Search Results (2)

Sarcandra glabra in-forest planting, an anthropogenic activity that may introduce a variety of disturbances into the forest, is being popularly promoted in southern China, while its consequential influences on soil nutrients, as well as the arbuscular mycorrhiza fungal (AMF) community of key forest keystone plants, are still unelucidated, which hampers the assessment of ecological safety and the improvement of agronomic measurements. In this research, topsoil from a 3-year-old Sarcandra glabra planted forest and a nearby control forest were sampled, and the annual variation in the soil nutrients and AMF community of the keystone tree Cunninghamia lanceolata were investigated. Our result showed that the total amount of soil organic carbon of the Sarcandra glabra cultivation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05), which indicated that Sarcandra glabra cultivation significantly enhanced the topsoil carbon storage. Yet, there were only insignificant differences in the Shannon index and Chao index of the AMF community between the two groups (p > 0.05). PCoA analysis found that the compositional differences between two groups were also insignificant. This indicated that Sarcandra glabra cultivation had no significant influence on the diversity and composition of the Cunninghamia lanceolata AMF community. However, we found that the differences in the total amounts of nitrogen and total phosphorus between the two groups were relatively lower in April and September, which indicated the higher nutrient demands and consumption of Sarcandra glabra in these two periods and suggested that a sufficient fertilizer application in these two stages would reduce the potential competition for nutrients between Sarcandra glabra and Cunninghamia lanceolata in order to ensure Sarcandra glabra production and forest health. Lastly, our results reported a total extra income ranging from of CNY 127,700 hm⁻² (7 years of cultivation) to CNY 215,300 hm⁻² (10 years cultivation) provided by Sarcandra glabra in-forest planting, which indicated its powerful potential for mitigating poverty. Our research systematically investigated the annual variation in the soil nutrient content and keystone tree AMF community caused by Sarcandra glabra cultivation and offers constructive guidance for Sarcandra glabra cultivation and fertilization management and ecological safety assessment. Full article

In-forest drying of roundwood and biomass (residues) can result in more efficient transport operations from an economical and environmental perspective. On the negative side, in-forest drying may result in dry matter losses (DML), impacting the quantity and quality of residues delivered to energy plants. This paper investigated the impact of roundwood and residues in-forest drying and DML on supply chain costs and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. For the assessment, a short-term optimization planning tool was applied to a supply chain located in Asturias, Spain, consisting of fourteen supply points and two demand points: A pulp mill (demanding roundwood) and a power plant (demanding residues). Four scenarios were included in the analysis comprising different combinations of DML for roundwood and residues resulting from in-forest drying. Our results indicate that in scenarios that include in-forest drying and DML, the negative economic effects are offset by the substantial reductions in transport costs and GHG emissions. In-forest drying of roundwood and residues without DML can result in a 6.5% reduction in supply chain costs, 14.9% fewer truckloads to destination points, and 18.1% less fuel consumption and GHG emissions. Full article