Assessing forest availability for wood supply in Europe

The quantification of forests available for wood supply (FAWS) is essential for decision-making with regard to the maintenance and enhancement of forest resources and their contribution to the global carbon cycle. The provision of harmonized forest statistics is necessary for the development of forest associated policies and to support decision-making. Based on the National Forest Inventory (NFI) data from 13 European countries, we quantify and compare the areas and aboveground dry biomass (AGB) of FAWS and forest not available for wood supply (FNAWS) according to national and reference definitions by determining the restrictions and associated thresholds considered at country level to classify forests as FAWS or FNAWS. FAWS represent between 75 and 95 % of forest area and AGB for most of the countries in this study. Economic restrictions are the main factor limiting the availability of forests for wood supply, accounting for 67 % of the total FNAWS area and 56 % of the total FNAWS AGB, followed by environmental restrictions. Profitability, slope and accessibility as economic restrictions, and protected areas as environmental restrictions are the factors most frequently considered to distinguish between FAWS and FNAWS. With respect to the area of FNAWS associated with each type of restriction, an overlap among the restrictions of 13.7 % was identified. For most countries, the differences in the FNAWS areas and AGB estimates between national and reference definitions ranged from 0 to 5 %. These results highlight the applicability and reliability of a FAWS reference definition for most of the European countries studied, thereby facilitating a consistent approach to assess forests available for supply for the purpose of international reportinginfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

of the Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area

Abstract Host traits and phylogeny can determine infection risk by driving pathogen transmission and its ability to infect new hosts. Predicting such risks is critical when designing disease mitigation strategies, and especially as regards wildlife, where intensive management is often advocated or prevented by economic and/or practical reasons. We investigated Pseudogymnoascus [Geomyces] destructans infection, the cause of white-nose syndrome (WNS), in relation to chiropteran ecology, behaviour and phylogenetics. While this fungus has caused devastating declines in North American bat populations, there have been no apparent population changes attributable to the disease in Europe. We screened 276 bats of 15 species from hibernacula in the Czech Republic over 2012 and 2013, and provided histopathological evidence for 11 European species positive for WNS. With the exception of Myotis myotis, the other ten species are all new reports for WNS in Europe. Of these, M. emarginatus, Eptesicus nilssonii, Rhinolophus hipposideros, Barbastella barbastellus and Plecotus auritus are new to the list of P. destructans-infected bat species. While the infected species are all statistically phylogenetically related, WNS affects bats from two suborders. These are ecologically diverse and adopt a wide range of hibernating strategies. Occurrence of WNS in distantly related bat species with diverse ecology suggests that the pathogen may be a generalist and that all bats hibernating within the distribution range of P. destructans may be at risk of infection

White-Nose Syndrome Fungus: A Generalist Pathogen of Hibernating Bats

<div><p>Host traits and phylogeny can determine infection risk by driving pathogen transmission and its ability to infect new hosts. Predicting such risks is critical when designing disease mitigation strategies, and especially as regards wildlife, where intensive management is often advocated or prevented by economic and/or practical reasons. We investigated <i>Pseudogymnoascus [Geomyces] destructans</i> infection, the cause of white-nose syndrome (WNS), in relation to chiropteran ecology, behaviour and phylogenetics. While this fungus has caused devastating declines in North American bat populations, there have been no apparent population changes attributable to the disease in Europe. We screened 276 bats of 15 species from hibernacula in the Czech Republic over 2012 and 2013, and provided histopathological evidence for 11 European species positive for WNS. With the exception of <i>Myotis myotis</i>, the other ten species are all new reports for WNS in Europe. Of these, <i>M. emarginatus, Eptesicus nilssonii, Rhinolophus hipposideros, Barbastella barbastellus</i> and <i>Plecotus auritus</i> are new to the list of <i>P. destructans</i>-infected bat species. While the infected species are all statistically phylogenetically related, WNS affects bats from two suborders. These are ecologically diverse and adopt a wide range of hibernating strategies. Occurrence of WNS in distantly related bat species with diverse ecology suggests that the pathogen may be a generalist and that all bats hibernating within the distribution range of <i>P. destructans</i> may be at risk of infection.</p></div

<i>Pseudogymnoascus destructans</i> infection in relation to chiropteran phylogeny and ecological similarity.

a<p> =  species using both types of shelters are also included in the previous categories.</p><p>Phylogenetic signal of explanatory variables on a phylogeny of bats from Europe and North America and of <i>P. destructans</i> infection on both phylogeny and a neighbour-joining tree based on squared Euclidean distances of ecological and behavioural traits of hibernating bat species. Values in bold indicate significant clustering or over-dispersion of <i>P. destructans</i> infection on the tree. Note that all categories of explanatory variables were tested here, but <i>n</i> - 1 dummy variables were included in the PGLS model. <i>N</i>  =  number of species scored positive for the given variable, MPD  =  mean phylogenetic distance, NRI  =  net relatedness index, MNTD  =  mean nearest taxon phylogenetic distance, NTI  =  nearest taxon index.</p

Neighbour-joining tree based on ecological and behavioural traits of bats from Europe and North America (rooted at midpoint).

<p>See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0097224#pone-0097224-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2</a> for a description of the colour scheme.</p

Histopathological skin lesions consistent with white-nose syndrome in ten European bat species.

<p>(A) <i>Myotis emarginatus</i>, (B) <i>Eptesicus nilssonii</i>, (C) <i>Rhinolophus hipposideros</i>, (D) <i>Plecotus auritus</i>, (E) <i>Barbastella barbastellus</i>, (F) <i>M. dasycneme</i>, (G) <i>M. nattereri</i>, (H) <i>M. daubentonii</i>, (I) <i>M. bechsteinii</i>, (J) <i>M. brandtii</i>. The photographs illustrate i) extensive infection of the wing membrane and cup-shaped epidermal erosions (A, E, H, J; long black arrow); ii) cup-like epidermal erosions in the pinna (B; long black arrow), iii) <i>Pseudogymnoascus destructans</i> hyphae obscuring the basement membrane and invading the dermis (A, B, C, E, H; black arrow); iv) a single cupping erosion packed with fungal hyphae in the wing membrane (C, D, G, I; long black arrow); v) colonisation of a hair follicle by <i>P. destructans</i>, fungal hyphae present in the associated sebaceous gland and regional connective tissue (F; black arrow); vi) marked signs of inflammation (B, F, J); and vii) a cellular inflammatory crust that sequesters fungal hyphae (A, J). White arrows within each photograph indicate the interface between epidermis and dermis. Periodic acid-Schiff stain; scale bar  =  50 µm. <i>M. myotis</i> not shown because WNS lesions in this species have already been documented elsewhere <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0097224#pone.0097224-Pikula1" target="_blank">[18]</a>.</p

Boxplot of fitted values from the phylogenetic generalised least squares model of <i>P. destructans</i> infection.

<p>Predictions for infected and non-infected species overlap.</p

The distribution of single recombination events across the long arm of 21q by population.

<p>21q was divided into 66 500</p