Research Highlights: This study was carried out to diagnose the forest ecosystem damaged by air pollution and to then develop a restoration plan to be used in the future. The restoration plan was prepared by combining the diagnostic assessment for the damaged forest ecosystem and the reference information obtained from the conservation reserve with an intact forest ecosystem. The restoration plan includes the method for the amelioration of the acidified soil and the plant species to be introduced for restoration of the damaged vegetation depending on the degree of damage.

Human agricultural activities have resulted in widespread land degradation and soil contamination in the karst areas. However, the effects of reforestation after agricultural abandonment on the mobility risks and contamination of heavy metals have been rarely reported. In the present study, six soil profiles were selected from cropland and abandoned cropland with reforestation in the Puding karst regions of Southwest China.

Research Highlights: We used airborne lidar to assess the multi-scalar patterns of forest structure across a large (471,000 hectare), multi-owner landscape of the Oregon Coast Range, USA. The results of this study can be used in the development and evaluation of conservation strategies focused on forest management. Background and Objectives: Human management practices reflect policy and economic decisions and shape forest structure through direct management and modification of disturbance regimes.

Few studies analyze people’s preferences for ecosystem services (ES), disservices (ED) and drivers of change in less populated, tropical municipalities. Understanding such preferences and needs by the community and stakeholder groups before actually assessing, modelling, and measuring the supply of ES is key for decision-making and planning in municipalities, as well as for the conservation of nearby neotropical dry forests.

In the Central German Uplands, Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies have been particularly affected by climate change. With the establishment of beech forests about 3000 years ago and pure spruce stands 500 years ago, they might be regarded as ‘neophytes’ in the Hessian forests. Palaeoecological investigations at wetland sites in the low mountain ranges and intramontane basins point to an asynchronous vegetation evolution in a comparatively small but heterogenous region.

An ever-increasing demand for agriculture while conserving biodiversity, maintaining livelihoods, and providing critical ecosystem services is one of the largest challenges for tropical land management across the Central American Isthmus today. Climatic and anthropogenic drivers threaten to cause changes in the forest cover and composition for this region, and therefore, understanding the dynamics of these systems and their variability across space and through time is important for discerning current and future responses.

A spatially explicit management strategy is presented for Kirtland’s Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) habitat on the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Hiawatha National Forest has a goal of continuously providing large patches of dense young jack pine for Kirtland’s warbler breeding habitat. The problem is challenging as patches of suitable habitat are relatively short lived, forcing large shifts in the location of large patches in the future.

The ecological environment is suffering from great human disturbance. Scientific assessment of landscape ecological risks can provide scientific guidance for land use management. This study focused on Chaoyang County in China, used ecological risk assessment methods to characterize the impact of land use/land cover (LUCC) change, and revealed the risk aggregation pattern with the help of spatial autocorrelation analysis. The results showed that ecological risk was increased from 2000 to 2010 but decreased from 2010 to 2018.

Reforestation and restoration using nursery-produced seedlings is often the most reliable way to ensure successful establishment and rapid growth of native plants. Plant establishment success—that is, the ability for the plant to develop within a set period of time with minimal further interventions needed—depends greatly on decisions made prior to planting, and yet nursery-grown plants are often produced independently of considering the range of stressors encountered after nursery production.

Forests worldwide are facing increasing pressures, with human travel and trade assisting the spread of pests and diseases. Climate change is likely to enhance the negative impacts of pests and diseases, which cause global declines and local extinctions. In this research we focus on three local and regional knowledge networks in the UK concerned with pests and diseases to explore to what extent the networks raise awareness and encourage other actions in their members, and identify what roles social capital and social learning play in these networks. A qualitative approach was undertaken.

Modern agricultural landscapes produce multiple ecosystem services. Ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes have social, economic, and environmental value—providing a wide array of benefits to society. Absence of scientifically based and practically tested methodologies of identification, mapping, and evaluation of ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes hamper integration of its values in the current system of land use planning.

Research Highlights: We used airborne lidar to assess the multi-scalar patterns of forest structure across a large (471,000 hectare), multi-owner landscape of the Oregon Coast Range, USA. The results of this study can be used in the development and evaluation of conservation strategies focused on forest management. Background and Objectives: Human management practices reflect policy and economic decisions and shape forest structure through direct management and modification of disturbance regimes.