Comment on opinion paper: Forest management and biodiversity : The role of protected areas is greater than the sum of its number of species

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Protection gaps and restoration opportunities for primary forests in Europe

Aims: Primary forests are critical for forest biodiversity and provide key ecosystem services. In Europe, these forests are particularly scarce and it is unclear whether they are sufficiently protected. Here we aim to: (a) understand whether extant primary forests are representative of the range of naturally occurring forest types, (b) identify forest types which host enough primary forest under strict protection to meet conservation targets and (c) highlight areas where restoration is needed and feasible. Location: Europe. Methods: We combined a unique geodatabase of primary forests with maps of forest cover, potential natural vegetation, biogeographic regions and protected areas to quantify the proportion of extant primary forest across Europe\u27s forest types and to identify gaps in protection. Using spatial predictions of primary forest locations to account for underreporting of primary forests, we then highlighted areas where restoration could complement protection. Results: We found a substantial bias in primary forest distribution across forest types. Of the 54 forest types we assessed, six had no primary forest at all, and in two-thirds of forest types, less than 1% of forest was primary. Even if generally protected, only ten forest types had more than half of their primary forests strictly protected. Protecting all documented primary forests requires expanding the protected area networks by 1,132 km2 (19,194 km2 when including also predicted primary forests). Encouragingly, large areas of non-primary forest existed inside protected areas for most types, thus presenting restoration opportunities. Main conclusion: Europe\u27s primary forests are in a perilous state, as also acknowledged by EU\u27s “Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.” Yet, there are considerable opportunities for ensuring better protection and restoring primary forest structure, composition and functioning, at least partially. We advocate integrated policy reforms that explicitly account for the irreplaceable nature of primary forests and ramp up protection and restoration efforts alike

Arthropod communities in fungal fruitbodies are weakly structured by climate and biogeography across European beech forests

Aim The tinder fungus Fomes fomentarius is a pivotal wood decomposer in European beech Fagus sylvatica forests. The fungus, however, has regionally declined due to centuries of logging. To unravel biogeographical drivers of arthropod communities associated with this fungus, we investigated how space, climate and habitat amount structure alpha and beta diversity of arthropod communities in fruitbodies of F. fomentarius. Location Temperate zone of Europe. Taxon Arthropods. Methods We reared arthropods from fruitbodies sampled from 61 sites throughout the range of European beech and identified 13 orders taxonomically or by metabarcoding. We estimated the total number of species occurring in fruitbodies of F. fomentarius in European beech forests using the Chao2 estimator and determined the relative importance of space, climate and habitat amount by hierarchical partitioning for alpha diversity and generalized dissimilarity models for beta diversity. A subset of fungi samples was sequenced for identification of the fungus’ genetic structure. Results The total number of arthropod species occurring in fruitbodies of F. fomentarius across European beech forests was estimated to be 600. Alpha diversity increased with increasing fruitbody biomass; it decreased with increasing longitude, temperature and latitude. Beta diversity was mainly composed by turnover. Patterns of beta diversity were only weakly linked to space and the overall explanatory power was low. We could distinguish two genotypes of F. fomentarius, which showed no spatial structuring. Main conclusion Fomes fomentarius hosts a large number of arthropods in European beech forests. The low biogeographical and climatic structure of the communities suggests that fruitbodies represent a habitat that offers similar conditions across large gradients of climate and space, but are characterized by high local variability in community composition and colonized by species with high dispersal ability. For European beech forests, retention of trees with F. fomentarius and promoting its recolonization where it had declined seems a promising conservation strategy

Estimating retention benchmarks for salvage logging to protect biodiversity

S.T. was supported by the Humboldt-Foundation and by the MOST (Ministry of Science and Technology) Taiwan Research Fellowship to work with A.C. at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. S.T. received funds from the Gregor Louisoder Environmental Foundation. A.B.L. received funds from the Humboldt-Foundation.Forests are increasingly affected by natural disturbances. Subsequent salvage logging, a widespread management practice conducted predominantly to recover economic capital, produces further disturbance and impacts biodiversity worldwide. Hence, naturally disturbed forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world, with consequences for their associated biodiversity. However, there are no evidence-based benchmarks for the proportion of area of naturally disturbed forests to be excluded from salvage logging to conserve biodiversity. We apply a mixed rarefaction/extrapolation approach to a global multi-taxa dataset from disturbed forests, including birds, plants, insects and fungi, to close this gap. We find that 75 ± 7% (mean ± SD) of a naturally disturbed area of a forest needs to be left unlogged to maintain 90% richness of its unique species, whereas retaining 50% of a naturally disturbed forest unlogged maintains 73 ± 12% of its unique species richness. These values do not change with the time elapsed since disturbance but vary considerably among taxonomic groups.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEA

Granty dla doktorantów w Wyższej Szkole Górniczej – Uniwersytecie Technicznym w Ostrawie w Republice Czeskiej

Projects and grants are unique for development of science and research. For many people it is only source of money for their research. Particularly on universities the projects expanded. From this reason the participation of Ph.D. students in the Student Grant Competition is the best start in this field. Paper discusses in its first part how the Student Grant Competition takes its place on Technical University of Ostrava. Focuses on difficulties with submission of the application, explain process of whole project evaluation and states total amounts acquired from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports for Student Grand Competitions since 2010. Second part of this paper directly shows concrete project for “Research of utilization of mining waste in chosen localities.” In the paper is described subject of the research, concrete goals of project, timetable. It is stated the preliminary budget of project and actual progress in the project.Projekty i granty mają spore znaczenie dla rozwoju nauki i badań. Dla wielu ludzi stanowią one jedyne źródło środków finansowych na ich badania. W szczególności na uniwersytetach obserwuje się ich dynamiczny przyrost. Z tego powodu udział doktorantów konkursach grantowych stanowi dobry początek w tym zakresie. W pierwszej części artykułu przedstawiono dyskusję sposobu, w jaki konkurs grantowy przebiega w Uniwersytecie Technicznym w Ostrawie. Autorka koncentruje swoją uwagę na trudnościach w złożeniu aplikacji, wyjaśnia proces ewaluacji projektu oraz przedstawia zbiorcze dane pozyskane z Ministerstwa Edukacji, Młodzieży i Sportu dla konkursów grantowych od 2010 roku. Druga część artykułu przedstawia przykład wybranego projektu pt. „Badanie nad wykorzystaniem odpadów pogórniczych w wybranych lokalizacjach”. W artykule przedstawiono przedmiot badań, cele projektu, harmonogram oraz rzeczywisty postęp w jego realizacji

Benchmarking największych producentów wapieni w Republice Czeskiej

Jakość podejmowania decyzji, a tym samym właściwe zarządzanie przedsiębiorstwem, jest ściśle związane z pozyskiwaniem ważnych informacji, którymi powinno dysponować kierownictwo firmy. Jedną z metod pozyskiwania takich ważnych informacji jest benchmarking. Znaczenie benchmarkingu jest na tyle ważne, że coraz więcej badaczy włącza go jako obowiązkową część składową działalności przedsiębiorstwa. W sferze gospodarki występują jednak trudności z wykorzystaniem tej metody zarządzania z powodu tajemnicy prawa handlowego. Szeroka grupa fachowców jest więc pozbawiona cennych informacji. Nasze opracowanie ma na celu przyspieszenie zmiany tej sytuacji wprowadzając zasady i pokazując efekty benchmarkingu dla wybranych spółek wydobywających wapienie. W ramach benchmarkingu wybrano największe spółki górnicze w Republice Czeskiej zajmujące się eksploatacją wapieni. Wybrane spółki obejmują obecnie 66% rynku. Wybrano więc: Ceskomorawsky cement a.s.; Cement Hranice a s.; LOMY MORINA, spol.s r. o; Holcim (Cesko) a. s., członek koncernu ; Velkolom Certovy schody, a. s. Podstawą badań benchmarkingu były wskaźniki finansowe (ROE, stopa zysku) i produkcyjne (koszty, wielkość produkcji DHM, wydajność pracy). Obliczenia tych wskaźników prowadzono dla lat 2008–2010. Ocena danych wykonywana była na podstawie analizy finansowej. Do przeprowadzenia analizy finansowej wybrano metodę matematyczno-statystyczną. Zastosowano metodę normowania zmiennych, której rezultatem było utworzenie rankingu przedsiębiorstw od najlepszego do najgorszego. Wykazano, że znaczenie benchmarkingu można zwiększyć przydzielając wskaźnikom, za pomocą których badany jest obiekt przemysłowy, odpowiednie wagi, zmieniające rangę wybranych wskaźników. W obliczeniach autorzy zdecydowali się zastosować metody Fulliera, a konkretnie trójkąt Fulliera. W dużej liczbie badanych przedsiębiorstw wydobywczych spółki „Cement Hranice” w podanym wyżej okresie, w najgorszej sytuacji znajdowało się przedsiębiorstwo Velkolom Certovy schody a.s.The validity of information available to managers influences the quality of the decision-making processes controlled by those managers. Benchmarking is a method which can yield quality information. The importance of benchmarking is strengthened by the fact that many authors consider benchmarking to be an integral part of strategic management. In commercial practice, benchmarking data and conclusions usually become commercial secrets for internal use only. The wider professional public lacks this valuable information. This paper tries to fill the gap regarding the operation of certain limestone extraction companies. It presents information and conclusions drawn from an independent benchmarking investigation. This study focused on major limestone producers in the Czech Republic which export their product abroad. These producers’ domestic market share is almost 66%. Specifically, the following companies were subjects of this benchmarking analysis: Českomoravský cement, a.s.; Cement Hranice, a.s.; LOMY MOŘINA, s.r.o.; Holcim (Česko) a.s.; and Velkolom Čertovy schody, a.s. The financial (ROE, profit margin) and production (return-on-investment, LTA, and labour productivity) ratios were the benchmarking’s starting point. These ratios were from company performance during the period 2008–2010. The mathematical and statistical methods of financial analyses provided for the data assessments namely, the standard variable method. The application of this method yielded results rating limestone producers in a best-to-worst sequence. The benchmarking information’s value can be increased if the ratios are weighted, which expresses the significance of individual ratios. This study applied the Fuller’s triangle method. Concerning the producers investigated, Cement Hranice, a.s. has been the best performer, and Velkolom Certovy schody, a.s. the worst

Evaluating forest management intensity on an umbrella species: Capercaillie persistence in central Europe

Deforestation and fragmentation of forests worldwide are negatively impacting biodiversity. The capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is an endangered umbrella species of montane forests in central Europe. Despite its status, it has largely been overlooked in forest management planning in the Carpathian Mountains, a biodiversity hotspot within the European Union. Previous investigations of timber management effects on capercaillie have shown contradictory results within Europe; habitat loss and fragmentation due to intensive forest management have been implicated in population declines, while other studies have suggested neutral or positive effects. In Romania, recent changes in forest management have shifted from extensive, selective logging to intensive clearcutting; this change provides the opportunity to assess the effects of harvesting on capercaillie numbers across a full range of forest management intensities, thereby addressing discrepancies in the literature. Across the Southern and Eastern Carpathian mountains from 2009-2011, we used spring counts of capercaillie males at leks to evaluate the impact of forest management, other human activities, and habitat at two spatial scales - stand (~2. ha) and landscape (~300. ha). At the landscape level, the proportion of forest clearcuts and intensity of tourism had significant negative effects on the number of capercaillie males in the lek. In contrast, low intensity selective logging had a positive effect at the local stand (lek) level. Large scale (landscape level) forest clear-cutting had a negative effect on the capercaillie population - areas comprised of clearcuts of 30% reduced male lek counts by 76%. The protection of intact mature and old-growth forests, and forest management practices that emulate natural disturbance processes are recommended to support habitat of this critical umbrella species and associated biodiversity

Patterns of forest dynamics in a secondary old-growth beech-dominated forest in the Jizera Mountains Beech Forest Reserve, Czech Republic

Restoring the structural characteristics of secondary old-growth forests that were previously managed is increasingly debated to help increase the area of more complex forests which provide a broader array of forest services and functions. The paucity of long-term data sets in Central Europe has limited our ability to understand the ongoing ecological processes required for effective restoration programs for old-growth forests. To address this, we used repeated census data from eight permanent plots to evaluate forest structural dynamics over a 12-year period in the largest complex of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests in the Czech Highlands without intensive forestry intervention for almost 50 years. Our results showed that previously managed forests can exhibit structural qualities typically associated with old-growth forests after management has ceased for a period. The stand structural characteristics (e.g., density of large and old trees) is comparable with protected reserves of old-growth European beech-dominated forests. The average stand age was 196 years, but the oldest tree was 289 years old. The annual mortality rate was 0.43% for all species, and the U-shaped distribution indicating size-dependent mortality is likely an important process that is balanced by the turnover of new tree recruitment. During the study period, we detected that the diameter distribution tended towards a rotated sigmoid distribution. The lasting effects of the most recent forest management are evident in the scarcity of dead wood, and a prolonged process of dead wood accumulation has begun. Thus, the abandonment of all management activities in near-natural forest reserves, including dead wood removal, will ensure that the forests will develop characteristics typical of old-growth forests