TY - CHAP A1 - Munk, Christoph A1 - Wohlert, Hauke A1 - Pfriem, Alexander T1 - Investigation of the influence of two different thermal treatment processes on the change of various material properties of spruce resonance wood (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) T2 - Northern European Network for Wood Science and Engineering - 17th Annual Meeting 2021 N2 - In recent years, a large number of different studies have shown that a variety of positive property changes can be achieved by thermally treating spruce resonance wood. Various methods have been established, which differ mainly in the choice of treatment atmosphere, but also in the associated treatment duration and temperature. Part of the present investigation was to compare a thermal-vacuum process with a process which takes place in an oxygen-reduced atmosphere, with regard to various property changes. The results show that both processes achieved similar results in terms of dynamic acoustic property changes. Larger differences were found with regard to moisture behavior and color change. KW - TMT KW - spruce resonance wood KW - acoustic properties KW - CIELab Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-2909 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Munk, Christoph A1 - Pfriem, Alexander T1 - Influence of thermal modification and subsequent linseed oil impregnation on the sound propagation velocity and related acoustic properties of various wood species T2 - Tenth European Conference on Wood Modification N2 - In the field of instrument making, the use of indigenous wood species is becoming more and more important due to the increasing environmental awareness of instrument makers and their customers. As the properties of some of these wood species cannot meet the high demands of this field of application, processes are being sought that can achieve improvements. In recent years, many studies have shown that different modification methods, such as furfurylation, thermal treatment, densification or impregnation methods, can partly improve wood properties such as elasticity, strength values, damping behaviour, but also moisture behaviour and wood moisture content significantly. The extent to which different modification processes and their positive changes in properties can be combined with each other and thus achieve further improvements will become increasingly important in the future, not only in instrument making but also in other areas of application. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of thermal treatment followed by linseed oil impregnation of wood on its sound propagation velocity and the associated acoustic properties of characteristic impedance and acoustic radiation. KW - TMT KW - linseed oil impregnation KW - sound propagation velocity KW - acoustic properties Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-2916 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lauterbach, Josephine A1 - Bantle, Christina T1 - “For More Diversity, Better Taste and My Own Health” Exploring Organic Consumers’ Purchasing Motives for Heirloom Vegetable Varieties JF - Sustainability N2 - Agrobiodiversity is the foundation of our ecosystems and food supply. However, agrobiodiversity is declining rapidly. A prominent strategy to safeguard endangered varieties, an important component of agrobiodiversity, is their cultivation and preservation in their natural environments. In order to make the cultivation of these varieties attractive to farmers, a functioning value chain and communication concepts for these goods have to be developed. Using heirloom vegetable varieties as an example, we examine existing communication approaches for endangered varieties and evaluate their suitability to transport their added value to organic consumers. We furthermore examine organic consumers’ purchasing motives to buy heirloom vegetable varieties. We collected data in three focus group discussions in Berlin (Germany) in 2018. This exploratory study shows that existing communication approaches for heirloom vegetable varieties strongly appeal to altruistic and biospheric purchasing motives. However, our results suggest that egoistic and hedonic purchasing motives are just as important to organic consumers. Hence, existing communication approaches for heirloom vegetable varieties, including the “Red List of Endangered Local Crops”, are not entirely suitable to communicate the added value of biodiversity-enhancing products to consumers. Based on these results, we will develop a holistic communication scheme for heirloom vegetable varieties for organic supermarkets and further distribution channels in Germany. KW - communication KW - agrobiodiversity KW - heirloom vegetable varieties KW - red list KW - focus groups Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-2992 SN - 2071-1050 IS - 14(7) PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mann, Deepika A1 - Gohr, Charlotte A1 - Blumröder, Jeanette Silvin A1 - Ibisch, Pierre L. T1 - Does fragmentation contribute to the forest crisis in Germany? JF - Frontiers in Forests and Global Change N2 - Intact forests contribute to the ecosystem functionality of landscapes by storing and sequestering carbon, buffering and cooling the microclimate, and providing a range of related ecosystem functions. Forest fragmentation not only poses a threat to many organisms but also reduces the resistance and resilience of the ecosystem, which is especially relevant to the ongoing climate crisis. The effects of recent extreme heat years on forests in Germany have not been studied in detail for the influence of fragmentation. We investigate the relation of forest fragmentation with temperature and vitality in Germany per ecoregion at the canopy level using satellite imagery at 1-km and 30-m resolution. We compiled and correlated forest maps for connectivity based on Thiessen polygons, canopy temperatures on the hottest days based on land surface temperature, and forest vitality based on the maximum normalized difference vegetation index per growing season. We differentiated between ecoregions and main forest types. In 2022, larger intact tree-covered areas that are less fragmented have relatively low temperatures on hot days and higher overall vitality. Nearly 98% of the almost 1.95 million forest fragments at 30-m resolution in Germany are smaller than 1 km2, which cover nearly 30% of the total forest area. To counteract the forest crisis, forest and landscape management should aim to reduce fragmentation and maintain tree biomass and forest cover in the landscape. Increasing the size of continuous forest fragments contributes to ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change. KW - land surface temperature (LST) KW - normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) KW - Thiessen connectivity KW - forest fragmentation KW - forest cover Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3909 SN - 2624-893X VL - 6 PB - Frontiers Media S.A. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Göttert, Thomas A1 - Perry, Gad ED - Bakaloudis, Dimitrios T1 - Going Wild in the City—Animal Feralization and Its Impacts on Biodiversity in Urban Environments JF - Animals N2 - Simple Summary Understanding the impact of urbanization on biodiversity is a crucial task of our time. Here, we reflect on the importance of feralization in the relationship between ongoing urbanization and the worsening biodiversity crisis. Feralization is often viewed as the exact opposite of a domestication process—a perception that we argue is too simplistic. The interrelations between domestication, feralization, and the adaptation of taxa to novel, human-made environments such as cities are complex. Given their unique traits, feral(izing) taxa can play key roles in sustainability, sometimes problematic (i.e., invasive species) but at other times, improving human well-being in urban settings. Abstract Domestication describes a range of changes to wild species as they are increasingly brought under human selection and husbandry. Feralization is the process whereby a species leaves the human sphere and undergoes increasing natural selection in a wild context, which may or may not be geographically adjacent to where the originator wild species evolved prior to domestication. Distinguishing between domestic, feral, and wild species can be difficult, since some populations of so-called “wild species” are at least partly descended from domesticated “populations” (e.g., junglefowl, European wild sheep) and because transitions in both directions are gradual rather than abrupt. In urban settings, prior selection for coexistence with humans provides particular benefit for a domestic organism that undergoes feralization. One risk is that such taxa can become invasive not just at the site of release/escape but far away. As humanity becomes increasingly urban and pristine environments rapidly diminish, we believe that feralized populations also hold conservation value. KW - Anthropocene KW - domestication KW - feralization KW - urbanization KW - invasive species KW - biodiversity in novel ecosystems Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3992 SN - 2076-2615 VL - 13 IS - 4 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Litschel, Johannes A1 - Berendt, Ferréol A1 - Wagner, Hanna A1 - Heidenreich, Simon A1 - Bauer, David A1 - Welp, Martin A1 - Cremer, Tobias T1 - Key Actors’ Perspectives on Agroforestry’s Potential in North Eastern Germany JF - Land N2 - As a land use management system, agroforestry has environmental, economic and societal benefits over conventional agriculture or forestry. Important benefits of combining tree growth with agricultural crops and/or forage production systems include higher biodiversity through more diverse habitats, the control of runoff and soil erosion, the augmentation of soil water availability, the creation of microclimates, carbon sequestration and provision of a more diverse farm economy. As the climate changes, north eastern Germany is likely to be particularly prone to severe effects from droughts and wind erosion in the future. However, the area of land under agroforestry makes up less than 2% of the total agricultural area in Germany. Through qualitative interviews with key actors, this study analyzed the benefits of, potentials for and barriers to implementing agroforestry systems in the federal state of Brandenburg. Results showed that agroforestry systems have significant potential in relation to several benefits, particularly the mitigation of soil erosion and stabilization of microclimate regimes. Additionally, agroforestry has the potential to provide wood for energy production or material uses. Although a small but highly innovative and interlinked community exists, administrative barriers and high start-up costs currently hamper the transition from conventional agriculture to agroforestry systems. KW - agroforestry KW - timber products KW - semi-structured interviews KW - barrier KW - opportunity Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-4003 SN - 2073-445X VL - 12 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 19 PB - MDPI ER - TY - GEN A1 - Barth, Matthias A1 - Gossen, Maike A1 - Lang, Daniel J. A1 - Santarius, Tilman T1 - Sustainable digitalization ‐ fostering the twin transformation in a transdisciplinary way T2 - GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society N2 - Can digitalization be designed in such a way that it does not harm the environment or promote unsustainable lifestyles? Can it even promote a green transformation? The authors of this GAIA special issue discuss how stakeholder engagement and transdisciplinary approaches can help address digitalization and sustainability in an integrated way. The special issue deepens insights into the state of knowledge on sustainable digitalization in both scientific and political discourses. KW - digitalization; environmental sustainability; transdisciplinarity; transformation Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-4058 SN - 2625-5413 VL - Volume 32 IS - Supplement 1 SP - 6 EP - 9 PB - oekom verlag ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ullah, Ayat A1 - Saqib, Shahab E. A1 - Kächele, Harald T1 - Determinants of Farmers’ Awareness and Adoption of Extension Recommended Wheat Varieties in the Rainfed Areas of Pakistan JF - Sustainability N2 - Scientific evidence suggests that there is room for eradicating poverty and hunger by increasing food production through the adoption of modern agricultural practices by farmers. This study aimed, first, to explore the relationship between the farmers’ awareness and adoption of improved wheat varieties. Second, it aimed to find the key factors that govern the farmers’ awareness and adoption of extension-recommended innovations in the rainfed cropping system of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Data were collected from 395 respondents. A binary logit model was used to analyze the effect of the farmers’ socioeconomic and farm-specific characteristics on their awareness and adoption of the extension-suggested wheat varieties. Moreover, qualitative data from 40 key informants were collected for in-depth analysis. The results show a strong association between the farmers’ awareness of a technology (improved wheat varieties) and its adoption. The results of the logit model show that their extension contacts, income from agriculture, and access to credit positively affected the farmers’ awareness, whereas their education and household sizes negatively affected their awareness. Moreover, the factors that positively influenced the farmers’ decision to adopt the technology included the extension contact, the confidence in the extension, the risk-bearing attitude, and the credit access, whereas the household size and education negatively affected it. The results of the key informant interviews reveal that the high incidence of poverty, the low soil fertility, the farmers’ inability to make effective decisions, the lack of accurate weather predictability in the rainfed farming system, the lack of government interest, and the asymmetric information in the inputs markets contributed to the farmers’ low levels of awareness and to their poor adoption of improved agricultural technologies. These results indicate that any intervention aimed at the awareness and adoption by farmers of improved technologies, such as new wheat varieties, should recognize the heterogeneity in the farmers’ socioeconomic and farm-specific characteristics. KW - farmers’ awareness KW - technology adoption KW - improved wheat varieties KW - socioeconomic and farm-specific characteristics Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3496 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 14 IS - 6 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 - CHAP A1 - Munk, Christoph A1 - Pfriem, Alexander T1 - Influence of residual oxygen content during thermal modification process on mass loss, brightness colour and dynamic Young´s modulus of Fagus sylvatica (L.) T2 - 18th Annual Meeting of the Northern European Network for Wood Science and Engineering, 21-22 September 2022, Göttingen, Germany N2 - The thermal modification of wood is considered to be an environmentally friendly and cost-effective treatment process, which has been able to establish itself in many areas of application due to its positive effect on a whole range of different material properties through a wide variety of process designs. In addition to heat transfer and pressure, closed and open systems differ primarily in the choice of treatment atmosphere mainly used to prevent combustion (Sandberg et al. 2021). Although many studies in recent years have investigated influencing process parameters such as temperature, pressure or treatment duration, there exists a knowledge gap regarding the influence of the treatment atmosphere or its behaviour during the treatment process (Candelier et al. 2016). Therefore, this study aims to analyse different oxygen-nitrogen concentrations in the treatment atmosphere at different residual oxygen levels during the process duration and their influence on different property parameters of Fagus sylvatica (L.). KW - beech wood, thermal modification, nitrogen, oxygen, mass loss, MOE, CIELab Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3582 SP - 1 EP - 3 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Bender, Tobias A1 - Munk, Christoph A1 - Damay, Jérémie A1 - Jousserand, Michael A1 - Gérardin, Philippe A1 - Pfriem, Alexander T1 - The Effect of Thermal Treatment of Sycamore Maple (Acer Pseudoplatanus L.) prior to Impregnation with Furfuryl Alcohol, regarding Homogeneity and Swelling Behaviour T2 - 18th Annual Meeting of the Northern European Network for Wood Science and Engineering, 21-22 September 2022, Göttingen, Germany N2 - Impregnation of wood with certain chemical compounds is a well established method to improve its physical and mechanical properties. However, the result is often not quite homogeneous. This study examines the effect of two varying thermal treatments on the impregnability of sycamore maple (Acer Pseudoplatanus L.) with furfuryl alcohol (FA), and on the resulting Anti-Swelling-Efficiency (ASE). KW - TMT, Furfuryl Alcohol, ASE, Maple, impregnability Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3597 SP - 1 EP - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hamidov, Ahmad A1 - Helming, Katharina T1 - Sustainability Considerations in Water–Energy–Food Nexus Research in Irrigated Agriculture JF - Sustainability N2 - Irrigated agriculture is essential to satisfying the globally increasing demand for food and bio-based products. Yet, in water scarce regions, water-use for irrigation aggravates the competition for the use of water for other purposes, such as energy production, drinking water and sanitation. Solutions for sustainable food production through irrigated agriculture require a systemic approach to assess benefits and trade-offs across sectors. Here, the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has become an important concept in natural resource management. It has been conceptualized to analyze linkages and trade-offs between the three sectors, across temporal and spatial scales. However, the concept has so far mainly been conceptual, with little empirical evidence or proof of concept in real world cases. The objective of this paper was to take stock of the rapidly advancing literature on the WEF nexus in irrigated agriculture, and to analyze how the concept was actually implemented in research studies, and how the nexus between water, food and energy was actually dealt with. The study period ranges from 2011 to 2019, and includes 194 articles. Results showed that the WEF nexus is indeed very relevant in irrigated agriculture, and the respective literature makes up one third of all WEF nexus papers. Modeling and empirical research have caught up with conceptual synthesis studies during the last four years, thereby indicating that the WEF nexus concept is indeed increasingly operationalized. However, most studies addressed the WEF nexus from a perspective of either socioeconomic, technological or environmental categories, and they place one of the dimensions of water, food or energy into the foreground. To address sustainable development, there is a need to fully integrate across research disciplines and thematic dimensions. Such studies are only starting to emerge. These findings are an important evidence-base for future WEF nexus research on irrigated agriculture, in support of sustainable solutions for water scarce regions, especially in settings undergoing transformations. KW - sustainability KW - water resources KW - food security KW - energy production KW - soil services KW - transformation KW - governance KW - sustainable development goals Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3381 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 12 IS - 15 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - MacPherson, Joseph A1 - Paul, Carsten A1 - Helming, Katharina T1 - Linking Ecosystem Services and the SDGs to Farm-Level Assessment Tools and Models JF - Sustainability N2 - A number of tools and models have been developed to assess farm-level sustainability. However, it is unclear how well they potentially incorporate ecosystem services (ES), or how they may contribute to attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Understanding how farm-level assessment tools and models converge on these new paradigms of sustainability is important for drawing comparison on sustainability performances of farming systems, conducting meta-analyses and upscaling local responses to global driving forces. In this study, a coverage analysis was performed for several farm-level sustainability assessment (SA) tools (SAFA, RISE, KSNL, DLG) and models (MODAM, MONICA, APSIM), in regard to their potential for incorporating ES and contribution to attaining the SDGs. Lists of agricultural-relevant CICES classes and SDG targets were compiled and matched against the indicators of the tools and models. The results showed that SAFA possessed the most comprehensive coverage of ES and SDGs, followed by RISE and KSNL. In comparison to models, SA tools were observed to have a higher degree of potential for covering ES and SDGs, which was attributed to larger and broader indicators sets. However, this study also suggested that, overall, current tools and models do not sufficiently articulate the concept of ecosystem services. KW - agriculture KW - SA KW - ecosystem services KW - SDGs CICES KW - tools KW - models KW - coverage analysis Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3395 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 12 IS - 16 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vasić, Filip A1 - Paul, Carsten A1 - Strauss, Veronika A1 - Helming, Katharina T1 - Ecosystem Services of Kettle Holes in Agricultural Landscapes JF - Agronomy N2 - Kettle holes are small water bodies of glacial origin which mostly occur in agricultural landscapes. They provide numerous ecosystem services (ES), but their supply may be negatively affected by agricultural management. We conducted a literature review to identify which ES are supplied by kettle holes and to analyze feedbacks with agricultural management. Taking Germany as a test case, we also analyzed how kettle holes are addressed in policy documents and for which ES they are regulated. This was done to identify the societal value officially associated with kettle holes. The literature review found eight ES attributed to kettle holes, of which hydrological cycle and flood control, chemical condition of freshwaters, nursery populations and habitats and biotic remediation of wastes were addressed most often. In contrast, only the provision of habitat service was addressed in German policy documents related to kettle holes. We identified types of agricultural management that negatively affected the supply of ES by kettle holes, in particular artificial drainage, high levels of pesticide and fertilizer application, and management where tillage and erosion result in elevated sediment inputs. Additionally, climate change may lead to an increased drying up of kettle holes. Based on our finding, we conclude that the intensity of agricultural management around kettle holes threatens the supply of all ES while only the service of providing habitats for biodiversity is addressed in German policy regulations. Further regulation is required to induce agricultural management change towards a conservation of all ES supplied by kettle holes. KW - kettle hole KW - small water bodies KW - wetland KW - ecosystem service KW - CICES KW - agricultural management KW - sustainability KW - policy KW - climate change Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3407 SN - 2073-4395 VL - 10 IS - 9 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ullah, Ayat A1 - Mahmood, Nasir A1 - Zeb, Alam A1 - Kächele, Harald T1 - Factors Determining Farmers’ Access to and Sources of Credit: Evidence from the Rain-Fed Zone of Pakistan JF - Agriculture N2 - This study investigates the factors that affect farmers’ access to agricultural credit and its role in adopting improved agricultural technologies in the rain-fed zone of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Using logistic models, we assess and compare the relative role of farmers’ socioeconomic attributes in their access to credit and adoption strategies. The results indicate a moderate positive association between farmers’ access to agricultural credit and their adoption of improved agricultural technologies. The binary logit model’s results indicate that farmers with a large-sized farm, high farm income, better access to information, and large physical asset ownership showed a positive influence on credit access. However, farming experience showed a negative effect on farmers’ access to agricultural credit. Regarding farmers’ credit sources, this study found that asset-rich farmers with more farming experience and better access to information relied more on banks than on input providers and informal credit sources. Similarly, older farmers with more education, larger farm sizes and high farm income were more likely to have borrowed from input providers than banks. We conclude that the role of the effective provision of information on credit and agricultural technology is imperative and requires separate policies that are specifically aimed at different groups of farmers with different socioeconomic and farm-related characteristics. KW - agricultural credit KW - adoption of agricultural technologies KW - rain-fed zone KW - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa KW - socioeconomic attributes Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3419 SN - 2077-0472 VL - 10 IS - 12 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Russ, Alexander A1 - Riek, Winfried A1 - Wessolek, Gerd T1 - Three-Dimensional Mapping of Forest Soil Carbon Stocks Using SCORPAN Modelling and Relative Depth Gradients in the North-Eastern Lowlands of Germany JF - Applied Sciences N2 - To cope with the challenges in forest management that are contemporarily caused by climate change, data on current chemical and physical soil properties are more and more necessary. For this purpose, we present a further amalgam of depth functions and SCORPAN modelling to provide data at arbitrary depth layers. In this concept, regionalisation is split up into the modelling of plot totals and the estimation of vertical distributions. The intended benefits by splitting up are: consistency between estimates on plot level and depth layer level, avoidance of artificial depth gradients, straightforward interpretation of covariates in the sense of pedogenetic processes, and circumnavigation of the propagation of uncertainties associated with separation between horizons during field sampling. The methodology was tailored to the circumstances within the north-eastern lowlands and the utilisation of current inventory data of the National Forest Soil Inventory (NFSI) in Brandenburg (Germany). Using the regionalisation of soil organic carbon (SOC) as an example, the application is demonstrated and discussed in detail. The depth to groundwater table and terrain parameters related to the catchment area were the main factors in SOC storage. The use of kriging did not improve the model performance. The relative depth gradients of SOC were especially distinguished by tree species composition and stand age. We suppose that interesting fields of application may be found in scenario-based modelling of SOC and when SOC serves as a basis for hydrological modelling. KW - depth functions KW - SCORPAN modelling KW - soil forming factors; KW - forest soils KW - soil organic carbon KW - regionalisation KW - north-eastern lowlands KW - forest site mapping KW - Brandenburg Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3427 SN - 2076-3417 VL - 11 IS - 2 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Riek, Winfried A1 - Russ, Alexander A1 - Marx, Marc T1 - Concentrations of Inorganic and Organic Pollutants in Forest Soils as an Archive of Anthropogenic Inputs in the State of Brandenburg, Germany JF - Applied Sciences N2 - An important component of the National Forest Soils Inventory (NFSI) is the investigation of inorganic and organic pollutants. Forests are able to filter out large quantities of these substances from the atmosphere and incorporate them into the soil for a long time. The aim of this study was the integrative evaluation of organic and inorganic pollutant concentrations in forest soils in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. With the help of principle component analysis, the pollutant concentrations can essentially be explained by three significant environmental components, which explain 76% of the total variance of all pollutants examined within the scope of the NFSI. The first component characterizes the extent of the atmospheric pollution caused by flue gases and fly ash from lignite combustion in the 1970s and 1980s and is mainly charged by the organic pollutants HCB and PAH, and the elements arsenic and chromium. This component shows positive relation to both spatially interpolated calcium-deposition data from the 1980s (as an indicator for the dust emission from coal combustion) and crown defoliation data of pine stands from the forest condition survey in the early 1990s. The depositions of zinc and cadmium from industrial sources, vehicle traffic and the use of fertilizers in agriculture mainly characterize the second principle component. The use of the pesticides DDT and lindane in the early 1980s and the associated pollutants input into the forest soils are expressed by the third component. In expanding the term archiving function of soils, the results illustrate their particular importance for the long-term archiving of anthropogenic inputs and the associated potential stress factors for forests. KW - forest soils KW - heavy metals KW - organic pollutants KW - forest soil inventory KW - forest crown condition KW - lignite combustion KW - fly ash deposition KW - principle component analyses KW - Brandenburg Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3430 SN - 2076-3417 VL - 11 IS - 3 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Biland, Mazhar A1 - Zeb, Alam A1 - Ullah, Ayat A1 - Kächele, Harald T1 - Why Do Households Depend on the Forest for Income? Analysis of Factors Influencing Households’ Decision-Making Behaviors JF - Sustainability N2 - Using survey information of 150 randomly selected households across 21 villages of the forest-rich district of Swat, Pakistan, this study assessed households’ decision-making behaviors in depending on income from nearby forested land using socio-economic attributes. The evidence from the study may aid in making the existing policies be better targeted toward families that depend on the forest for income. Descriptive statistics and econometric techniques such as logit and tobit were used to analyze the data. Respondent households obtained the highest share of their income from off-farm activities (37%) and least from forest activities (16%). Fuelwood constitutes the biggest share (66%) of forest income, followed by medical plants (20%) and fodder (13%). We found that households with more physical assets, more family members working in off-farm jobs, and households earning more income from off-farm jobs were significantly and negatively associated with households’ decision to depend on forest income and total income obtained. We also found that households with less distance to the market and membership to joint forest management committees (JFMCs) were significantly and negatively associated with households’ total income obtained. However, household size was significantly and positively related to households’ decision of forest dependency. The study recommends the creation of off-farm opportunities and inclusion of local people in the management of forests through establishment of JFMCs, particularly for large and poor families. KW - decision-making behavior KW - socio-economic attributes KW - forest income dependency KW - total income obtained Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3441 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 13 IS - 16 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Roque, Dionísio A1 - Göttert, Thomas A1 - Macandza, Valério António A1 - Zeller, Ulrich T1 - Assessing Distribution Patterns and the Relative Abundance of Reintroduced Large Herbivores in the Limpopo National Park, Mozambique JF - Diversity N2 - This study is the first systematic assessment of large herbivore (LH) communities in Limpopo National Park (LNP) in Mozambique, an area where most LH species were extinct until the early 2000s. We investigate whether LH community parameters are linked with the availability of habitat types or the distance between sampling sites and the origin of LH resettlement. We placed camera traps in five habitat types in resettled and not-resettled areas to compare species richness, relative abundance index, grazers–browsers–mixed feeder and naïve occupancy of 15 LH species. While the richness decreased along the distance gradient of LH resettlement, relative abundance index strongly responded to habitat features. The grazer–browser–mixed feeder ratio oscillated, while from resettled to not-resettled areas, the ratio increased. Most species show a wide distribution range. The associations of most LH community parameters with habitat types rather than distance to initial release, together with the species-specific and guild-specific response patterns of LH, suggest LNP to already be in an intermediate stage of restoration. Our results highlight the importance of post-release monitoring of reintroduced wildlife as a tool to assess the success of ecological restoration initiatives in transboundary conservation areas. KW - camera trap KW - colonization KW - distribution patterns KW - relative abundance KW - ecological parameters KW - habitat types KW - large herbivores reintroduction KW - Limpopo National Park KW - Old Sanctuary Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3454 SN - 1424-2818 VL - 13 IS - 10 PB - MDPI ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Starik, Nicole A1 - Göttert, Thomas A1 - Zeller, Ulrich T1 - Spatial Behavior and Habitat Use of Two Sympatric Bat Species JF - Animals N2 - Movement behavior and habitat use of the long-eared bat species Plecotus auritus and Plecotus austriacus were studied in the Havelland region in Brandenburg (Germany). Data collection included mist-netting, radiotelemetry, reconstruction of prey items, and monitoring of roosting sites. Body measurements confirm a high degree of phenotypic similarity between the two species. Total activity areas (100% Minimum Convex Polygons, MCPS) of Plecotus austriacus (2828.3 ± 1269.43 ha) were up to five-fold larger compared to Plecotus auritus (544.54 ± 295.89 ha). The activity areas of Plecotus austriacus contained up to 11 distinct core areas, and their mean total size (149.7 ± 0.07 ha) was approximately three-fold larger compared to core areas of Plecotus auritus (49.2 ± 25.6 ha). The mean distance between consecutive fixes per night was 12.72 ± 3.7 km for Plecotus austriacus and 4.23 ± 2.8 km for Plecotus auritus. While Plecotus austriacus was located most frequently over pastures (>40%) and meadows (>20%), P. auritus was located mostly within deciduous (>50%) and mixed forests (>30%) in close vicinity to its roosts. Roost site monitoring indicates that the activity of P. austriacus is delayed relative to P. auritus in spring and declined earlier in autumn. These phenological differences are probably related to the species’ respective diets. Levins’ measure of trophic niche breadth suggests that the prey spectrum for P. auritus is more diverse during spring (B = 2.86) and autumn (B = 2.82) compared to P. austriacus (spring: B = 1.7; autumn: B = 2.1). Our results give reason to consider these interspecific ecological variations and species-specific requirements of P. auritus and P. austriacus to develop adapted and improved conservation measures. KW - Plecotus KW - resource partitioning KW - radio-tracking KW - activity areas KW - fecal analysis Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:eb1-opus-3465 SN - 2076-2615 VL - 11 IS - 12 PB - MDPI ER -