Regionalisation of climate change sensitive forest development types for potential afforestation areas.

This paper describes how to use sectoral planning information from forestry to predict and up-scale information on Climate Change sensitive forest development types for potential afforestation areas. The method was developed and applied in the frame of the project RegioPower with focus on the case study region 'Oberes Elbtal-Osterzgebirge'. The data for our study was taken from forest management planning at level of the Federal State of Saxony, Germany. Here, a silvicultural system is implemented, which describes best practices to develop our actual forests into Climate Change adapted forest development types. That includes the selection of drought resistant tree species, a broad range of tree species mixtures per eligible forest development type and the tending, harvesting and regeneration strategies to be applied. This information however, exists only for forest areas and not for areas which could be potentially afforested. The eligibility of the forest development types within the actual forest areas depends on site information, such as nutrient potential, exposition and hydrological soil parameters. The regionalisation of the forest development types to landscape scale had to be based on topographical parameters from the digital elevation model and hydrological soil parameters from soil mapping. In result, we could provide maps for regional planning and decision making with spatially explicit information on the eligible forest development types based on forest management planning information. These maps form a valuable input for testing and optimising afforestation areas with regard to improving the ability of our case study region to mitigate Climate Change effects such as water erosion or drought.

Assessment of the effects of forest land use strategies on the provision of ecosystem services at regional scale.

This paper presents results of a case study in Middle Saxony, Germany, where the impact of conversion, afforestation and alternatively introduction of short rotation coppice areas on the provision of ecosystem services was tested in a spatially inexplicit and a spatially explicit way to formulate recommendations for regional planning. While the spatially inexplicit testing did not lead to clear results regarding to what degree forests or short rotation coppice areas are desirable and applicable, the spatially explicit testing revealed that an increase in the forest area or area with short rotation coppice by 29.7% in unstructured agriculturally dominated Loess regions, 14.4% in more topographically structured parts in the North-East of the model region and 23.6% in its mountainous parts would be beneficial. Potentially resulting losses in the provision of bioresources and regional economy can be considerably reduced by replacing afforestation areas with short rotation coppice. In summary, we found that the spatially explicit analysis of land use scenarios in combination with a more detailed land use classification and including an assessment of changes in land use pattern gave us an improved basis for assessing different possible planning strategies and to enhance the communication between forest management planners and regional planners.

The impact of Best Management Practices on simulated streamflow and sediment load in a Central Brazilian catchment.

The intense use of water for both public supply and agricultural production causes societal conflicts and environmental problems in the Brazilian Federal District. A serious consequence of this is nonpoint source pollution which leads to increasing water treatment costs. Hence, this study investigates in how far agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) might contribute to sustainable water resources management and soil protection in the region. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to study the impact of those practices on streamflow and sediment load in the intensively cropped catchment of the Pipiripau River. The model was calibrated and validated against measured streamflow and turbidity-derived sediment loads. By means of scenario simulations, it was found that structural BMPs such as parallel terraces and small sediment basins ('Barraginhas') can lead to sediment load reductions of up to 40%. The implementation of these measures did not adversely affect the water yield. In contrast, multi-diverse crop rotations including irrigated dry season crops were found to be disadvantageous in terms of water availability by significantly reducing streamflow during low flow periods. The study considers rainfall uncertainty by using a precipitation data ensemble, but nevertheless highlights the importance of well established monitoring systems due to related shortcomings in model calibration. Despite the existing uncertainties, the model results are useful for water resource managers to develop water and soil protection strategies for the Pipiripau River Basin and for watersheds with similar characteristics.

Squaring the circle? Combining models, indicators, experts and end-users in integrated land-use management support tools.

The most important challenges faced in the field of integrated land-use management are (i) harmonizing and integrating different datasets, (ii) selecting appropriate indicators, (iii) fitting suitable models to adequate scales, and finally (iv) integrating data, indicators and models into systems that allow both a high level of participation and flexibility with the adaptation to a variety of questions and applications. The articles of this special issue "Squaring the Circle? Combining Models, Indicators, Experts and End-Users in Integrated Land-Use Management Support Tools" demonstrate the challenges that are related to this topic. The case studies present examples of such integrated systems in order to recommend best practices to support land-use management and to reveal existing shortcomings. As a conclusion, seven features of a successful applicable integrated land-use management support system are derived: (1) ability to deal with discontinuity in information and datasets, (2) contribution to solve the problem of indicator diversity, (3) structuring the decision-making process, (4) support of participation processes in generating decisions, (5) development, comparison and evaluation of land-use alternatives, (6) assessment of the efficiency and trade-offs of management options, and (7) assistance of stakeholders in group communication processes.

Pimp your landscape: a tool for qualitative evaluation of the effects of regional planning measures on ecosystem services.

The article presents the platform "Pimp your landscape" (PYL), which aims firstly at the support of planners by simulating alternative land-use scenarios and by an evaluation of benefits or risks for regionally important ecosystem services. Second, PYL supports an integration of information on environmental and landscape conditions into impact assessment. Third, PYL supports the integration of impacts of planning measures on ecosystem services. PYL is a modified 2-D cellular automaton with GIS features. The cells have the major attribute "land-use type" and can be supplemented with additional information, such as specifics regarding geology, topography and climate. The GIS features support the delineation of non-cellular infrastructural elements, such as roads or water bodies. An evaluation matrix represents the core element of the system. In this matrix, values in a relative scale from 0 (lowest value) to 100 (highest value) are assigned to the land-use types and infrastructural elements depending on their effect on ecosystem services. The option to configure rules for describing the impact of environmental attributes and proximity effects on cell values and land-use transition probabilities is of particular importance. User interface and usage of the platform are demonstrated by an application case. Constraints and limits of the recent version are discussed, including the need to consider in the evaluation, landscape-structure aspects such as patch size, fragmentation and spatial connectivity. Regarding the further development, it is planned to include the impact of land management practices to support climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in regional planning.

How socio-economic conditions influence forest policy development in Central and South-east Europe.

In this article, several findings on socio-economic conditions derived from national reports and a web-based questionnaire are discussed and related to the changing role of forestry and the future forest policy development. A number of Central and South-eastern European countries taking part in a SEE-ERA-NET project ReForMan project (www.reforman.de) participated in data acquisition: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Serbia and Slovenia. The aim of the research was to illustrate the present structure of forestry sector, as well as investigate newly emerging topics in forestry of Central and South-eastern Europe. The results indicated certain patterns in attitudes and perceptions among stakeholders that can be related to socio-economic conditions defined for each country. Clear differences between member and non-member countries exist only in level of implementation of EU legislation. Results showed consensus on main threats to the forests among all countries, but also some country specifics in perceptions of factors influencing forestry, their importance and professional competencies. These results could be additionally explained by influence of historical conditions which shaped development of forest sector in SEE region especially in its organizational dimension as well as in perceived role of forestry expressed through recognition of main forest functions. The influence of European forest policy processes in the region is evident through adaptation of EU legislation and perceived implications of international processes on national levels. Based on this observation, two possible options for future development of the forestry sector can be foreseen: (i) focusing on the productive function of forests and fostering its' sustainable use; or (ii) putting an emphasis on environmental and social issues. In both cases supporting public participation in decision-making processes is recommendable. Another conclusion based on perceived medium to low professional competencies to cope with new topics, that there is lack of confidence and need for professional support in decisionmaking processes.

Soil and land use research in Europe: Lessons learned from INSPIRATION bottom-up strategic research agenda setting.

We introduce the INSPIRATION bottom-up approach for the development of a strategic research agenda for spatial planning, land use and soil-sediment-water-system management in Europe. Research and innovation needs were identified by more than 500 European funders, endusers, scientists, policy makers, public administrators and consultants. We report both on the concept and on the implementation of the bottom-up approach, provide a critique of the process and draw key lessons for the development of research agendas in the future. Based on identified strengths and weaknesses we identified as key opportunities and threats 1) a high ranking and attentiveness for the research topics on the political agenda, in press and media or in public awareness, 2) availability of funding for research, 3) the resources available for creating the agenda itself, 4) the role of the sponsor of the agenda development, and 5) the continuity of stakeholder engagement as bases for identification of windows of opportunity, creating ownership for the agenda and facilitating its implementation. Our derived key recommendations are 1) a clear definition of the area for which the agenda is to be developed and for the targeted user, 2) a conceptual model to structure the agenda, 3) making clear the expected roles, tasks, input formats regarding the involvement and communication with the stakeholders and project partners, 4) a sufficient number of iterations and checks of the agenda with stakeholders to insure completeness, relevance and creation of co-ownership for the agenda, and 5) from the beginning prepare the infrastructure for the network to implement the agenda.

Combating the effects of climatic change on forests by mitigation strategies.

BACKGROUND: Forests occur across diverse biomes, each of which shows a specific composition of plant communities associated with the particular climate regimes. Predicted future climate change will have impacts on the vulnerability and productivity of forests; in some regions higher temperatures will extend the growing season and thus improve forest productivity, while changed annual precipitation patterns may show disadvantageous effects in areas, where water availability is restricted. While adaptation of forests to predicted future climate scenarios has been intensively studied, less attention was paid to mitigation strategies such as the introduction of tree species well adapted to changing environmental conditions. RESULTS: We simulated the development of managed forest ecosystems in Germany for the time period between 2000 and 2100 under different forest management regimes and climate change scenarios. The management regimes reflect different rotation periods, harvesting intensities and species selection for reforestations. The climate change scenarios were taken from the IPCC's Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES). We used the scenarios A1B (rapid and successful economic development) and B1 (high level of environmental and social consciousness combined with a globally coherent approach to a more sustainable development). Our results indicate that the effects of different climate change scenarios on the future productivity and species composition of German forests are minor compared to the effects of forest management. CONCLUSIONS: The inherent natural adaptive capacity of forest ecosystems to changing environmental conditions is limited by the long life time of trees. Planting of adapted species and forest management will reduce the impact of predicted future climate change on forests.

[Effects of salinity stress on poplars seedling growth and soil enzyme activity].

A pot culture experiment with two clones of poplars (P1 and P2) showed that soil salinity had a definite inhibitory effect on the establishment and growth of seedlings. The survival rate, seedling height and weight, and root weight were all declined with increasing soil salinity. When the salinity was 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6% and 0.8%, the shoot growth of P1 and P2 decreased by 23.24%, 48.56%, 70.76% and 83.33%, and 71.77%, 83.25%, 86.28% and 91.39%, respectively, in comparing with the control. Regressive analyses showed that soil salinity had a linear relationship with chlorophyll content, and a binomial relationship with leaf proline content. The activities of soil beta-glucosidase and L-asparaginase were decreased with increasing soil salinity. When the salinity was 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6% and 0.8%, the beta-glucosidase activity in P1 and P2 soils decreased by 10.96%, 20.07%, 30.96% and 37.44%, and 11.21%, 18.94%, 34.89% and 41.31%, respectively. The salinity tolerance of P1 was better than that of P2.