Many indicators and criteria have been proposed to assess the sustainable management of
forests but their scientific validity remains uncertain. Because the effects of forest disturbances
(such as logging) are often specific to particular species, sites, landscapes, regions
and forest types, management ‘‘shortcuts’’ such as indicator species, focal species and...
The Kittlitz's murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a rare member of the seabird family Alcidae that breeds in coastal areas of Alaska and Beringian Russia. The species belongs to the genus Brachyramphus, an unusual seabird taxon in which all three extant species nest non-colonially, situating their nests up to 75 km...
Silvicultural regimes that aim at an increased stand structural diversity typically promote small-scale heterogeneity in horizontal and vertical structures, e.g. through the creation of gaps. We used terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to investigate impacts of altered growing conditions on trees adjacent to artificial gaps as compared to responses of trees...
The quantity and characteristics of coarse woody debris (CWD) were examined in four distinct pine ecosystems of north-western (NW) Spain, NW Russia and the NW USA. The average CWD volume and biomass ranged from 3.76 m³ ha⁻¹, 1.55 Mg ha⁻¹ in pine plantations in NW Spain to 24.86 m3 ha⁻¹,...
Accurate quantification of terrestrial carbon storage and its change is of key importance to improved understanding of global carbon dynamics. Forest management influences carbon sequestration and release patterns, and gap models are well suited for evaluating carbon storage. An individual-based gap model of forest dynamics, FAREAST, is applied across Russia...
Components of biodiversity in intensively managed forest stands may be reduced in comparison to naturally regenerated stands. Use of herbicides to suppress herbaceous and woody plant species that compete with planted seedlings has been implicated in negative impacts. We designed a large-scale experimental study to test the influence of intensive...
Livestock fences have been hypothesized to significantly contribute to mortality of lesser prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus); however, quantification of mortality due to fence collisions is lacking across their current distribution. Variation in fence density, landscape composition and configuration, and land use could influence collision risk of lesser prairie-chickens. We monitored fences...
Early-successional stages have been truncated and altered in many western U.S. forest landscapes by
planting conifers, controlling competing vegetation, suppressing fire, and focusing on maintaining late-seral
species and undisturbed riparian zones. Declining area of early-successional stages may be reducing
resilience and sustainability on landscapes that experience elevated disturbance related to...
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in Europe (Angelstam, 1998), New England (DeGraaf et al., 2003;
King and Schlossberg, 2014
Future scenarios of global climate change rely on large-scale climate envelope models that do not account for local climatic conditions to which organisms most closely respond. Shifts in species distributions and phenology driven by climate change are well-documented, yet we lack a strong understanding of how climate change will influence...