TY - JOUR A1 - Thevs, Niels A1 - Aliev, Kumar A1 - Emileva, Begayim A1 - Yuldasheva, Dilfuza A1 - Eshchanova, Guzal A1 - Welp, Martin T1 - Potential of Agroforestry to Provide Wood Resources to Central Asia JF - Forests N2 - Background: Agroforestry systems have the potential to provide timber and wood as a domestic raw material, as well as an additional source of income for rural populations. In Central Asia, tree windbreaks from mainly poplar trees have a long tradition, but were largely cut down as source for fuel wood after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. As Central Asia is a forest-poor region, restoration of tree windbreaks has the potential to provide timber and wood resources to that region. This study aimed to assess the potential of tree windbreaks to contribute to domestic timber and wood production. Methods: This study rests on a GIS-based analysis, in which tree lines (simulated by line shape files) were intersected with cropland area. The tree data to calculate timber and wood volumes stem from a dataset with 728 single trees from a relevant range of climatic conditions. Results: The potential annually available timber volumes from tree windbreaks with 500 m spacing are 2.9 million m3 for Central Asia as a whole and 1.5 million m3 for Uzbekistan alone, which is 5 times the current domestic roundwood production and imports of the country. Conclusions: tree windbreaks offer untapped potential to deliver wood resources domestically as a raw material for wood-based value chains. KW - fast growing trees KW - tree windbreak KW - poplar KW - irrigated agriculture KW - remote sensing KW - GIS KW - timber volume KW - fuel wood Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3104 SN - 1999-4907 VL - 13 IS - 8 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Missall, Siegmund A1 - Welp, Martin A1 - Mehta, Kedar A1 - Degembaeva, Nadira A1 - Akmatov, Kuban A1 - Zörner, Wilfried T1 - In Search for the Optimal Forest Use Behaviour: Riparian Forest Use in Central Asia, Using the Example of Ak-Tal, Naryn, Kyrgyzstan JF - Forests N2 - Riparian forests are rare and valuable ecosystems in Central Asia, both due to their significance for biodiversity and to their provision of vital ecosystem services to local residents. However, the actual forest use behaviour is under-researched, official figures may not be trustworthy, and the question of over-use is up in the air. This paper sets out to shed light on riparian forest use behaviour by local residents using the example of Ak-Tal Village upon the Naryn River in Kyrgyzstan: Which economic use patterns do they practice (focusing on fuel wood and pasture)? Which other ecosystem services do they recognise? Is there forest over-exploitation? To answer these questions, this study builds on local knowledge, by applying the methods of focus group discussions and a household survey. Results show an extreme discrepancy between official wood consumption figures (50–60 m3 p.a.) and figures based on household wood consumption (310–404 m3 p.a.). The forest also serves as an important winter pasture over the seven months between October and April (stocking density 0.61 livestock units/ha), but payments for these ecosystem services are low, with annually 40 KGS/ha. Local residents are aware of additional material and nonmaterial ecosystem services of the riparian forest. Opinions diverge upon the question if there is forest over-exploitation, potentially because different stakeholders have different concepts of an optimal forest status. Consequently, optimal forest use behaviour can only be defined by the local users themselves, e.g., in a future stakeholder dialogue. KW - riparian forest KW - fuel wood KW - wood pasture KW - agroforestry KW - ecosystem services KW - Naryn KW - Kyrgyzstan KW - Central Asia Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3508 SN - 1999-4907 VL - 13 IS - 8 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stavi, Ilan A1 - Thevs, Niels A1 - Welp, Martin A1 - Zdruli, Pandi T1 - Provisioning ecosystem services related with oak (Quercus) systems: a review of challenges and opportunities JF - Agroforestry Systems N2 - Natural, semi-natural, and extensively managed oak woodlands and forests are prevalent across the world. These lands fulfil a range of ecosystem services, goods, and functions. Increasing natural and anthropogenic pressures impose threats to these lands. This paper first describes the Quercus genus and discusses management and mismanagement practices of oak systems. Then, the provisioning ecosystem services related with oak systems are reviewed, including: (1) oak’s agroforestry and silvopasture systems for the production of food, pasture, and additional products; (2) browsing of oak leaves and acorns by livestock; (3) harvesting of oak wood for timber; (4) cork oak stripping, and the uses of cork; (5) acorn-based foods and beverages; and (6) others uses, such as the production of medicines and extraction of tannins for the leather industry. We discuss the multi-purpose and multi-functional nature of oak systems, and demonstrate how they diversify sources of income for local communities, resulting in improved economic and food security. Further, we show the important role of woodlands certification, aimed at protecting oak systems while ensuring environmental equity. Also, we demonstrate how providing of financial support for reforestation and afforestation schemes of degraded oak woodlands, could restore ecosystem functioning and reverse land degradation. Then, we stress the need to involve traditional knowledge in restoration schemes of degraded oak systems. Lastly, we demonstrate how policymaking and legislation regarding the oak’s commercial plantations and farming systems could alleviate stresses imposed on the world’s oak woodlands and forests by producing alternative sources of wood for the timber industry. KW - Agro-silvopastoral systems; Climate change; Ecosystem health; Livestock raising; Mixed land-use; Multiple land-use Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-5478 SN - 0167-4366 VL - 96 SP - 293 EP - 313 PB - Springer Nature ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wei, Zhicheng A1 - Halik, Ümüt A1 - Aishan, Tayierjiang A1 - Abliz, Abdulla A1 - Welp, Martin T1 - Spatial distribution patterns of trunk internal decay of Euphrates poplar riparian forest along the Tarim River, northwest China JF - Forest Ecology and Management N2 - Trunk internal decay is a common phenomenon in forest ecosystems, causing the loss of forest resources. Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica Oliv.) is the only constructive tree species of the desert riparian forests along the Tarim River in northwestern China. The ecosystem stability of these forests has been damaged due to widespread internal decay or hollow rot in many tree trunks. However, forest resource conservation is difficult due to the unclear spatial patterns of P. euphratica trunk decay under different water conditions and tree morphology in the middle (MTR) and lower reaches (LTR) of the Tarim River. We conducted a field experiment and lab analysis to assess the reliability of the ARBOTOM® 2D stress wave Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) technique on P. euphratica populations. We explored the quantitative characterization method and the spatial distribution patterns of P. euphratica trunk internal decay in the MTR and LTR. Our study found that (1) the accuracy of the stress wave NDT technique in detecting trunk decay of P. euphratica in the arid desert area was more than 80%; The severity of internal trunk decays can be quantitatively characterized by the combination of the Matlab Image Processing Toolbox, (2) the trunk decay proportion of P. euphratica showed an increasing trend with the tree height in the MTR. The LTR first increased, then decreased. The degree of decay was highest when the tree height was 6–7 m. The trunk decay proportion of individual trees positively correlated with the diameter at breast height and crown loss (p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with the crown diameter (p < 0.001). The higher the decay occurrence, the worse the individual size was, and vice versa, and (3) the decay proportion of the P. euphratica showed an overall increasing trend with an increase in groundwater depth. The trunk decay was significantly higher in the LTR compared to the MTR at the same distance of 300–1050 m from the river channel. Our findings suggested that the trunk decay in P. euphratica had a higher difference among different tree morphology, and the occurrence of decay in the LTR was much higher than in the MTR. The water stress at the site is one of the leading factors in internal defects in the riparian forests along the Tarim River. The results provide a theoretical basis and scientific support for desert riparian forest ecosystems’ conservation and sustainable management. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-5488 SN - 0378-1127 SN - 1872-7042 IS - 522 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Litschel, Johannes A1 - Berendt, Ferréol A1 - Cremer, Tobias A1 - Welp, Martin T1 - Mit regenerativen Materialien zur Brandenburger Bauwende? JF - Holz-Zentralblatt N2 - Gemeinsam mit zahlreichen Akteuren aus Berlin und Brandenburg untersucht die Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde (HNEE) in einem breit angelegten Modellvorhaben die Potenziale regenerativer Materialien für die Baubranche. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-6213 SN - 0018-3792 VL - 148 IS - 36 SP - 608 EP - 608 PB - DRW-Verlag Weinbrenner GmbH & Co. KG ER -