Forests, Volume 10, Issue 4

Drought is the major factor that limits vegetation recovery in rocky desertification areas. The leaf carbon isotope (δ¹³C) value is related to plant water-use efficiency (WUE) and is of great significance in revealing the WUE characteristics of...

To assess the effects of long-term intensive management on soil carbon cycle and microbial functional diversity, we sampled soil in Chinese hickory (Carya cathayensis Sarg.) stands managed intensively for 5, 10, 15, and 20 years, and in reference Chi...

Wood, also designated as secondary xylem, is the major structure that gives trees and other woody plants stability for upright growth and maintains the water supply from the roots to all other plant tissues. Over recent decades, our understanding of...

The importance of trust has been widely acknowledged as a major antecedent and a constitutive element of information exchange in policy networks. The ultimate objective of the present article is to understand whether and how trust is a factor explain...

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential mixing effects on degradation of lignin and cellulose in mixed leaf litter from Pinus massoniana Lamb., Cupressus funebris Endl., and/or Quercus variabilis Bl., and elucidate the interactions wit...

Western spruce budworm (WSBW) is a common defoliating insect that has caused extensive damage and mortality to a number of tree species across the western United States (US). Past studies have linked outbreaks of WSBW to increased moisture stress of...

The ber fruit fly Carpomya vesuviana Costa (Diptera: Tephritidae) is the most destructive pests of Ziziphus spp. Carpomya vesuviana infestation causes great economic losses. We re-parameterized an existing CLIMEX model, and used the updated CliMond 3...

Microbial communities and their associated enzyme activities play key roles in carbon cycling in ecosystems. Forest thinning is likely to change the soil properties and feedbacks on the structure and function of microbial communities, consequently af...

Research Highlights: Direct comparison of leaf litter decomposition rates between harsh soil conditions of degraded lands and adjacent “closer to natural” forest areas has not been done before. Background and Objectives: We aimed to fill...

Phosphorus (P) is a necessary nutrient for plant growth and plays an important role in plant metabolisms; however, the majority of P in soil is in insoluble forms. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) can convert the insoluble phosphates into plant-...

Street tree inventories are a critical component of urban forest management. However, inventories conducted in the field by trained professionals are expensive and time-consuming. Inventories relying on citizen scientists or virtual surveys conducted...

Decades of fire exclusion in the Southern Appalachian Mountains led to fuel accumulation and conversion from open oak-pine woodlands to closed-canopy mesic forests dominated by shade-tolerant hardwoods and shrubs that often do not support a diverse u...

Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) is a fast-growing evergreen conifer with high-quality timber and is an important reforestation and commercial tree species in southern China. Planting density affects the productivity of Chinese fir...

In Lithuania, free-ranging European bison live sedentarily in the fragmented landscape of the central part of the country. The aim of this study was to analyze the distribution and habitat selection of European bison in a semi-isolated territory. Fre...

The basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) family is an important transcription factor for eukaryotes and is involved in a wide range of biological activities. Among these, bHLH can interaction with WD repeat (WD40 or WDR) and V-myb avian myeloblastosis viral...

Research Highlights: Cyclocarya paliurus, native to the subtropical region of China, is a monoecious species with a heterodichogamous mating system. Its flowering phenology and low seed success characteristics differ from other typical heterodichogam...

Over the past decade, countries have strived to develop a global governance structure to halt deforestation and forest degradation, by achieving the readiness requirements for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). None...

Plant roots play a key role in stabilizing slopes, particularly in the Mediterranean region, characterized by rough and unstable terrain. However, forest species differ in their stabilizing capacities. The purpose of this study is to fill the gap of...

Research Highlights: This study comprehensively revealed the carbon sequestration characteristics of secondary forests in the central Loess Plateau during vegetation succession. Background and Objectives: The secondary succession of Loess Plateau for...

The TEOSINTE BRANCHED1, CYCLOIDEA, and PROLIFERATION CELL FACTOR (TCP) transcription factor is a plant-specific gene family and acts on multiple functional genes in controlling growth, development, stress response, and the circadian clock. In this st...

Soil microorganisms play key roles in ecosystems and respond quickly to environmental changes. Liming and/or understory removal are important forest management practices and have been widely applied to planted forests in humid subtropical and tropica...

Intra-ring variation in wood density and tracheid anatomical properties and wood property interrelationships were investigated in Thuja occidentalis L. Samples were taken from three stands in Abitibi–Témiscamingue, Quebec, Canada. The st...

The relative abundance of nitrogen-fixing species has been hypothesised to influence tree biomass, decomposition, and nitrogen availability in eucalypt forests. This prediction has been demonstrated in experimental settings (two-species mixtures) but...

Climate change continues to threaten forests and their ecosystem services while substantially altering natural disturbance regimes. Land cover changes and consequent management entail discrepancies in carbon sequestration provided by forest ecosystem...

WRKY transcription factors are known to play roles in diverse stress responses in plants. Low temperatures limit the geographic distribution of Coffea canephora Pierre ex A.Froehner. The WRKYs of C. canephora are still not well characterized, and the...

Assessing exotic pest response and eradication programs can identify factors that will lead to increased pest detection and provide information for prioritizing and enhancing future eradication attempts. We review the forest-related insect and pathog...

Urbanization leads to the occupation of green areas, directly contributing to a high level of fragmentation of urban green spaces, which, in turn, results in numerous socioeconomic and environmental problems. Consequently, an understanding of the rel...

Surviving relict populations of species that were more widespread in ancient times can teach us a lot, such as evolution and genetic differentiation. One such relict plant is Liriodendron, of which populations remain in China (L. chinense (Hemsl.) Sa...

Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim. (Z. bungeanum), a plant that belongs to the Rutaceae family, is widely planted in China. Its outstanding feature is its rich aroma. The main component that creates this aroma is the volatile terpenoids. In this study, we...

The establishment of trees in grasslands alters ecosystem processes and services. Litter inputs shift from herbaceous to tree-derived, which affects the litter quantity and quality and may in turn alter soil carbon dynamics and ecosystem-level carbon...

Background and Motivation: Nitrogen content in tissues of Fagus crenata Blume is key for flowering and seed production. However, there is a lack of information on seasonal intra-plant nitrogen partitioning in this representative tree species typical...

Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Gilg is an economically important tree species that produce the highly prized agarwood. In recent years, agarwood production has been seriously threatened by the outbreak of Heortia vitessoides Moore, a leaf-eating pest tha...

Variation in species composition between two communities is so-called β diversity, or dissimilarity, and can be separated into two components: turnover and nestedness. However, the mechanisms underlying these two components remain ambiguous, par...

Sweet birch (Betula lenta L.) is aggressively recruiting in temperate forest understories of the eastern United States and often dominates the post-disturbance seedling community, diminishing diversity and hindering sustainable silviculture. The type...

Pinus cembra L. is a key species of high elevation forest ecosystems in Europe. However, in most mountain ranges, its importance has declined considerably. Remnant populations are often isolated and their dynamics and functioning are not well underst...

Research Highlights: To inform eco-designers in green building conception, we propose a conceptual model for the assessment of the impact of using wood on the quality of ecosystems. Background and Objectives: The proposed model allows the assessment...

Research highlights: Water transport and CO₂ diffusion are two important processes that determine the CO₂ assimilation efficiency in leaves. The integration of leaf economic and hydraulic traits will help to present a more comprehensive view of the s...

Interesting aesthetic properties of tropical woods, like surface texture and colour, are rarely impaired due to weathering, rotting and other degradation processes. This study analyses the colour of 21 tropical woods before and after six weeks of int...

The concept of National Forest Park (NFP) is mainly used in mainland China. Originating in 1982, NFP embodies a “top-down” concept and associated program launched by the Chinese government. It is aimed at promoting forest-based tourism an...

Numerical integration of the instantaneous net photosynthetic rate (A_n) is a common method for calculating the long-term CO₂ uptake of trees, and accurate dynamic simulation of the crown A_n has been receiving substantial attention. Tree characteristi...

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of bark stripping caused by sika deer (Cervus nippon [Temminck]) on the production and structure of young Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) forest stands (41–43 years). Production parameters, s...

Sorbus alnifolia (Siebold & Zucc.) K.Koch (Rosaceae) is an economically important tree in the temperate forests of Eastern China. In recent decades, ever-increasing use and modification of forestlands have resulted in major degeneration of the na...

Ongoing climate change and human activities have a great effect on vegetation dynamics. Understanding the impact of climate change and human activities on vegetation dynamics in different ecologically vulnerable regions has great significance in ecos...

Trace metals can enter natural regions with low human disturbance through atmospheric circulation; however, little information is available regarding the filtering efficiency of trace metals by forest canopies. In this study, a representative subalpi...

To assess the ecological effects of poplar stands with different densities and ages, fixed observation sites were established in selected standard forest plots. Daily dynamics of wind speed and sand transport rate were monitored over an erosive perio...

Bamboo forests play an important role in achieving the objectives of the United Nations program on Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. We developed and validated a modeling system that simultaneously estimate aboveground biom...

In this study, we aim to advance the optimization of daily large fire containment strategies for ground-based suppression resources by leveraging fire risk assessment results commonly used by fire managers in the western USA. We begin from an existin...

Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is recognized as a toxic gaseous air pollutant. However, atmospheric NO₂ can be absorbed by plant leaves and subsequently participate in plant nitrogen metabolism. The metabolism of atmospheric NO₂ utilizes and consumes the lig...

Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.) is widespread in most countries of the Mediterranean area. In Greece, Aleppo pine forms natural stands of high economic and ecological importance. Understanding the species’ ecophysiological traits is import...

Eucalypts can be very productive when intensively grown as short rotation woody crops (SRWC) for bioproducts. In Florida, USA, a fertilized, herbicided, and irrigated cultivar planted at 2471 trees/ha could produce over 58 green mt/ha/year in 3.7 yea...