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Forests
Special Issues
Forest Dynamics Models for Conservation, Restoration, and Management
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Forest Dynamics Models for Conservation, Restoration, and Management

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Inventory, Modeling and Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 October 2023) | Viewed by 6352

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Lihu Dong

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
Interests: forest measuration; biometrics; forest growth simulation; forest ecology and management; forest biomass and carbon storage modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Dongsheng Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of State Forestry and Grassland Administration, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
Interests: forest modelling and management; genetic improvement and directional cultivation; ecology regeneration; water and soil science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forest dynamics encompasses changes in stand structure, species composition, and species interactions with disturbance and environment over a range of spatial and temporal scales. Understanding forest dynamics as indisputable factors and basic units of regeneration has become important in developing effective techniques to promote the conservation, management, and rational use of remaining forests. Forest dynamics models are a crucial tool to study the effects of those changes on the functioning of forests. These models can provide a theoretical basis, operational basis and quantitative index for the rational protection and sustainable utilization of forests and are applied at the scale of forest stands to the globe, from landscapes to continents, and from the boreal to the tropical forest biome. The Special Issue is dedicated to reporting well-developed forest dynamics models for enhancing the knowledge pertaining to forest conservation, restoration, and management. Well-prepared submissions that cover one or more of the following topics are very welcome.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  1. Individual trees, size classes, and stands modeling in natural and plantation forests;
  2. Forest dynamics models at different scales in the context of climate change;
  3. Developed model application for forest conservation, restoration, and management;
  4. The impact of forest conservation, restoration, and management on tree and stand growth;
  5. Responses of tree and stand growth to climate change and management planning;
  6. Dynamic analysis of forest resources and future forest management measures.

Prof. Dr. Lihu Dong
Dr. Dongsheng Chen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • forest dynamics
  • forest growth model
  • climate change
  • forest management
  • carbon storage estimation

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4865 KiB  
Article
Tree Crown Affects Biomass Allocation and Its Response to Site Conditions and the Density of Platycladus orientalis Linnaeus Plantation
by Lulu He, Xuan Zhang, Xiaoxia Wang, Haseen Ullah, Yadong Liu and Jie Duan
Forests 2023, 14(12), 2433; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14122433 - 13 Dec 2023
Viewed by 800
Abstract
Tree crown plays a crucial role in the process of photosynthesis and the formation of biomass. The site conditions and stand density have a significant impact on tree and crown growth, as well as biomass formation. Understanding crown growth and its influence on [...] Read more.
Tree crown plays a crucial role in the process of photosynthesis and the formation of biomass. The site conditions and stand density have a significant impact on tree and crown growth, as well as biomass formation. Understanding crown growth and its influence on the allometric growth of the biomass of various organs under diverse site conditions and densities is critical to comprehending forest adaptation to climate change and management. This study examined the growth of trees, crown, and biomass in 36 plots of young Platycladus orientalis plantations across three site conditions (S1: thin soil on the sunny slope; S2: thick soil on the sunny slope; S3: thin soil on the shady slope) and four densities (D1: ≤1500 plants/hm2; D2: 1501–2000 plants/hm2; D3: 2001–3000 plants/hm2; and D4: ≥3001 plants/hm2). The findings of this study showed that S3 demonstrated the best tree growth, with considerably higher DBH and V than S1 and S2. In addition, as the number of trees grew, the average diameter at breast height (DBH), height (H), and volume (V) all decreased greatly. Poor site (S1) suppressed the canopy, decreasing crown width (CW), crown length (CL), crown ratio (CR), crown surface area (CCSA), and crown volume (CCV), while increasing crown efficiency (CEFF). This same trend was seen in D4, where CR, CCSA, and CCV were all much smaller than the other densities, but CEFF was the highest. Subjective and objective indicators were less responsive to changes in crown growth than crown composite indicators like CCSA, CCV, CEFF, and CR. Site condition and density had a major impact on biomass accumulation, with S1 and D4 having a much lower biomass than S2, S3, D1, D2, and D3. More biomass was allocated to the stem in S3 and D1, and more biomass was allocated to branches and leaves in S2, S3, D1, D2, and D3, resulting in a nearly isotropic growth of branches and leaves. The effect of crown indicators on the biomass of each organ varied according to site condition and density. In varied site conditions, crown and DBH ratio (RCD) contributed the most to stem biomass, whereas CL contributed the most to branch and root biomass. CL had the largest effect on biomass accumulation at various densities. This study demonstrates how site condition and density affect tree and crown development and biomass accumulation, providing theoretical guidance for plantation management under climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Dynamics Models for Conservation, Restoration, and Management)
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16 pages, 4442 KiB  
Article
An Agent-Based Model of a Sustainable Forest Operation in a Theoretical Lowland Dipterocarp Forest Modeled after Mount Makiling Forest Reserve, Philippines
by Zenith Arnejo, Leonardo Barua, Paul Joseph Ramirez, Cristino Tiburan Jr. and Nathaniel Bantayan
Forests 2023, 14(2), 428; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020428 - 19 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1695
Abstract
This study investigates the integration of assisted natural regeneration (ANR) and selective logging (SL) to guarantee a sustainable forest operation in the Philippines using agent-based modeling. To assess the sustainability of the operation in light of the revenue from timber harvesting and the [...] Read more.
This study investigates the integration of assisted natural regeneration (ANR) and selective logging (SL) to guarantee a sustainable forest operation in the Philippines using agent-based modeling. To assess the sustainability of the operation in light of the revenue from timber harvesting and the health of the forest in terms of the total number of trees, various simulations were run on a theoretical forest modeled after the Mount Makiling Forest Reserve in the Philippines. The findings of the simulation have shown that, even after many years of continuous use, the performance of SL on a healthy forest similar to the theoretical forest is substantially identical with and without ANR. The “with ANR” setup, however, was able to demonstrate a considerably better and more stable harvest value over the final 100 years than the “without ANR” setup. In terms of ensuring sustainable forest cover, simulation findings showed that even after 500 years of continuous SL activity, the forest cover could be maintained to up to 80% with ANR. The model has shown that with the right combination of reforestation efforts and timber harvesting methods, a sustainable forest operation can contribute to the country’s economic needs for timber production while ensuring that the forest is actively managed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Dynamics Models for Conservation, Restoration, and Management)
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17 pages, 2836 KiB  
Article
Effects of Biotic and Abiotic Factors on Biomass Conversion and Expansion Factors of Natural White Birch Forest (Betula platyphylla Suk.) in Northeast China
by Yanrong Wang, Zheng Miao, Yuanshuo Hao, Lihu Dong and Fengri Li
Forests 2023, 14(2), 362; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020362 - 11 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1342
Abstract
Biomass conversion and expansion factors (BCEFs) are widely utilized in national and regional biomass estimates and greenhouse gas reporting, as they can be used to directly transform the stocking volume into biomass. In this study, the power function was used [...] Read more.
Biomass conversion and expansion factors (BCEFs) are widely utilized in national and regional biomass estimates and greenhouse gas reporting, as they can be used to directly transform the stocking volume into biomass. In this study, the power function was used as the basic model form with biotic variables, and abiotic variables were considered to improve the fitting results. Then, the random effects parameters were also introduced into the models to describe the variation of BCEFs among different forest management units. Random sampling strategies were applied to calibrate the random effects. The results showed that the stocking volume exhibited a negative proportional relationship in the stem BCEF (BCEFst), the root BCEF (BCEFro) and the total tree BCEF (BCEFto) models, and the quadratic mean diameter exhibited a positive proportional relationship in the branch BCEF (BCEFbr) and the foliage BCEF (BCEFfol) models. In addition, the fitting effect of generalized models with abiotic predictors was superior to that of the basic models. Considering the effects of abiotic variables on the BCEFs of each component, the results showed that BCEFst and BCEFto decreased as the mean annual precipitation increased; BCEFbr increased as the annual temperature increased; BCEFfol gradually decreased as the elevation increased; and BCEFro first increased with increasing mean annual temperature and then declined. In conclusion, abiotic factors explained the variation in BCEFs for the biomass components of the natural white birch forest. Although the fitting effect of generalized models with abiotic predictors was superior to that of the basic models, the mixed-effects model was preferable for modeling the BCEFs of each component. In addition, the prediction precision of the mixed-effects models enhanced gradually with increasing sample size, and the selection of eight plots for calibration and prediction based on the mixed-effects model was the best sampling strategy in this study of a natural white birch forest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Dynamics Models for Conservation, Restoration, and Management)
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19 pages, 3994 KiB  
Article
Development of Estimation Models for Individual Tree Aboveground Biomass Based on TLS-Derived Parameters
by Fan Wang, Yuman Sun, Weiwei Jia, Wancai Zhu, Dandan Li, Xiaoyong Zhang, Yiren Tang and Haotian Guo
Forests 2023, 14(2), 351; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020351 - 09 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1754
Abstract
Forest biomass is a foundation for evaluating the contribution to the carbon cycle of forests, and improving biomass estimation accuracy is an urgent problem to be addressed. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) enables the accurate restoration of the real 3D structure of forests and [...] Read more.
Forest biomass is a foundation for evaluating the contribution to the carbon cycle of forests, and improving biomass estimation accuracy is an urgent problem to be addressed. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) enables the accurate restoration of the real 3D structure of forests and provides valuable information about individual trees; therefore, using TLS to accurately estimate aboveground biomass (AGB) has become a vital technical approach. In this study, we developed individual tree AGB estimation models based on TLS-derived parameters, which are not available using traditional methods. The height parameters and crown parameters were extracted from the point cloud data of 1104 trees. Then, a stepwise regression method was used to select variables for developing the models. The results showed that the inclusion of height parameters and crown parameters in the model provided an additional 3.76% improvement in model estimation accuracy compared to a DBH-only model. The optimal linear model included the following variables: diameter at breast height (DBH), minimum contact height (Hcmin), standard deviation of height (Hstd), 1% height percentile (Hp1), crown volume above the minimum contact height (CVhcmin), and crown radius at the minimum contact height (CRhcmin). Comparing the performance of the models on the test set, the ranking is as follows: artificial neural network (ANN) model > random forest (RF) model > linear mixed-effects (LME) model > linear (LN) model. Our results suggest that TLS has substantial potential for enhancing the accuracy of individual-tree AGB estimation and can reduce the workload in the field and greatly improve the efficiency of estimation. In addition, the model developed in this paper is applicable to airborne laser scanning data and provides a novel approach for estimating forest biomass at large scales. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Dynamics Models for Conservation, Restoration, and Management)
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