stone wall, path, etc. As these elements are rather common in many temperate forest edges, it seems important to start to characterize them more clearly and with consistency. From a set of observations in south-western France, we build a first typology of the micro-topographic elements associated to forest edges. For each of them we describe the process, natural or human induced, at their origin, and according to the literature available, we identify some of their key ecological roles. Banks, generated by the differential erosion between forest and crops along slopes, are especially analyzed since they are the most common micro-topographic element in our region. It offers many micro-habitat conditions in the soil used by a wide range of species, notably by several bee species. More research is required to study in details the importance of such micro-topographic elements

Climate-Smart Forestry in Mountain Regions

This open access book offers a cross-sectoral reference for both managers and scientists interested in climate-smart forestry, focusing on mountain regions. It provides a comprehensive analysis on forest issues, facilitating the implementation of climate objectives. This book includes structured summaries of each chapter. Funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, CLIMO has brought together scientists and experts in continental and regional focus assessments through a cross-sectoral approach, facilitating the implementation of climate objectives. CLIMO has provided scientific analysis on issues including criteria and indicators, growth dynamics, management prescriptions, long-term perspectives, monitoring technologies, economic impacts, and governance tools