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Forests
Special Issues
Forest Wildlife-Habitat Relationships
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Forest Wildlife-Habitat Relationships

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Biodiversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 7085

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jakub Borkowski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Forestry and Forest Ecology, University of Warmia and Mazury, Pl. Łódzki 2, 10-727 Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: large herbivore ecology; herbivore impact on forest ecosystems; wildlife management and conservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent years have witnessed a biodiversity crisis, one of the major causes of which is habitat loss and degradation. Forests are the richest in biodiversity among all land ecosystems, and therefore, proper management of forest ecosystems is a key factor in biodiversity conservation. Many wildlife species (for the purpose of this Special issue understood as mammals and birds) attract human attention (e.g., wildlife tourism, hunting). Understanding of the forest habitat characteristics as a factor responsible for wildlife abundance is therefore important from a sociocultural point of view.

However, wildlife species not only depend on their habitat but also tend to affect it. Some of them are considered keystone species (e.g., wolves, deer, beavers or woodpeckers), i.e., having particularly high impact on their habitats but also on other animal species. That way, some species may also exert a significant economic impact on forest stands. Large herbivores, especially certain deer species, are particularly well known in this respect in many regions of the world.

The objective of this Special issue is to publish the most recent papers describing various aspects of wildlife and forest habitat relationships, important for both the functioning and management of forest ecosystems.

Dr. Jakub Borkowski
Guest Editor

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

  • Wildlife
  • Birds
  • Mammals
  • Animal abundance
  • Biodiversity
  • Forest habitats
  • Habitat use
  • Forest ecosystem
  • Forest damage
  • Wildlife management

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 4189 KiB  
Article
Pilot Study of Sap Properties of Norway Spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) Trees Used and Not Used for Sap-Feeding by Three-Toed Woodpeckers (Picoides tridactylus)
by Tuula Jyske, Sini Keinänen, Teemu Hölttä, Anna Lintunen, Andrey Pranovich, Tapio Laakso, Jussi-Petteri Suuronen, Gabriel da Silva Viana and Timo Pakkala
Forests 2022, 13(10), 1681; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13101681 - 13 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1848
Abstract
The ecophysiology of the Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) trees that were used by three-toed woodpeckers (TTW) (Picoides tridactylus) for their sap-feeding activities were investigated. The pilot study was conducted in southern Finland (61°15′ N, 25°00′ E). During April–June [...] Read more.
The ecophysiology of the Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) trees that were used by three-toed woodpeckers (TTW) (Picoides tridactylus) for their sap-feeding activities were investigated. The pilot study was conducted in southern Finland (61°15′ N, 25°00′ E). During April–June 2015, three different tree categories of Norway spruce were selected for monitoring: trees that were frequently used by the TTWs for phloem sap-feeding for several previous years; trees that were only recently used by TTWs for sap-feeding; and control trees that were not used at all for sap-feeding. Phloem sap and phloem tissue samples were frequently extracted from tree trunks and analyzed for the content and composition of nonstructural carbohydrates, phloem sap osmolality, solute, and water content, as well as for the content and composition of secondary metabolites typical for defense reactions in the phloem. Simple crown characteristics were also measured, including tree height, diameter at breast height, and their ratio (slenderness index). According to our results, the TTWs preferred Norway spruce trees that showed advanced spring phenology to feed on, as evidenced especially by the lower ratio of raffinose (typically high during the winter months) to total soluble sugars of phloem tissues as compared to non-used control trees. The lower slenderness index of the trees chosen by the TTWs indicates low canopy competition pressure with good access to light (i.e., the sun heats the trunks well in spring). There were no differences in the phloem osmolality or solute content between the used or unused control trees. The trees used by the TTWs had significantly higher concentrations of antioxidant phenolic (+)-catechins and stilbene glycosides in phloem tissue, and the stilbene content was also higher in the extracted sap. The phenolics content of the phloem tissue had a clear seasonal trend, being the highest in the early spring and lower towards the onset of the cambial growth processes. The phloem sap is rich in antioxidants and soluble sugars that are potentially beneficial for the TTWs, but more quantitative research is needed to explore the importance of the sap properties to TTWs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Wildlife-Habitat Relationships)
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13 pages, 2429 KiB  
Article
Modeling Potential Changes in Rare Species Habitat from Planned Timber Harvest in Minnesota, USA
by Tyler S. Gifford, John M. Zobel and Lindsey M. Shartell
Forests 2022, 13(2), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13020216 - 31 Jan 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2325
Abstract
In 2018, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conducted the Sustainable Timber Harvest Analysis that resulted in the 10-year Stand Exam List (SEL). The SEL includes stands that will be assessed for potential management action from 2021 to 2030, but the location, number, [...] Read more.
In 2018, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conducted the Sustainable Timber Harvest Analysis that resulted in the 10-year Stand Exam List (SEL). The SEL includes stands that will be assessed for potential management action from 2021 to 2030, but the location, number, and impact of stands actually harvested remains unknown. This study sought to use modeling to assess potential habitat changes from the SEL for five threatened, endangered, or special concern wildlife species. Three simulation scenarios captured the potential range of harvest from the SEL, and the Wildlife Habitat Indicator for Native Genera and Species model assessed associated habitat changes. The most realistic simulation scenario resulted in statistically insignificant habitat changes of less than ±6%, while two scenarios providing the upper and lower extremes of harvest resulted in statistically significant changes for one species each. Scenarios that resulted in less harvest and more mature forests benefited the five species, reflecting their habitat preferences. The tempering of habitat change values in the most realistic simulation scenario provides evidence for forest management tradeoffs between different wildlife species habitat requirements, as well as other forest resource management objectives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Wildlife-Habitat Relationships)
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20 pages, 4290 KiB  
Article
Small Mammals in Forests of Romania: Habitat Type Use and Additive Diversity Partitioning
by Anamaria Lazăr, Ana Maria Benedek and Ioan Sîrbu
Forests 2021, 12(8), 1107; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12081107 - 18 Aug 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2000
Abstract
Small mammals are key components of forest ecosystems, playing vital roles for numerous groups of forest organisms: they exert bottom-up and top-down regulatory effects on vertebrate and invertebrate populations, respectively; they are fungus- and seed-dispersers and bioturbators. Therefore, preserving or restoring the diversity [...] Read more.
Small mammals are key components of forest ecosystems, playing vital roles for numerous groups of forest organisms: they exert bottom-up and top-down regulatory effects on vertebrate and invertebrate populations, respectively; they are fungus- and seed-dispersers and bioturbators. Therefore, preserving or restoring the diversity of small mammal communities may help maintain the functions of these ecosystems. In Romania, a country with low-intensity forest management and a high percentage of natural forests compared to other European countries, an overview of forest small mammal diversity and habitat type use is lacking, and our study aimed to fill this gap. We also aimed to partition the total small mammal diversity of Romanian forests into the alpha (plot-level), beta, and delta (among forest types) diversities, as well as further partition beta diversity into its spatial (among plots) and temporal (among years) components. We surveyed small mammals by live trapping in eight types of forest across Romania. We found that small mammal abundance was significantly higher in lowland than in mountain forests, but species richness was similar, being associated with the diversity of tree canopy, with the highest values in mixed forests. In contrast, small mammal heterogeneity was related to overall habitat heterogeneity. As predicted, community composition was most distinct in poplar plantations, where forest specialists coexist with open habitat species. Most of the diversity was represented by alpha diversity. Because of strong fluctuations in population density of dominant rodents, the temporal component of beta heterogeneity was larger than the spatial component, but species richness also presented an important temporal turnover. Our results show the importance of the time dimension in the design of the surveys aiming at estimating the diversity of small mammal communities, both at the local and regional scales. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Wildlife-Habitat Relationships)
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