The CONECOFOR programme from 1995 to 2005

Climate change, ozone effects on forests as well as the loss of biodiversity are nowadays the top priorities of environmental monitoring programmes in Europe. The first set of twenty Level II PMPs (Permanent Monitoring Plots) of the CONECOFOR programme was installed in 1995. At the moment, the intensive monitoring network includes 31 PMPs. All the plots were framed into the UN/ECE ICP-Forests; since 1998, 10 plots were also included into the UN/ECE ICP-IM as bio-monitoring sites. With the entering into force of EC Regulation Forest Focus, these new priorities found an EU legal basis for co-funding the related pilot projects, developed at trans-national level in the field of forest biodiversity monitoring: ForestBIOTA and BioSoil. In the frame of the EEA programme SEBI2010, a specific qualitative forest indicator has been developed by the Italian Forest Service. The Forest Status Indicator is based on sub-indicators identified and implemented at pan-European and National level, such as tree condition, forest structure, deadwood, plant species composition and naturalness, mostly available at European level and collected according to harmonized methods. In 2004, the Italian Forest Service (CONECOFOR Board) joined the Network of Excellence ALTER-Net. The participation to ALTER-Net gave the opportunity to Italy to become official member of the International Long Term Ecological Research Network (ILTER) in 2006: four LTER-Italy sites include forest environments and 10 research stations (plots) belong to CONECOFOR Level II network. At international level, CONECOFOR is the leader in FutDiv proposal (Future Forest Biodiversity Monitoring in Europe) and an associated beneficiary in the FutMon proposal (Further Development and Implementation of an EU-level Forest Monitoring System), already submitted under the EC Regulation LIFE+

The ICP forests Level I biodiversity data. A harmonized data source and baseline for plant species and structural diversity on european forest ecosystems

Structural and compositional biodiversity surveys on the ICP Forests extensive monitoring plots (Level I) have been incorporated into the ICP Forests database as LI-BioDiv dataset. Data were collected in the period 2005-2008 and delivered by 27 partners according to harmonized methods. During the integration process data was validated based on a complex system of checkroutines that had been defined before. Conflicts were solved in collaboration with the experts from National Focal Centres and the Expert Panels on Biodiversity and Ground Vegetation, and on Forest Growth. The LI-BioDiv dataset is structured in six forms: GPL (general plot location and information, 3340 plots), DBH (tree diameter, status, and composition, 3201 plots), THT (tree top and crown base height, 3083 plots), CAN (canopy closure, layers, number of trees, 3210 plots), DWD (deadwood, 2950 plots), and GVG (ground vegetation composition, 3124 plots). A transnational internal evaluation process was established and a set of items approved by the related Expert Panels and the ICP Forests Programme Co-ordinating Centre (PCC). Four working groups are producing the first results in terms of scientific papers; the other evaluation projects and the related groups of experts and scientists are described. Recommendations and lessons learned from this experience are shortly provided

Atmospheric Deposition and Soil Solution Working Ring Test 2010 Laboratory ring test for deposition and soil solution sample analyses for the laboratories participating in the EU/Life+ FutMon Project

A second Working Ring Test (WRT) was organised within the framework of the EU/Life+ FutMon Project ("Further Development and Implementation of an EU-level Forest Monitoring System", LIFE07 ENV/D/000218), to evaluate the overall performance of the laboratories responsible for analysing atmospheric deposition and soil solution samples in European forests, and to verify improvements in the analytical quality resulting from the QA/QC work carried out in the laboratories which participated in previous WRTs organized in the framework of the UN/ECE ICP Forests Monitoring Programme. The WRT was carried out in accordance with International ISO and ILAG guide proficiency test both for sample preparation and numerical elaboration of the results. Five natural atmospheric deposition and soil solution samples and 3 synthetic solutions were distributed to 42 laboratories for analysis using their routine methods for the following variables: pH, conductivity, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, ammonium, sulphate, nitrate, chloride, total alkalinity, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Two tolerable limits were defined for each variable on the basis of the measured value, the results of previous WRTs, a comparison with the Data Quality Objectives of other international networks, and the importance of the variable in deposition and soil solution monitoring. In the ring test 12% of the results from all the laboratories did not fall within the tolerable limits. This enabled us to identify those variables and laboratories for which improvements in analytical performance are required. The results of the exercise clearly show that the use of data check procedures, as described in the ICP Forests manual for sampling and analysis of atmospheric deposition, makes it possible to detect the presence of inaccurate or outlying results, and would therefore greatly improve the overall performance of the laboratories. A discussion of the improvement of the results in this WRT compared to the previous WRTs is also included, showing a relevant improvent for several variables and underlining the importance of participating to these exercises for the overall analytical quality of the monitoring network

Forest Condition Monitoring in Finland – National report

Online report. Original webpages have been converted to a PDF file

Towards integration of research and monitoring at forest ecosystems in Europe

Aim of study: The main aim of the work was to summarize availability, quality and comparability of on-going European Research and Monitoring Networks (ERMN), based on the results of a COST FP0903 Action questionnaire carried out in September 2010 and May 2012. Area of study: The COST Action FP0903 involves 29 European countries and 4 non-COST institutions from USA, Morocco and Tunisia. In this study, the total of 22 replies to the questionnaire from 18 countries were included. Materials and methods: Based on the feedback from the Action FP0903 countries, the most popular European Networks were identified. Thereafter, the access to the network database, available quality assurance/quality control procedures and publication were described. Finally, the so-called “Supersites” concept, defined as a “highly instrumented research infrastructure, for both research and monitoring of soil-plant-atmosphere interactions” was discussed. Main results: The result of the survey indicate that the vast majority of the Action FP0903 countries participate in the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forest (ICP Forest). The multi-disciplinary International Cooperative Programme on Integrated Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Ecosystems (ICPIM) is the second most widespread forest programme. Research highlights: To fully understand biochemical cycles in forest ecosystems, long-term monitoring is needed. Hence, a network of “Supersites”, is proposed. The application of the above infrastructure can be an effective way to attain a better integration of research and monitoring networks at forest sites in Europ