Mapping Spatial Variations of Structure and Function Parameters for Forest Condition Assessment of the Changbai Mountain National Nature Reserve

Forest condition is the baseline information for ecological evaluation and management. The National Forest Inventory of China contains structural parameters, such as canopy closure, stand density and forest age, and functional parameters, such as stand volume and soil fertility. Conventionally forest conditions are assessed through parameters collected from field observations, which could be costly and spatially limited. It is crucial to develop modeling approaches in mapping forest assessment parameters from satellite remote sensing. This study mapped structure and function parameters for forest condition assessment in the Changbai Mountain National Nature Reserve (CMNNR). The mapping algorithms, including statistical regression, random forests, and random forest kriging, were employed with predictors from Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS)-2, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 satellite sensors, digital surface model of ALOS, and 1803 field sampled forest plots. Combined predicted parameters and weights from principal component analysis, forest conditions were assessed. The models explained spatial dynamics and characteristics of forest parameters based on an independent validation with all r values above 0.75. The root mean square error (RMSE) values of canopy closure, stand density, stand volume, forest age and soil fertility were 4.6%, 33.8%, 29.4%, 20.5%, and 14.3%, respectively. The mean assessment score suggested that forest conditions in the CMNNR are mainly resulted from spatial variations of function parameters such as stand volume and soil fertility. This study provides a methodology on forest condition assessment at regional scales, as well as the up-to-date information for the forest ecosystem in the CMNNR

Remote Sensing Applications in Monitoring of Protected Areas

Protected areas (PAs) have been established worldwide for achieving long-term goals in the conservation of nature with the associated ecosystem services and cultural values. Globally, 15% of the world’s terrestrial lands and inland waters, excluding Antarctica, are designated as PAs. About 4.12% of the global ocean and 10.2% of coastal and marine areas under national jurisdiction are set as marine protected areas (MPAs). Protected lands and waters serve as the fundamental building blocks of virtually all national and international conservation strategies, supported by governments and international institutions. Some of the PAs are the only places that contain undisturbed landscape, seascape and ecosystems on the planet Earth. With intensified impacts from climate and environmental change, PAs have become more important to serve as indicators of ecosystem status and functions. Earth’s remaining wilderness areas are becoming increasingly important buffers against changing conditions. The development of remote sensing platforms and sensors and the improvement in science and technology provide crucial support for the monitoring and management of PAs across the world. In this editorial paper, we reviewed research developments using state-of-the-art remote sensing technologies, discussed the challenges of remote sensing applications in the inventory, monitoring, management and governance of PAs and summarized the highlights of the articles published in this Special Issue

Proceedings of the 6th International Grouse Symposium

Papers: Populations and habitats of snowshoe hares, Ruffed and Spruce Grouse in the southern boreal pine forest of Ontario • Populations of Capercaillie and Hazel Grouse in large natural and logged forests in northern Russia, 1950-1992 • Extrinsic factors influencing the population dynamics of Red Grouse • Hazel Grouse in the Bohemian Forest - results of a 20-year study • Studies of grouse in China • Seasonal movements by Hazel Grouse in south-central Sweden • Ecological and behavioural constraints on monogamy in the Willow Ptarmigan • Spatial distribution and habitat preference of male Capercaillie in the Pechora-Illych Nature Reserve in 1991-92 • Dispersion and habitat selection of displaying male Black grouse in the Mont Avic Natural Park, western Italian Alps • Home range of male Black Grouse from summer to winter in the eastern Alps (Friuli, Italy) • Selection of birch by Black Grouse in winter • The size of Black Grouse lek populations in relation to habitat characteristics in southern Norway • Energy costs of incubation in Rock Ptarmigan in Switzerland • Home ranges, habitat and dispersal of radio-marked Hazel Grouse in the National Park \u27Bayerischer Wald\u27, Germany - Preliminary results • Anti-predator behaviour of Black Grouse as influenced by hen-rearing versus hand-rearing • Variations in clutch defence by incubating female Black Grouse • The importance of large herbivore management to woodland grouse and their habitats • Habitat characteristics of brood-rearing sites of Hazel Grouse in the eastern Alps (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy) • Evaluation of Hazel Grouse habitat in the Black Forest (southern Germany) and implications for habitat management • Evaluation of habitat suitability for Capercaillie in the northern Black Forest • The role of bilberry in central European Capercaillie habitats • Silvicultural measures for the improvement of grouse habitats in the Black Forest • Distribution of grouse in the Italian Alps (1988-1992) • The distribution and status of Caucasian Black Grouse in north-eastern Turkey Authors: James F Bendell, Leah I BendellYoung, Alexander B Beshkarev, Alexei Blagovidov, Sergei Sokolski, Olav Hjeljord, Peter J Hudson, Andrew P Dobson, Siegfried Klaus, Sun Yue-Hua, Jon E Swenson, Johan Danielson, Susan J Hannon, Alexander B Beshkarev, Alexei Blagovidov, Victor Teplov, Olav Hjeljord, Massimo Bocca, P F de Franceschi, S Mattedi, Olav Hjeljord, Tor K Spidsj, Finn Bjormyr, Erling Meisingset, John Gunnar Dokk, Olav Hjeljord, Gary Fry, B Huber-Eicher, Andreas Kampfer-Lauenstein, Christiane KOltringer, Gunter Sodeikat, Eberhard Curio, Arto Marjakangas, D Baines, M M Baines, R B Sage, P F de Franceschi, M Botazzo, Manfred Lieser, Detlef Eisfeld, Stefan Mann, Karl-Eugen Schroth, Ilse Storch, Rudi Suchant, Ivano Artuso, Philip W Atkinson, Elizabeth A Humpage, Adrian J D Jowitt, Idris Ogurlu, J Marcus Rowcliff

Insect diversity patterns along environmental gradients in the temperate forests of Northern China

Insects, which represent the most species-rich taxa, are extremely important ecosystem components. The diversity patterns of insects have, however, been widely ignored in biodiversity research. In my thesis, I aim to establish a basic understanding of the diversity patterns of insect assemblages in the temperate forest and forest plantation ecosystems of Northern China, and to investigate how these patterns correlate with vegetation and environmental conditions. The study aims to give further insights into the insect diversity status and measures to conserve or even enhance their diversity in the large secondary and plantation forests which have been and are currently established throughout northern China. The study focuses on two distinct insect taxa: ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and geometrid moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae). In the main study area located within the Changbaishan Natural Reserve (CNR) in Jilin Province, 4844 individuals (47 species) of ground beetle and 9285 individuals (155 species) of geometrid moth were sampled. In addition, 1488 ground beetles (24 species) and 2047 geometrid moths (165 species) were sampled in the secondary and plantation forest area at Dongling Mountain (DLM) in Beijing. A first important result of this work is that the α-diversity of both ground beetle and geometrid moth assemblages decreased significantly with increasing elevation at CNR. My results also show that the relationships between phyto-diversity and the diversity of insects are weak and furthermore likely to be driven by underlying environmental factors. The significant changes which have recently occurred in the plant species composition at CNR chiefly related to changes in the climatic conditions suggest that insect species are also under high pressure in this area. Finally, this study suggests that in the temperate religions of Northern China, secondary and plantation forests can potentially harbour high levels of insect α-diversity compared with mature, more pristine forests

Large area forest stem volume mapping using synergy of spaceborne interferometric radar and optical remote sensing: a case study of northeast chin

More than a decade of investigations on the use of the interferometric ERS-1/2 tandem coherence for forest applications have increased the understanding of the behaviour of C-band repeat-pass coherence over forested terrain. It has been shown that under optimal imaging conditions, ERS-1/2 tandem coherence can be used for stem volume retrieval with accuracies in the range of ground surveys. Large-area applications of ERS-1/2 tandem coherence are rare though. One of the main limitations concerning large-area exploitation of the existing ERS-1/2 tandem archives for forest stem volume retrieval is related to the considerable dependence of repeat-pass coherence upon the meteorological (rain, temperature, wind speed) and environmental (soil moisture variations, snow metamorphism) acquisition conditions. Conventional retrieval algorithms require accurate forest inventory data for a dense grid of forest sites to tune models that relate coherence to stem volume to the local conditions. Accurate forest inventory data is, however, a rare commodity that is often not freely available. In this thesis, a fully automated algorithm was developed, based on a synergetic use of the MODIS Vegetation Continuous Field product (Hansen et al., 2002), that allowed the training of the Interferometric Water Cloud Model IWCM (Askne et al., 1997) without further need for forest inventory data. With the new algorithm it was possible to train the IWCM on a frame-by-frame basis and thus to account for the spatial and temporal variability of the meteorological and environmental acquisition conditions. The new algorithm was applied to a multi-seasonal ERS-1/2 tandem dataset covering Northeast China that was acquired between 1995 and 1998 with baselines up to 400 m

Applications of Remote Sensing Data in Mapping of Forest Growing Stock and Biomass

This Special Issue (SI), entitled "Applications of Remote Sensing Data in Mapping of Forest Growing Stock and Biomass”, resulted from 13 peer-reviewed papers dedicated to Forestry and Biomass mapping, characterization and accounting. The papers' authors presented improvements in Remote Sensing processing techniques on satellite images, drone-acquired images and LiDAR images, both aerial and terrestrial. Regarding the images’ classification models, all authors presented supervised methods, such as Random Forest, complemented by GIS routines and biophysical variables measured on the field, which were properly georeferenced. The achieved results enable the statement that remote imagery could be successfully used as a data source for regression analysis and formulation and, in this way, used in forestry actions such as canopy structure analysis and mapping, or to estimate biomass. This collection of papers, presented in the form of a book, brings together 13 articles covering various forest issues and issues in forest biomass calculation, constituting an important work manual for those who use mixed GIS and RS techniques

Remote Sensing of Land Surface Phenology

Land surface phenology (LSP) uses remote sensing to monitor seasonal dynamics in vegetated land surfaces and retrieve phenological metrics (transition dates, rate of change, annual integrals, etc.). LSP has developed rapidly in the last few decades. Both regional and global LSP products have been routinely generated and play prominent roles in modeling crop yield, ecological surveillance, identifying invasive species, modeling the terrestrial biosphere, and assessing impacts on urban and natural ecosystems. Recent advances in field and spaceborne sensor technologies, as well as data fusion techniques, have enabled novel LSP retrieval algorithms that refine retrievals at even higher spatiotemporal resolutions, providing new insights into ecosystem dynamics. Meanwhile, rigorous assessment of the uncertainties in LSP retrievals is ongoing, and efforts to reduce these uncertainties represent an active research area. Open source software and hardware are in development, and have greatly facilitated the use of LSP metrics by scientists outside the remote sensing community. This reprint covers the latest developments in sensor technologies, LSP retrieval algorithms and validation strategies, and the use of LSP products in a variety of fields. It aims to summarize the ongoing diverse LSP developments and boost discussions on future research prospects