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New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science

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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 (30 April 2019) | Viewed by 44773

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Hong S. He

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Guest Editor

School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri, 203 ABNR Building, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Interests: landscape ecology (spatial ecology) and geographic information sciences (GIS); issues of biodiversity, conservation, and ecosystem management increasingly need to be addressed at large spatial and temporal scales; my research in landscape ecology puts ecological questions in such large spatial and temporal contexts; in geographic information sciences I explore new technical advances to help process and analyze large spatial data sets; the science and technology I endeavor to advance will help to solve numerous regional planning, management, conservation, and restoration problems; my research objectives are to integrate spatial modeling and geographical information systems to study landscape/regional response to various natural and social factors over large spatial and temporal domains

Dr. Wen J. Wang

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor

School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri, 203 ABNR Building, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Interests: roles of biological processes; disturbance; climate change; and land use change on the forest carbon dynamics and tree species distribution using process-based ecosystem and landscape models (LANDIS PRO, LINKAGES); GIS; remote sensing; and geospatial statistics

Dr. Frank R. Thompson

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor

University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211-7260, USA
Interests: interested in the development of tools and technologies to assist conservation planners and managers in planning wildlife conservation at large spatial scales

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Science and technology have propelled advances of forest-related research and forest management. The emergence of landscape ecology, over the past few decades, provided a new perspective in traditional forest research, building on the rich ecological theories of disturbance, succession, and equilibrium and non-equilibrium dynamics of forest ecosystems processes. It is now widely acknowledged that the future status of a forest is constrained by both local scale (stand) and large-scale (landscape) processes. From a technological perspective, geographical information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and computer simulation models have benefited greatly from the rapid development of computing capacity, easy to operate hand-held devices, the state-of-art application packages, and rapid accumulation of remotely sensed and systematic inventory data. Thus, many forest researches have achieved a new quality that can potentially help to improve forest diversity and sustainability around the world.

In light of these advances, we organized this Special Issue, “Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science”. The Special Issue covers the topics from visualizing forest change under changing environments, spatial trends in tree species habitats, migration potentials, and capabilities to cope with a changing climate, drone-based forest structure mapping and 3D fuel modeling: Next generation spatial analysis, to spatially-explicit forest landscape modeling. These topics feed the ongoing quest for new theories and techniques in forest research and management.

Prof. Dr. Hong S. He
Guest Editor
Dr. Wen J. Wang
Dr. Frank R. Thompson
Co-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

3-D fuel mapping
climatic change
drone-based remote sensing
ecosystem models
fire
forest visualization
landscape models
phenology
tree species migration
wildlife habitat

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 3392 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Potential Distribution Shifts of Plant Species under Climate Change in Changbai Mountains, China

by Lei Wang, Wen J. Wang, Zhengfang Wu, Haibo Du, Shengwei Zong and Shuang Ma

Forests 2019, 10(6), 498; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10060498 - 11 Jun 2019

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3407

Abstract

Shifts in alpine tundra plant species have important consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, recent research on upward species shifts have focused mainly on polar and high-latitude regions and it therefore remains unclear whether such vegetation change trends also are applicable to the alpine tundra at the southern edges of alpine tundra species distribution. This study evaluated an alpine tundra region within the Changbai Mountains, China, that is part of the southernmost alpine tundra in eastern Eurasia. We investigated plant species shifts in alpine tundra within the Changbai Mountains over the last three decades (1984–2015) by comparing contemporary survey results with historical ones and evaluated potential changes in the distribution of dwarf shrub and herbaceous species over the next three decades (2016–2045) using a combination of observations and simulations. The results of this study revealed that the encroachment of herbaceous plants had altered tundra vegetation to a significant extent over the last three decades, especially within low and middle alpine tundra regions in Changbai Mountains, China. The herbaceous species would continue shifting upward and expanding while their dwarf shrub counterparts would continue shifting upward and shrinking over the next three decades under the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. The upward shifts of plant species would not keep up with the rate of climate warming under the RCP 8.5 scenarios. The dominant plant tundra species may transform from dwarf shrubs to herbaceous varieties. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for biodiversity protection under climate change and a reference data set for additional research on alpine vegetation dynamics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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28 pages, 3868 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Climate Change Impacts on Tree Species of the Eastern US: Results of DISTRIB-II Modeling

by Louis R. Iverson, Matthew P. Peters, Anantha M. Prasad and Stephen N. Matthews

Forests 2019, 10(4), 302; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10040302 - 2 Apr 2019

Cited by 31 | Viewed by 4962

Abstract

Forests across the globe are faced with a rapidly changing climate and an enhanced understanding of how these changing conditions may impact these vital resources is needed. Our approach is to use DISTRIB-II, an updated version of the Random Forest DISTRIB model, to model 125 tree species individually from the eastern United States to quantify potential current and future habitat responses under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP 8.5 -high emissions which is our current trajectory and RCP 4.5 -lower emissions by implementing energy conservation) and three climate models. Climate change could have large impacts on suitable habitat for tree species in the eastern United States, especially under a high emissions trajectory. On average, of the 125 species, approximately 88 species would gain and 26 species would lose at least 10% of their suitable habitat. The projected change in the center of gravity for each species distribution (i.e., mean center) between current and future habitat moves generally northeast, with 81 species habitat centers potentially moving over 100 km under RCP 8.5. Collectively, our results suggest that many species will experience less pressure in tracking their suitable habitats under a path of lower greenhouse gas emissions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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12 pages, 4328 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Visualizing Current and Future Climate Boundaries of the Conterminous United States: Implications for Forests

by Brice B. Hanberry and Jacob S. Fraser

Forests 2019, 10(3), 280; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10030280 - 22 Mar 2019

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3754

Abstract

Many potential geographic information system (GIS) applications remain unrealized or not yet extended to diverse spatial and temporal scales due to the relative recency of conversion from paper maps to digitized images. Here, we applied GIS to visualize changes in the ecological boundaries of plant hardiness zones and the Köppen-Trewartha classification system between current climate (1981–2010) and future climate (2070–2099), as well as changing climate within stationary state boundaries of the conterminous United States, which provide context for the future of forests. Three climate models at Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 were variable in climate projections. The greatest departure from the current climate in plant hardiness zones, which represent the coldest days, occurred where temperatures were coldest, whereas temperatures in the southeastern United States remained relatively stable. Most (85% to 99%) of the conterminous US increased by at least one plant hardiness zone (5.6 °C). The areal extent of subtropical climate types approximately doubled, expanding into current regions of hot temperate climate types, which shifted into regions of warm temperate climate types. The northernmost tier of states may generally develop the hottest months of the southernmost tier of states; Montana’s hottest month may become hotter than Arizona’s current hottest month. We applied these results to demonstrate the large magnitude of potential shifts in forested ecosystems at the end of the century. Shifts in ecological boundaries and climate within administrative boundaries may result in mismatches between climate and ecosystems and coupled human–environment systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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14 pages, 17552 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Herbaceous Encroachment from Mountain Birch Forests to Alpine Tundra Plant Communities Through Above- and Belowground Competition

by Xinyuan Tan, Hong S. He, Shengwei Zong, Miaomiao Wu, Kai Liu and Dandan Zhao

Forests 2019, 10(2), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10020170 - 16 Feb 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3183

Abstract

Alpine plant communities are highly sensitive to global warming. One of the consequences of the warming is encroachment by herbaceous plants from forests at low elevations into alpine ecosystems. In the Changbai Mountains, narrowleaf small reed (Deyeuxia angustifolia (Kom.) Y. L. Chang) from mountain birch forests encroached upward into alpine tundra, gradually replacing native tundra shrubs such as Rhododendron (Rhododendron aureum Georgi). How encroaching plants affect native plant communities is not fully understood. In this study, we analyzed above- and belowground biomass of alpine plant communities at five encroachment levels to investigate how biomass allocation changed at species and community scales. Our research showed that native plants are forced to change their morphology to cope with competition, at both above- and belowground levels, from encroaching plants. We found that (1) R. aureum increased the shoot height and leaf area in order to compete with D. angustifolia; (2) above- and belowground biomass of D. angustifolia increased while above- and belowground biomass of R. aureum decreased with increasing levels of encroachment; and (3) D. angustifolia encroachment reduced the total biomass of alpine tundra. Encroachment by herbaceous plants has a long-term negative impact on the ability of tundra plants to sequester carbon in the alpine tundra of the Changbai Mountains. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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23 pages, 6200 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Associations between Road Density, Urban Forest Landscapes, and Structural-Taxonomic Attributes in Northeastern China: Decoupling and Implications

by Yanbo Yang, Hailiang Lv, Yujie Fu, Xingyuan He and Wenjie Wang

Forests 2019, 10(1), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10010058 - 12 Jan 2019

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4126

Abstract

A better understanding on the associations between road density (RD), urban forest structural-taxonomic attributes, and landscape metrics is vital for forest ecological service evaluations and suitable management in sprawling urban areas with increasing road networks. We chose Harbin, a fast growing provincial capital city in northeast China, as a case study to address this issue. We utilized ArcGIS software (Esri, version 10.0; Redlands, CA, USA) and FRAGSTATS (V4.2.589) to digitize GF-1 images (Gaofen No.1 remote sensing images) to acquire road net characteristic information and landscape metrics of urban forests in Harbin. Together with forest structural-taxonomic attributes from a stratified random sampling survey, statistical methods such as an analysis of variance, a regression analysis, and a redundancy analysis were used to determine the road-dependent differences and to decouple the associations between them. The results indicated that road area percentages, road length/imperious surface area (ISA) ratios, road area/ISA ratios, and road cross-points sharply increased from low to heavy RD areas. This road intensification was strongly associated with increased urban forest area, patch density, and diverse patch shapes; smaller tree sizes, lower tree densities, and diverse tree species compositions were generally observed. Redundancy-based variation partitioning showed that part of the variations in structural-taxonomic attributes of forests could be explained by road intensity characteristics. In low RD (0–1.5 km/km²) regions, the road characteristics significantly affected forest characteristics (Shannon Wiener diversity index, species richness, and evenness index); however, such associations weakened with increasing forest landscape-related associations in medium to heavy RD (1.5–6 km/km²) regions. Our findings highlighted that road development is strongly associated with forest characteristics in Harbin city, and RD-dependent forest landscape regulating management could favor the maximization of forest ecological services that are related to structural and species identities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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12 pages, 1536 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling Post-Fire Tree Mortality Using a Logistic Regression Method within a Forest Landscape Model

by Jacob S. Fraser, Wen J. Wang, Hong S. He and Frank R. Thompson III

Forests 2019, 10(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10010025 - 3 Jan 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3862

Abstract

Fire is a multi-scale process that is an important component in determining ecosystem age structures and successional trajectories across forested landscapes. In order to address questions regarding fire effects over large spatial scales and long temporal scales researchers often employ forest landscape models which can model fire as a spatially explicit disturbance. Within forest landscape models site-level fire effects are often simplified to the species, functional type, or cohort level due to time or computational resource limitations. In this study we used a subset of publicly available U.S. Forest Service forest inventory data (FIA) to estimate short-term fire effects on tree densities across multiple stem diameter classes in two ecological sections in the central and southern United States. We found that FIA plots where low-intensity fires occurred within the preceding five years in the Ozark Highlands ecological section had significantly reduced stem densities in the two smallest diameter classes and in the Gulf Coastal Plains and Flatwoods fire reduced stem densities in the three smallest diameter classes. Using an independent subset of FIA plots we then parameterized and calibrated a forest landscape model to simulate site-level fire effects using a logistic regression based method and compare the results to previous methods of modeling fire effects. When representative landscapes from both study areas were simulated under a low-intensity fire regime using a forest landscape model the logistic regression probability method of modeling fire effects produced a similar reduction in stem densities while the previous age-cohort method overestimated density reductions across diameter classes. A more realistic representation of fire effects, particularly in low intensity fire regimes, increases the utility of forest landscape models as tools for planning and management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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18 pages, 7763 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tree-Lists Estimation for Chinese Boreal Forests by Integrating Weibull Diameter Distributions with MODIS-Based Forest Attributes from kNN Imputation

by Qinglong Zhang, Yu Liang and Hong S. He

Forests 2018, 9(12), 758; https://doi.org/10.3390/f9120758 - 5 Dec 2018

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3754

Abstract

Wall-to-wall tree-lists information (lists of species and diameter for every tree) at a regional scale is required for managers to assess forest sustainability and design effective forest management strategies. Currently, the k-nearest neighbors (kNN) method and the Weibull diameter distribution function have been widely used for estimating tree lists. However, the kNN method usually relies on a large number of field inventory plots to impute tree lists, whereas the Weibull function relies on strong correlations between stand attributes and diameter distribution across large regions. In this study, we developed a framework to estimate wall-to-wall tree lists over large areas based on a limited number of forest inventory plots. This framework integrates the ability of extrapolating diameter distribution from Weibull and kNN imputation of wall-to-wall forest stand attributes from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We estimated tree lists using this framework in Chinese boreal forests (Great Xing’an Mountains) and evaluated the accuracy of this framework. The results showed that the passing rate of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) test for Weibull diameter distribution by species was from 52% to 88.16%, which means that Weibull distribution could describe the diameter distribution by species well. The imputed stand attributes (diameter at breast height (DBH), height, and age) from the kNN method showed comparable accuracy with the previous studies for all species. There was no significant difference in the tree density between the estimated and observed tree-lists. Results suggest that this framework is well-suited to estimating the tree-lists in a large area. Our results were also ecologically realistic, capturing dominant ecological patterns and processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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13 pages, 7192 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Topographic Controls on Vegetation Changes in Alpine Tundra of the Changbai Mountains

by Miaomiao Wu, Hong S. He, Shengwei Zong, Xinyuan Tan, Haibo Du, Dandan Zhao, Kai Liu and Yu Liang

Forests 2018, 9(12), 756; https://doi.org/10.3390/f9120756 - 5 Dec 2018

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4260

Abstract

The vegetation of alpine tundra is undergoing significant changes and topography has played a significant role in mediating such changes. The roles of topography varied at different scales. In this study, we intended to identify topographic controls on tundra vegetation changes within the Changbai Mountains of Northeast China and reveal the scale effects. We delineated the vegetation changes of the last three decades using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series. We conducted a trend analysis for each pixel to reveal the spatial change and used binary logistic regression models to analyze the relationship between topographic controls at different scales and vegetation changes. Results showed that about 30% of tundra vegetation experienced a significant (p < 0.05) change in the NDVI, with 21.3% attributable to the encroachment of low-altitude plants resulting in a decrease in the NDVI, and 8.7% attributable to the expansion of tundra endemic plants resulting in an increase in the NDVI. Plant encroachment occurred more severely in low altitude than in high altitude, whereas plant expansion mostly occurred near volcanic ash fields at high altitude. We found that plant encroachment tended to occur in complex terrains and the broad-scale mountain aspect had a greater effect on plant encroachment than the fine-scale local aspect. Our results suggest that it is important to include the mountain aspect in mountain vegetation change studies, as most such studies only use the local aspect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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10 pages, 2030 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Land Use and Landscape Pattern Changes in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

by Xiaohui Liu, Yu An, Guihua Dong and Ming Jiang

Forests 2018, 9(10), 637; https://doi.org/10.3390/f9100637 - 12 Oct 2018

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3314

Abstract

Agricultural reclamation has been the major threat to land use changes in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China, over the past decades. However, spatial and temporal dynamics of land use and landscape, especially in the recent years, are not well known. In this study, land use and landscape pattern changes from 1982 to 2015 were analyzed using remote sensing data by splitting the period into five periods. The results indicated that the largest reduction of forestland area was 648.70 km² during 1995–2000, and the relative change was −1.84%. The converted area of forestlands to dry farmlands in this period was about 90% of the total reduced forestland area. Marshland areas decreased remarkably by 63.29% and paddy fields increased by 1.78 times from 1982 to 2015. Paddy fields experienced large conversion into dry farmlands during 2005–2010 (1788.57 km²), followed by a reverse conversion from 1995 to 2000 (2379.60 km²). The difference of relative change revealed development speed of paddy field was faster than that of dry farmlands among the five periods. Landscape pattern was analyzed using class- and landscape-level metrics. The landscape diversity index and number of patches increased, which showed that the degrees of the forestland, marshland, and cropland landscape fragmentation were aggravated. Our study provides the effective means of land use dynamic monitoring and evaluation at the landscape level for the existing forestlands and marshlands protection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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13 pages, 2028 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Fire Severity and Topography on Soil Black Carbon Accumulation in Boreal Forest of Northeast China

by Wentao Huang, Yuanman Hu, Yu Chang, Miao Liu, Yuehui Li, Baihui Ren and Sixue Shi

Forests 2018, 9(7), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/f9070408 - 6 Jul 2018

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5397

Abstract

Black carbon (BC) from incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuel is widespread in sediments and soils because of its high stability in nature and is considered an important component of the global carbon sink. However, knowledge of BC stocks and influencing factors in forest ecosystems is currently limited. We investigated soil BC contents in burned boreal forests of the Great Khingan Mountains, northeast China. We collected soil samples from 14 sites with different fire severities, slope positions and aspects. The samples were analyzed by the chemo-thermal oxidation method to obtain their BC concentrations. The BC concentrations of the studied soils ranged from 0.03 to 36.91 mg C g⁻¹, with a mean of 1.44 ± 0.11 mg C g⁻¹. BC concentrations gradually decline with depth, and that was significantly less in the 20–30 cm layer compared to all shallower layers. Forests burned by moderate-severity fires had the highest soil BC, the shady aspect had higher soil BC than the sunny aspect. Our results provide some basic data for evaluating the soil BC sink in boreal forests, which is a useful amendment to current carbon budget and carbon cycle in boreal forest ecosystems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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19 pages, 84775 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Growing-Season Drought on Phenology and Productivity in the West Region of Central Hardwood Forests, USA

by Shengwu Duan, Hong S. He and Marty Spetich

Forests 2018, 9(7), 377; https://doi.org/10.3390/f9070377 - 22 Jun 2018

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4093

Abstract

Studying the effects of drought on forest ecosystems is important in developing a better understanding of forest phenology and productivity. Many previous studies were based on single drought events, whereas effects of recurrent droughts have not been yet fully investigated. This study jointly analyzed the spatial–temporal change of drought patterns with forest phenology and productivity between 2000–2015 in the western Central Hardwood Forests at Missouri, Arkansas Illinois, Oklahoma, and Kansas of the US. Characteristics of forest phenology and productivity were captured by utilizing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) remote sensing 16-day MOD13Q1 data and Savitsky–Golay (S-G) filtering method. Spatial-temporal drought patterns were assessed by empirical orthogonal function (EOF) on self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) time series. Our results revealed four drought zones: sporadic severe drought zone, cyclic light drought zone, minor drought zone, and moderate drought zone. The results showed that at the regional scale, drought effects on forest phenology and productivity depended on forest type and drought intensity. The cyclic light drought did not result in a notable decline of growing season length and productivity, while both minor drought and severe drought were followed by a significant decrease of forest growing season length and productivity. This research presents an alternative method to analyze the impacts of drought on regional forest dynamics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technical Advances: Explore Forest Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity Using Geographic Information Science)

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