Alterações da paisagem e serviços de ecossistema: quantificação e valoração do sequestro de carbono na bacia superior do rio Sabor

Nesta dissertação avaliou-se o serviço de ecossistema de regulação climática, através da quantificação, valoração e mapeamento do sequestro e armazenamento de carbono na área da bacia superior do rio Sabor. A avaliação deste serviço baseou-se na interpretação das alterações do uso e ocupação do solo entre 1990 e 2006 e na estimação dos stocks de carbono relativos à biomassa acima e abaixo do solo, matéria orgânica do solo e matéria orgânica em decomposição para toda a paisagem. Foram ainda construídos três cenários alternativos de evolução da paisagem da bacia superior do rio Sabor, projetados para o ano de 2020, com o objetivo de compreender de que forma as futuras alterações do uso e ocupação do solo poderão influenciar a condição e fornecimento do serviço de ecossistema de regulação climática. Para quantificar, mapear e valorar o armazenamento e sequestro de carbono utilizou-se o módulo Carbon storage and sequestration do software InVEST - Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs. Os resultados sugerem que entre 1990 e 2006 a distribuição do carbono pelos diferentes pools variou em função do uso e ocupação do solo, estimando-se que o solo seja o principal reservatório de carbono na paisagem. A variação do carbono armazenado e sequestrado na bacia superior do rio Sabor deveu-se principalmente às alterações do uso e ocupação do solo e ao aumento da disponibilidade de biomassa das espécies florestais. Futuramente, a expansão das áreas de floresta na paisagem poderão potenciar o sequestro de carbono na paisagem e eventualmente a valorização do serviço de ecossistema de regulação climática. Com esta dissertação concluiu-se que as alterações do uso e ocupação do solo se apresentam como um processo relevante na alteração do fornecimento do serviço de ecossistema de regulação climática na bacia superior do rio Sabor. A quantificação, valoração e mapeamento do carbono sequestrado, como forma de avaliação deste serviço de ecossistema, poderá ser uma ferramenta útil no suporte à tomada de decisão para a gestão dos ecossistemas e da paisagem que visem o sequestro de carbono, possibilitando, por um lado, a valorização de áreas em declínio socioeconómico e, por outro lado, contribuir para a disponibilização dos benefícios que a sociedade pode obter associados à regulação climática e evitar custos económicos que derivam do excesso de gases de efeito de estufa na atmosfera.This dissertation aimed to assess the climate regulation ecosystem service through the quantification, valuation, and mapping of carbon stored and sequestered in the Sabor River’s upper basin. The assessment of this ecosystem service relied on the interpretation of land use/land cover changes between 1990 and 2006, and the estimation of carbon stocks in aboveground and belowground biomass, dead organic matter, and soil organic matter for the entire landscape. Three alternative landscape scenarios have also been built for the Sabor River’s upper basin, projected for the year of 2020, in order to understand how the future land use/ land cover changes may influence the provision and the condition of the climate regulation ecosystem service. In order to quantify, valuate and map the carbon sequestered on the landscape it was used the Carbon storage and sequestration model of the software InVEST - Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs. The results suggest that between 1990 and 2006 the distribution of carbon among carbon pools varied depending on the type of land use/ land cover but soil was estimated as the main carbon pool in the landscape. The variation of the carbon sequestered and stored in the landscape occurred mainly due to changes in land use/land cover and to the increase of the availability of forest tree biomass. In the future, the expansion of forest areas in the landscape can enhance carbon sequestration, eventually adding value to the climate regulation ecosystem service. This dissertation allowed us to conclude that the changes observed on the land use/land cover are one of the main processes that influence the provision of the climate regulation ecosystem service in the Sabor River’s upper basin. The quantification, valuation, and mapping of carbon sequestered, as a mean of assessing the climate regulation ecosystem service, can be a useful tool in order to better support decision-making in the management of ecosystems for carbon sequestration purposes, allowing, on one hand, the valorization of socioeconomically disadvantaged regions and, on the other hand, enabling the benefits that the society can obtain from climate regulation by avoiding the damages caused by the excessive amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.Este trabalho é financiado por Fundos FEDER através do Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade - COMPETE e por Fundos Nacionais através da FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, no âmbito do projeto FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027863 (IND_CHANGE)

FlorNExTPro®: herramienta para la gestión forestal en la región del NE de Portugal

En el Nordeste Transmontano (Portugal), la falta de una red de primera transformación forestal bien definida deriva en que la materia prima no esté convenientemente valorizada y, con ello, su precio este por debajo del mínimo de rentabilidad para el propietario, el cual apenas invierte en tratamientos silvícolas. Aplicar una mínima gestión no resuelve el problema económico, ya que este depende de la demanda, pero reduce la probabilidad de ocurrencia de riesgos ambientales y/o sociales, o, en caso de que estos sucedan, mínima el esfuerzo de mitigación. En un contexto de incertidumbre, gestionar es complicado, sin embargo, proporcionar herramientas informáticas específicas para los técnicos lo facilita en cierta medida. En este sentido, involucrar a los técnicos en la fase de desarrollo de estas herramientas permite tener el conocimiento de las necesidades, requerimientos y las barreras de uso, abriendo la posibilidad de aplicar medidas para que la herramienta final se adapte a la realidad. Como resultado de este marco colaborativo, se presenta el FlorNExTPro®, programa de entorno Windows desarrollado para la obtención de un plan de gestión basado en optimización. FlorNExTPro® resuelve la cronología de cortas y claras para un conjunto de parcelas bajo restricciones operativas definidas por el usuario.Esta investigación fue financiada por el Proyecto SimWood (Sustainable Innovative Mobilisation of Wood), EU FP7 Collaborative Project 2013-2017 Grant Agreement No. 613762.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

FlorNExT®, a cloud computing application to estimate growth and yield of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) stands in Northeastern Portugal

Aim of the study: To introduce and describe FlorNExT®, a free cloud computing application to estimate growth and yield of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) even-aged stands in the Northeast of Portugal (NE Portugal).Area of study: NE Portugal.Material and methods: FlorNExT® implements a dynamic growth and yield modelling framework which integrates transition functions for dominant height (site index curves) and basal area, as well as output functions for tree and stand volume, biomass, and carbon content.Main results: FlorNExT® is freely available from any device with an Internet connection at: http://flornext.esa.ipb.pt/.Research highlights: This application has been designed to make it possible for any stakeholder to easily estimate standing volume, biomass, and carbon content in maritime pine stands from stand data, as well as to estimate growth and yield based on four stand variables: age, density, dominant height, and basal area. FlorNExT® allows planning thinning treatments. FlorNExT® is a fundamental tool to support forest mobilization at local and regional scales in NE Portugal.Keywords: forest management; maritime pine; forest modelling; knowledge transfer tool

Interactions between biomass and wild mushrooms production in managed maritime pine stands in northeastern Portugal

Forest ecosystems assure functions and supply services that are fundamental for human well-being. The sustainable management of forest systems based on a multifunctional approach is an important way of contributing locally and globally to the supply of wood for industry but also of non-woody products to (e.g. wild mushrooms, berries), to the conservation of natural resources (e.g. soil, water, biodiversity) and cultural heritage (e.g. scenery, traditions), and to the regulation of ecological processes (e.g. carbon sequestration, erosion). The preferences of society, however, may favour demand and supply of particular forest goods or services causing the decline of other (trade-off) or may favour demand and supply of several services simultaneously (synergy). In this work we evaluated the interactions between demand and the supply of two provisioning ecosystem services – production of wood for energy and wild mushrooms - in maritime pine stands in north-eastern Portugal. Biomass for energy and mushrooms production are services currently increasing in importance due to the expansion of local and international markets. The assessment was done using AppTitude® to address spatially and economically demand and supply of these services in a heuristic model under different scenarios. AppTitude® combined three kind of models in his assessments: i) value or spatial suitability models, ii) price models and iii) quantity models. The results show possible conflicts and synergies between these two ecosystem services as well as the spatial distribution of supply variability due to forest management followed in maritime pine stands.As florestas asseguram funções e fornecem serviços fundamentais para o bem-estar humano. A gestão sustentável de sistemas florestais baseada numa abordagem multifuncional é uma forma importante de contribuir, local e globalmente, para o fornecimento de madeira à indústria mas também de produtos florestais não lenhosos (p. ex. cogumelos, frutos silvestres), para a conservação de recursos naturais (p. ex. solo, água, biodiversidade) e património cultural (p. ex. paisagem, tradições), e para a regulação de processos ecológicos (p. ex. sequestro de carbono, erosão). As preferências da sociedade, no entanto, podem favorecer a procura e oferta de serviços de ecossistema à custa de outros (trade-off) ou podem favorecer a procura e oferta de vários serviços simultaneamente (sinergia). Neste trabalho avaliamos as interações entre a procura e oferta de dois serviços de aprovisionamento – produção de madeira para energia e cogumelos silvestres – em povoamentos de pinheiro-bravo no Nordeste de Portugal. A produção de biomassa florestal para energia e de cogumelos constituem serviços de crescente importância pela expansão de mercados locais e internacionais. A avaliação foi feita utilizando a aplicação informática AppTitude® para analisar economicamente e espacialmente a procura e oferta destes serviços num modelo heurístico considerando vários cenários. AppTitude® combinou três tipos de modelos nesta avaliação: i) valor ou aptidão, ii) preço e iii) quantidade. Os resultados ilustram os possíveis conflitos e sinergias na área de estudo entre os dois serviços de ecossistema considerados e a distribuição espacial da variabilidade da oferta resultante da gestão florestal seguida em povoamentos de pinheiro-bravo.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fine-tuning the BFOLDS fire regime module to support the assessment of fire-related functions and services in a changing Mediterranean mountain landscape

Fire simulation models are useful to advance fire research and improve landscape management. However, a better understanding of these tools is crucial to increase their reliability and expansion into research fields where their application remains limited (e.g., ecosystem services). We evaluated several components of the BFOLDS Fire Regime Module and then tested its ability to simulate fire regime attributes in a Mediterranean mountainous landscape. Based on model outputs, we assessed the landscape fire regulation capacity over time and its implications for supporting the climate regulation ecosystem service. We found that input data quality and the adjustment of fuel and fire behaviour parameters are crucial to accurately emulating key fire regime attributes. Besides, the high predictive capacity shown by BFOLDS-FRM allows to reliably inform the planning and sustainable management of fire-prone mountainous areas of the Mediterranean. Moreover, we identified and discussed modelling limitations and made recommendations to improve future model applications.A. Sil received support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through Ph.D. Grant SFRH/BD/132838/2017, funded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and by the European Social Fund - Operational Program Human Capital within the 2014–2020 EU Strategic Framework. P.M. Fernandes contributed in the framework of the UIDB/04033/2020 project, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Forests as promoters of water ecosystem services: insights from Portugal

Forests provide multiple ecosystem services, with relevance for the ones related to water. It is widely accepted that forests greatly influence the water cycle, promoting evapotranspiration, improving infiltration, reducing surface runoff and consequently soil erosion, although sometimes at expenses of a reduction in total water yield. In fact, forests are targeted for several measures to restore freshwater and land ecosystems, conserving biodiversity and at the same time improving the revenues of landowners, especially if Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are in place. However, the environmental effectiveness of these measures is not always acknowledged, especially due to the lack of local studies. Therefore, the objective of this presentation is to gather information based on modelling exercises applied to case-studies in Portugal, in which forests influence the provision of ecosystem services related to water in terms of quantity and quality. First, the results from an econometric model based on spatial variables applied to continental Portugal will be presented. Results suggested the existence of a positive and significant effect of local forest cover on water treatment cost savings of 0.056%. Secondly, scenarios of afforestation were simulated in SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) for two watersheds of northern Portugal. Results revealed that forests have a positive role on the regulation of water, in particular for the scenario of native deciduous type of trees, such as oak. Moreover, forests influence water quality, in terms of less nitrates in the river, and less soil erosion, when compared to a scenario of agricultural expansion. Lastly, a SWAT application in a small watershed in Central Portugal with scenarios of afforestation vs. fires, showed that soil erosion protection and water quality regulation provided by forests might be negatively affected by fire occurrence. Overall, further work should be done to consider fire risk over PES schemes applied to the Mediterranean forest.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Approaches and methods for ecosystem services assessment in the North of Portugal: from supply modeling to land management optimization

In the last decades, ecosystems services (ES) in the North of Portugal have been assessed typically for sets of ES addressed individually based on indicators (e.g., LULC) but also through mechanistic and non-mechanistic modeling (e.g., hydrological modeling, InVEST). Economic evaluation has been applied based mostly on the combination of ES supply in biophysical units with market prices or value attributed by other techniques (e.g., avoided cost, unit value transfer). Such studies, and the approaches and methods involved, have been helpful in demonstrating the magnitude and dynamics of the supply of a series of ES in the region, both in biophysical and monetary units, and to inform regional planning and management of natural resources, such as forests. These studies have been changing the perception of stakeholders regarding forest systems and their management. Despite the importance of ES research conducted so far, there is an ongoing effort to further develop ES assessment in the region, conceptually and methodologically, namely by overcoming some of the intrinsic constraints of the approaches and methods used. Improvements intend to better integrate different ecosystem functions and services, to eliminate double counting, and to address the interactions between supply and demand of ES at several scales. The incorporation of capabilities of land-use and management optimization based on the supply and value of ES is also currently a research goal in the region. Recent developments have been based on operational research tools developed for the forest sector in the region of Bragan ça addressing ecosystem services from heuristics, multi-criteria and linear programming perspectives, expecting to solve complex spatially explicit management alternatives problems based on ES. In this presentation we will introduce these tools and their adjustment and applications in the assessment of ES in the region.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

VPD-based models of dead fine fuel moisture provide best estimates in a global dataset

Dead fine fuel moisture content (FM) is one of the most important determinants of fire behavior. Fire scientists have attempted to effectively estimate FM for nearly a century, but we are still lacking broad scale evaluations of the different approaches for prediction. Here we tackle this problem by taking advantage or a recently compiled global fire behavior database (BONFIRE) gathering 1603 records of 1h (i.e., <6 mm diameter or thickness) dead fuel moisture content from measurements before experimental fires. We compared the results of models routinely used by different agencies worldwide, empirical models, semi-mechanistic models and also non-linear and machine learning approaches based on either temperature and relative humidity or vapor pressure deficit (VPD). A semi-mechanistic model based on VPD showed the best performance across all FM ranges and a historical model developed in Australia (MK5) was additionally recommended for low fuel moisture estimations. We also observed significant differences in FM dynamics between vegetation types with FM in grasslands more responsive to changes in atmospheric dryness than woody ecosystems. The addition of computational complexity through machine learning is not recommended since the gain in model fit is small relative to the increase in complexity. Future research efforts should concentrate on predictions at low FM (<10 %) as this is the range most significant for fire behavior and where the poorest model performance was observed. Model predictions are available from https://hcfm.shinyapps.io/shinyfmd/.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (projects UIDB/04033/2020 and PTDC/AAG-MAA/ 2656/2014), the Spanish MICINN (RTI2018-094691-B-C31, PID2020- 116556RA-I00) and EU H2020 (grant agreements 101003890-FirEUrisk, and 101037419-FireRES).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of landscape changes on carbon sequestration and storage in the Sabor river’s upper basin

The landscape in northeastern Portugal has changed in the past decades mainly driven by depopulation and agriculture abandonment. These changes can have major impacts on the provision of ecosystem services including the climate regulation service. In order to assess the influence of landscape changes in the provision of this ecosystem service we quantified, valued and mapped carbon stored and sequestered in the sabor river’s upper basin, Bragança, Portugal, using the invest model. The assessment relied on the interpretation of land use/land cover (lulc) changes between 1990 and 2006 and the estimation of carbon stocks in aboveground, belowground, litter and soil pools for the entire landscape. For the economical valuation we used the social costs of carbon approach. Also, three alternative landscape scenarios (forest expansion, shrubland expansion and agriculture abandonment) have been projected for 2020. The results suggested that between 1990 and 2006 carbon stored in the landscape increased and that the variation of the carbon sequestered and stored in the landscape occurred mainly due to changes in lulc and to the increase of forest tree biomass. Carbon distribution among pools varied depending on lulc types. however, for all lulc types, soil was estimated as the major carbon pool. The scenario that simulates the expansion of forest areas revealed a higher potential for carbon sequestration, which could indicate a higher value for this ecosystem service. In contrast, the expansion of shrubland areas revealed a lower potential for carbon sequestration in the landscape

Providing tools to improve forest management in the northeastern region of Portugal

The sustainable use of natural resources, such as forest resources, require sound management practices, from both environmental and socioeconomic perspectives, supported by reliable and accurate models and tools developed at proper scales. In forestry, however, tools that use regionally adjusted growth and yield models may not always be available, in particular in mountain areas where local environmental conditions affect tree growth in particular ways. In order to solve existing technical constraints that limit sustainable forestry at the stand and at the landscape level and to encourage and support sustainable wood mobilization in the northeastern region of Portugal, we developed a set of tools targeted to both forest managers and forest owners: FlorNExT® and FlorNExTPRO®. FlorNExT® is a friendly‐user cloud computing tool for the simulation of forest growth and thinning operations, directed to forest managers and owners. This application was designed to allow estimates of current stand volume, biomass and carbon content of maritime pine and Pyrenean oak stands to be made easily by any stakeholder, as well as to estimate future forest growth and yield based on four stand variables: age, density, dominant height and basal area. FlorNExTPRO® is a desktop tool that provides a spatial framework to forest optimization using a linear programming approach. The tool tests all the possible combinations of silvicultural plans defined by the user for a set of management units. In addition, the user can apply constraints to the simulations, such as maximum harvested or thinned area, or minimum volume to be removed per period, among other options. Both tools implement a dynamic growth and yield model framework which integrates different transition functions for dominant height (site index curves) and basal area, along with equations of tree and stand volume and structural models to plan thinning operations of variable intensity