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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.
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.
Calls for a “sustainable bioeconomy” have recently begun to proliferate in academic and political circles as an answer to global challenges such as the rapidly increasing world population and changing environmental conditions due to climate change. To build economies that rely on various sources of biomass rather than on fossil-based resources, bioeconomy policies highlight a need to explore ways in which productivity in agriculture can be increased. While the focus on productivity growth has largely been inspired by technology optimism and modernisation thinking, the local knowledge of farmers and other rural stakeholders – as a means of contributing to socially and ecologically more sustainable bioeconomy pathways – has frequently been sidelined. This perspective article proposes and discusses a participatory approach to strategy formulation and evaluation in agricultural transformation and bioeconomy development that is based on the methodological toolbox MARISCO (Adaptive MAnagement of vulnerability and RISk at COnservation sites). By offering a means of developing a comprehensive knowledge map, bringing together both insights and perspectives from diverse local stakeholders, this approach enables a systemic evaluation of the social and ecological effects of intervention strategies on the ground. The article outlines the benefits – and challenges – of such a systemic and participatory approach and briefly sketches how the results can be utilised in more sustainable governance processes in the development of bioeconomy strategies. We conclude that our adapted MARISCO methodology offers a viable tool to make more visible the perspectives and knowledge of biomass producers for policymakers and to contribute to a much-needed discursive shift in bioeconomy debates towards more holistic and inclusive perspectives.
The COVID-19 pandemic has jolted societies out of normality, possibly creating new conditions for sustainability transformations. What does this mean for sustainability research? Because of the scope of the crisis, researchers have been heavily involved: not only have they had to speed up the pace of scientific production to provide urgently needed COVID-19 knowledge, but they have also been affected citizens. For sustainability science, this calls for an experience-based reflection on the positionality and orientation of research aiming to support sustainability transformations. Twenty sustainability researchers discussed their sustainability research on COVID-19 in three workshops based on the following questions: How does the pandemic—and the measures taken to deal with it—affect sustainable development? What can we learn from the pandemic from the perspective of societal transformation? The present discussion paper emerged from this multidisciplinary exchange among sustainability researchers, considering five topics: impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on sustainability transformations; learning for sustainability transformations; the role of solidarity; governance and political steering; and the role of science in society. Our discussions led to a meta-level reflection on what sustainability research can learn from research on COVID-19 regarding topics and disciplinary angles, time dimensions, the role of researchers, and how adequate preparation for both crises and long-term transformations requires interdisciplinary interaction.
The charcoal stock in a forest company is controlled based on the theoretical capacity of the masonry ovens (input) and shipped trucks (output). During the year, the company must monitor the stock for the purposes of accountability reports. This study proposes a more efficient and equally precise survey method that overcomes the challenges of the common monitoring system in Brazil. During this study, a new monitoring method based on digital stereoscopy from UAV images was developed, implemented and evaluated. The results were compared with a traditional topographic survey. A masonry oven's complex containing eight charcoal heaps was flown and surveyed using a multi-engine UAV, with an integrated Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and RTK equipment. Two stereoscopic processing methods were applied: (1) very low quality and (2) high quality to image alignment, reconstruction of the dense cloud, face count and in three-dimensional mesh creation. Low quality products showed geometric deformities when compared to high quality, but resulted in similar estimation to the topographic survey. The results indicated that the charcoal heaps' volume estimation using UAV derived orthomosaics can replace the conventional method of GNSS RTK surveys with considerable gains in stockpile volume accuracy, inventory frequency, and safety. In the case of high accuracy parameterization, improvements in geometric precision and accuracy are also produced.
High-resolution recording and forecasting of peatlands under forests in northeast Brandenburg (Germany) using remotely sensed data (Radar ALOS-PALSAR and Sentinel 1). Peatlands are important in terms of CO2 storage, water cycling, biochemical cycles, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Peatlands are constantly altered and damaged due to agriculture and drainage. Thus it is crucial to manage them sustainably. How? First step – locating and quantifying them with geospatial data and remote sensing methods since locating and collecting data in field is highly expensive and arduous in terms of labour and time. Our MAIN RESEARCH QUESTION therefore is: Is it possible to generate a method to record the location of peatlands under forests at high resolution using RS?.
360° virtual forest tours (VFTs), created by state-of-the-art virtual reality technology, contribute to the progression of academic e-learning and forest management. The article proposes a conceptual framework for 360° VFT production and use to supplement field courses. Reflective insights into the authors’ own learning process in the production of 360° VFTs, and a consideration of the general challenges of the medium are also presented. To conclude, the article summarizes the advantages of 360° VFTs for forestry education in an academic context.
Application of Land Surface Temperature Analysis in Urban Green Spaces: Case Studies from South Asia
(2021)
This paper demonstrates the use of remote sensing in planning urban green spaces (UGSs). UGSs emerged as a popular solution to combat the effects of Urban Heat Island, especially in tropical cities. UGS projects often need to identify priority implementation areas due to limited funding for UGSs. This study includes two Asian cities, namely Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and Chittagong (Bangladesh). It is not comparative, but it has identified priority administrative areas for future UGSs in both cities. We used Landsat 8 data and the remote sensing technique Land Surface Temperature (LST) analysis using radiance, temperature brightness and emissivity. LST data were then intersected with the administrative boundaries of the study areas. The identification of priority administrative areas for UGS considered both the area coverage and the percentage of coverage in terms of maximum LST within the administrative units’ boundaries. The result found 8 and 10 administrative units to be hotspots for UGSs, for Phnom Penh and Chittagong respectively. The proposed method will be useful to both government and non-government organizations alike, especially in tropical countries.
The destruction of habitats has not only reduced biological diversity but also affected essential ecosystem services of the Central European cultural landscape. Therefore, in the further development of the cultural landscape and in the management of natural resources, special importance must be attached to the habitat demands of species and the preservation of ecosystem services. The study of ecosystem services has extended its influence into spatial planning and landscape ecology, the integration of which can offer an opportunity to enhance the saliency, credibility, and legitimacy of landscape ecology in spatial planning issues. Objective: This paper proposes a methodology to detect red deer habitats for e.g. huntable game. The model is established on remote sensing based value-added information products, the derived landscape structure information and the use of spatially and temporally imprecise in-situ data (e.g. available hunting statistics). In order to realize this, four statistical model approaches were developed and their predictive performance assessed. Methods: Altogether, our results indicate that based on the data mentioned above, modeling of habitats is possible using a coherent statistical model approach. All four models showed an overall classification of > 60% and in the best case 71,4%. The models based on logistic regression using preference data derived from 5-year hunting statistics, which has been interpreted as habitat suitability. The landscape metrics (LSM) will be calculated on the basis of the Global Forest Change dataset (HANSEN et al. 2013b ). The interpolation of landcover data into landscape-level was made with the software FRAGSTAT and the moving window approach. Correlation analysis is used to identify relevant LSM serving as inputs; logistic regression was used to derive a final binary classifier for habitat suitability values. Three model variations with different sets of LSM are tested using the unstandardized regression coefficient. Results lead to an insight of the effect of each LSM but not on the strength of the effect. Furthermore, the predicted outcome is rather difficult to interpret as different units and scales for each LSM are used. Hence, we calculated the fourth model using the standardized regression coefficient. It harmonized the measurement units of the LSM and thus allowed a better comparison, interpretation, and evaluation.Conclusion: Our research reveals that applying a statistical model using coarse data is effective to identify potential red deer habitats in a significant qualitative manner. The presented approach can be analogously applied to other mammals if the relevant structural requirements and empirical habitat suitability data (e.g. home range, biotopes, and food resources) are known. The habitat preferences of red deer are best described by LSM concerning area-relation and wildlifeedge relations. Most important are edges between meadows, pastures or agricultural field and forest, as well as short paths between those elements for food resources. A large proportion of forest is important for species survival and positively influences the occurrence of red deer. Outcomes help to understand species habitat relation and on which scale wildlife perceives the landscape. In addition, they support the practical habitat management and thus the overall species diversity.
This policy brief introduces preliminary research results of the
Build4People project, funded by the German government as part
of the multi-phase focus programme “Sustainable Development
of Urban Regions”. Furthermore, the research agenda of the
upcoming main four-year Research and Development phase (RD
phase) will be introduced based on insights gained in previous
shorter funding periods. The Build4People research consortium
consists of representatives from four German universities and two
German companies with their respective research, implementation and dissemination partners in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Build4People’s rationale is based on Phnom Penh‘s dynamic
economic growth, which is coupled with a local urbanisation and
construction boom. However, new buildings and neighbourhoods
are rarely constructed in a sustainable way with direct and
indirect negative environmental impacts. Issues of sustainability
are hardly addressed by decision-makers in the construction
sector, related ministries, city administrations or building users.
The overall aim of the multi- and trans-disciplinary Build4People
project during the RD phase is to support and analyse the
transformative shift in Phnom Penh’s current business-as-usual
urban development pathway towards a pathway with higher
sustainability and liveability levels. The entry points for the
research are the building and neighbourhood planning sectors.
Methods, tools and key instruments to achieve the objectives of
the RD phase are collaborative planning workshops, strategic
niche management approaches, transition management approaches and subsequent experimental implementation. All of these measures will generate applied knowledge for local stakeholders and a basis for evidence-based decision-making.
Urban quality of life as a people-driven approach serves as the
integrating link for all of our scientific, conceptional, analytical
and normative dimensions. During our research, we will jointly
conceptualize, measure and model urban quality of life and
consider its political dimension and its often-ambiguous
relationship to sustainability.
Biodiversity loss is an important topic considering climate change, global warming, and even the reasoning of current and future animal-related diseases, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Urban biodiversity is also important because of the ecosystem services they provide, restorative benefits for well-being, and physical health of the people who live in urban areas. Each city has its own strategies to cope with this issue, and these strategies do not function without the contribution of habitants of the cities. We developed an index (BBS) of the existing possibilities to support urban biodiversity in Berlin to measure the awareness and willingness of the Berliners to participate and support urban biodiversity. A survey was conducted in a face-to-face situation in four districts of Berlin with 431 urban residents, measuring preference for three different levels of biodiversity, connectedness to residential greenspace, neighborhood and city, nature relatedness, and willingness in participatory actions around greenspace. The results show that the high biodiversity condition in a photo scenario was preferred by most residents, indicating the appreciation for urban biodiversity. The connectedness to the residential greenspace was high (and higher than the connectedness to neighborhood and city), showing large potential for quality of life. While the overall willingness to participate in actions to support urban greenspace was rather high, our index shows substantial differences in activities, which are perceived more or less. This is a key result for urban park management to increase urban biodiversity participation processes.
Im Rahmen eines vom Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN) mit Mitteln des Bundesministeriums für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit (BMU) geförderten Erprobungs- und Entwicklungs-(E+E-)Vorhabens „Naturerfahrungsräume in Großstädten am Beispiel Berlin“ wurde in
einer viereinhalbjährigen Begleituntersuchung die Neueinrichtung von Naturerfahrungsräumen (NER) in Berlin wissenschaftlich untersucht.
Das zu Grunde gelegte Konzept der NER für Großstädte in Deutschland knüpft an die Vorarbeiten von Schemel & Wilke (2008) und Stopka & Rank (2013) an. Gegenstand der wissenschaftlichen Begleitung sind die neu eingerichteten Berliner NER „Wilde Welt“ am Spieroweg in Spandau, an der Moorwiese in Pankow und auf dem Kienberg in Marzahn-Hellersdorf. Alle drei untersuchten NER haben einen räumlichen Bezug zu Großwohnsiedlungen. Sie variieren sowohl in ihrer Größe (von 0,54 ha bis 1,58 ha) als auch in ihrer Vegetationsausstattung. Weiterentwicklungen des Konzeptes sind eine Anbindung der Pilotflächen an Einrichtungen der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe sowie die Beschäftigung von Kümmer(er)*innen. Darüber hinaus wurden Erfahrungen in der Einrichtung und im Betrieb bisheriger NER in ganz Deutschland ausgewertet.
Ziel der wissenschaftlichen Begleitung war es, in einem interdisziplinären Ansatz einerseits das Spielverhalten von Kindern in NER sowie die Akzeptanz dieser Räume zu untersuchen.
Andererseits ging es darum, die gesetzlichen und institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen, die für die Einrichtung und den Betrieb der NER förderlich oder hemmend wirken, zu analysieren.
Drittens sollte der Zusammenhang zwischen dem Spielverhalten der Kinder und der Entwicklung von Flora, Vegetation und Fauna auf diesen Flächen untersucht werden, um hieraus Rückschlüsse auf die Größe und Ausstattung von NER und auf die Notwendigkeit pflegerischer Eingriffe ziehen zu können.
In der Begleituntersuchung wurden die drei Arbeitsbereiche Lebensqualität (Spielverhalten, Gesundheitsvorsorge, (pädagogische) Begleitung durch Kümmer(er)*innen, Akzeptanz, Partizipation), Planungsqualität (gesetzliche Rahmenbedingungen, Betreiber*innen-Modelle, Flächengestaltung, Sicherheit und Haftung) und ökologische Qualität (Entwicklung von Flora, Vegetation und Fauna, Nutzungsspuren und Flächenentwicklung, Flächenpflege) unterschieden.
Entsprechend des Umfangs des Untersuchungsgegenstandes kam eine Vielzahl von Erhebungsmethoden zum Einsatz. Für den Bereich Lebensqualität war die Beobachtung des Spielverhaltens von Kindern ein wesentlicher methodischer Baustein. Darüber hinaus wurden Interviews mit relevanten Akteur*innen (Kümmer(er)*innen, Pädagog*innen, Kinder und Eltern) dieses Bereiches geführt.
Im Bereich der Planungsqualität sind mithilfe von Expert*inneninterviews Erkenntnisse über hemmende und fördernde Bedingungen in der Einrichtung und im Betrieb der NER gewonnen
worden. Zusätzlich wurde eine mit der Materie vertraute Anwaltskanzlei hinzugezogen, die den Stand des Wissens zur Bedeutung der Verkehrssicherungspflicht und zu den Möglichkeiten der planungsrechtlichen Verankerung von NER zusammenfassend darstellte.
Für den Bereich der ökologischen Qualität sind in den NER Flora (Gefäßpflanzenarten), Biotoptypen, Vegetationsstruktur und aussagekräftige Tiergruppen (Avifauna, Tagfalter und tag-
aktive Nachtfalter, Heuschrecken und Grillen) über einen Zeitraum von vier Jahren untersucht worden. Die Dokumentation von Trampelpfaden und eine Fotodokumentation des Zustands der Vegetationsentwicklung über die Jahre stellten einen weiteren methodischen Baustein dar.
Im Ergebnis zeigte sich, dass das Spielverhalten von Kindern auf NER wesentlich vielfältiger ist als auf herkömmlichen Kinderspielplätzen. Gerade die natürliche Ausstattung der NER und damit verbunden der Aufforderungscharakter der unterschiedlichen natürlichen Elemente führt zu einem komplexeren Spielverhalten, die Kreativität und Fantasie der Kinder wird gefördert.
Kinder machen nicht nur wichtige und vielfältige Naturerfahrungen, sie werden auch in ihrem Sozialverhalten positiv unterstützt. So profitieren gerade Kinder, die in einer Großstadt aufwachsen, wenig Zugang zur Natur haben und stärker unter dem Natur-Entfremdungssyndrom
leiden, von dem Besuch eines NER. Der Aufenthalt in natürlicher Umwelt wirkt sich auch positiv auf Gesundheitsaspekte aus, beispielsweise auf Selbstwirksamkeit, Wohlbefinden, Verantwortungsgefühl und Erholung.
Herauszustellen ist die Bedeutung des/der Kümmer(ers)*in für den erfolgreichen Betrieb eines NER. Dieser/Diese Kümmer(er)*in ist Ansprechperson für Kinder aber auch für pädagogische Fachkräfte, Eltern und die Nachbarschaft. Zudem sorgt er/sie für die Sicherheit und Sauberkeit im NER und beteiligt die Kinder bei der Pflege und dem Unterhalt im NER.
Viele Eltern unterstützen grundsätzlich den Besuch ihres Kindes in einem NER. Die Akzeptanz der Eltern hinsichtlich des Aufenthaltes der Kinder im NER ist besonders groß, wenn die Kinder bei der Planung und Einrichtung des NER beteiligt waren.
In Hinblick auf die planungsrechtliche Entwicklung ist es bedeutsam, dass neben der Einführung des NER im Bundesnaturschutzgesetz im Jahre 2009 nunmehr auch die Bestrebung besteht, den Begriff im Baugesetzbuch zu verankern. NER sollten als wichtige Bestandteile eines
städtischen Grünflächensystems gerade auch in hoch verdichteten Stadträumen in den Flächennutzungs- und Bebauungsplänen der Kommunen rechtssicher festgesetzt werden können. Vorbildhaft zeigen sich außerhalb Berlins 14 weitere Groß- und Mittelstädte, in denen
bereits NER oder dem Konzept entsprechende Flächen eingerichtet werden konnten. Einige andere deutsche Kommunen haben bereits von dem Konzept gehört und planen selbst die Einrichtung solcher Flächen. Diese Bestrebungen sind zu unterstützen.
Unsicherheiten in der Einschätzung der Verkehrssicherungspflicht für NER halten offenbar immer noch viele Kommunen davon ab, NER einzurichten und zu betreiben. Hierauf deuten Aussagen von Kommunalvertretern hin. Ein aktives Sicherheitsmanagement, das bereits in der Planung und Gestaltung der Flächen ansetzt, kann die Risiken für den/die Flächenbetreiber*in auf ein Minimum beschränken. Auch hier, das haben die Aussagen der Betreiber*innen von NER gezeigt, ist die institutionelle Verankerung eines/einer Kümmer(ers)*in und die vertrauensvolle Kooperation zwischen Flächeneigentümer*in, Flächenbetreibenden und für die Pflege Verantwortlichen für ein erfolgreiches Sicherheitsmanagement wesentlich.
Die ökologische Begleituntersuchung zeigte, dass die als Pilotflächen ausgewählten NER eine artenreiche Flora und Fauna aufweisen. Positiv für eine hohe Artenvielfalt der betrachteten Artengruppen ist eine Mischung aus unterschiedlichen Vegetationsbereichen, die eine hohe
Strukturvielfalt ergeben. Beim Kinderspiel kommt es zu leichten Abnutzungserscheinungen wie Trampelpfaden und Rindenschäden an Gehölzen. Die Nutzung führte im Untersuchungszeitraum nicht zu einem Verlust gefährdeter Tier- und Pflanzenarten und beeinträchtigte nicht
die Gesamtartenzahlen der untersuchten Tiergruppen. Das Kinderspiel sorgte allerdings für eine gewisse Dynamik in der Vielfalt der Pflanzenarten über die Zeit. Die Vegetationsstruktur wird davon aber nur kleinräumig beeinflusst. Andere Faktoren wie der Witterungsverlauf in den Untersuchungsjahren, die natürliche Sukzession sowie Bau-, Sicherungs- und Pflegemaßnahmen sind entscheidender. Da Bau- und Pflegemaßnahmen auch die Fauna beeinflussen, sollten diese behutsam durchgeführt werden und in für Flora und Fauna unproblematischen Zei-
ten erfolgen. Anfangsgestaltungen und Sicherungsmaßnahmen erhöhen aber auch die Strukturvielfalt, was auf längere Sicht zu einer Zunahme der Artenvielfalt führen kann. Die Nutzung der NER kann also im Rahmen der untersuchten Parameter im Untersuchungszeitraum als nachhaltig angesehen werden. Die NER blieben attraktiv für das Kinderspiel. Ein längerfristig angelegtes ökologisches Monitoring kann weitergehende Erkenntnisse liefern, um die richtige Balance zwischen Nutzungsintensität und ökologischer Flächenentwicklung zu finden.
Insgesamt lässt sich schon jetzt das Fazit ziehen, dass die Einrichtung von NER die Lebensbedingungen von Kindern und deren Familien in hochverdichteten Stadträumen wirksam verbessern kann. Als wichtiger Bestandteil des städtischen Grünflächensystems leisten Naturerfahrungsräume zudem einen wichtigen Beitrag für das Mikroklima und die Biotop- und Artenvielfalt in den Städten. Insofern ist zu hoffen, dass das Konzept der NER eine rasche Verbreitung in den Städten und Kommunen finden wird.
Cities at the fringe of the Taklimakan desert in NW China are prone to dust and sand storms with serious consequences for human well-being. The Kökyar Protection Forest was established in the 1980s as an ecological engineering project with the intent of protecting the city of Aksu, NW China, from these impacts. It is designed as a combination of poplar shelterbelts and orchards, irrigated by river water from the Aksu River, the main tributary of the Tarim River. Prevalent literature describes it as an afforestation project for combatting desertification with manifold positive effects for the economic, social, and environmental dimension of sustainable development. This paper sets out to challenge these claims by a sustainability assessment in which the plantation is examined from a broader perspective, embedding it to the wider context of social and environmental problems in South Xinjiang. Methods comprise evapotranspiration calculations, interviews, a socioeconomic household survey, stakeholder dialogues, and literature research. Results affirm its economic sustainability, but see a mixed record for the social sphere. From the nature conservation point of view, it has to be classified as unsustainable because its high irrigation water consumption results in the downstream desiccation and desertification of natural riparian forests along the Tarim River, causing a forest loss in the downstream area twice the size of the forest gain in the upstream area. There is a trade-off between artificial shelterbelt plantations for urban ecosystem services on the one hand side, and natural riparian forests and their biodiversity on the other hand side. The paper recommends restricting agricultural extension, and using locally adapted less water consuming agroforestry schemes to protect urban dwellers from dust stress.
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.
Peatlands in the European Union are largely drained for agriculture and emit 25% of the total agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Drainage-based peatland use has also negative impacts on water quality, drinking water provision and biodiversity. Consequently, key EU environmental policy objectives include the rewetting of all drained peatlands as an essential nature-based solution. Rewetting of peatlands can be combined with site-adapted land use, so-called paludiculture. Paludiculture produces biomass from wet and rewetted peatlands under conditions that maintain the peat body, facilitate peat accumulation and can provide many of the ecosystem services associated with natural, undrained peatlands. The biomass can be used for a wide range of traditional and innovative food, feed, fibre and fuel products. Based on examples in Germany, we have analysed emerging paludiculture options for temperate Europe with respect to greenhouse gas fluxes, biodiversity and indicative business economics. Best estimates of site emission factors vary between 0 and 8 t CO2eq ha−1 y−1. Suitability maps for four peatland-rich federal states (76% of total German peatland area) indicate that most of the drained, agriculturally used peatland area could be used for paludiculture, about one-third of the fen area for any paludiculture type. Fen-specific biodiversity benefits from rewetting and paludiculture, if compared to the drained state. Under favourable conditions, paludiculture can be economically viable, but costs and revenues vary considerably. Key recommendations for large-scale implementation are providing planning security by paludiculture spatial planning, establishing best practice sites and strengthening research into crops, water tables and management options.
Biomass is an important metric for monitoring carabid populations and serves as an ecological indicator. Models that predict carabid weight based on body size represent a simple and straightforward method to estimate biomass and are therefore commonly used. However, such models are rarely evaluated against independent validation data. In this study, we evaluated the two widely used size-weight models by Szyszko (1983) and Booij et al. (1994) drawing on previously published independent data. Additionally, we developed and tested four new models to also evaluate the potential effect of taxonomic parameters; and compared model predictions with actual measurements of biomass using relative deviation graphs and observed versus predicted from regression. We show that the two models by Szyszko (1983) and Booij et al. (1994) contain systematic bias towards larger and smaller carabids, respectively, suggesting restricted applicability of such models. Additional taxonomic parameters improved weight predictions, indicating one possible solution to the issue of restricted applicability. We discuss further relevant limitations of size-weight models and their application and recommend a combined use of the models of Szyszko (1983) and Booij et al. (1994) for carabids ≥ 11.8 mm and < 11.8 mm, respectively.
Implications for insect conservation: Size-weight models are a suitable and simple method to estimate the biomass of carabids and have great potential to be used in monitoring schemes, the investigation of long-term trends and ecological studies. It is, however, essential that researchers pay special attention to potential restrictions in their applicability and methodological limitations.
Detailed knowledge of a soil’s lime requirement (LR) is a prerequisite for a demand-based lime fertilization to achieve the optimum soil pH and thus sustainably increasing soil fertility and crop yields. LR can be directly determined by the base neutralizing capacity (BNC) obtained by soil-base titration. For a site-specific soil acidity management, detailed information on the within-field variation of BNC is required. However, soil-base titrations for BNC determination are too laborious to be extensively applied in routine soil testing. In contrast, visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (visNIRS) is a time and cost-effective alternative that can analyze several soil characteristics within a single spectrum. VisNIRS was tested in the laboratory on 170 air-dried and sieved soil samples of nine agricultural fields of a quaternary landscape in North-east Germany predicting the soil’s BNC and the corresponding lime requirement (LRBNC) at a target pH of 6.5. Seven spectral pre-processing methods were tested including a new technique based on normalized differences (ND). Furthermore, six multivariate regression methods were conducted including a new method combining a forward stagewise subset selection algorithm with PLSR (FS-PLSR). The models were validated using an independent sample set. The best regression model for most target variables was FS-PLSR combined with the second Savitzky-Golay derivation as pre-processing method achieving R2s from 0.68 to 0.82. Finally, the performance of the direct prediction of LRBNC (R2 = 0.68) was compared with an indirect prediction that was calculated by the predicted BNC parameters. This resulted in slightly higher correlation coefficients for the indirect method with R2 = 0.75.
Liming agricultural fields is necessary for counteracting soil acidity and is one of the oldest operations in soil fertility management. However, the best management practice for liming in Germany only insufficiently considers within-field soil variability. Thus, a site-specific variable rate liming strategy was developed and tested on nine agricultural fields in a quaternary landscape of north-east Germany. It is based on the use of a proximal soil sensing module using potentiometric, geoelectric and optical sensors that have been found to be proxies for soil pH, texture and soil organic matter (SOM), which are the most relevant lime requirement (LR) affecting soil parameters. These were compared to laboratory LR analysis of reference soil samples using the soil’s base neutralizing capacity (BNC). Sensor data fusion utilizing stepwise multi-variate linear regression (MLR) analysis was used to predict BNC-based LR (LRBNC) for each field. The MLR models achieved high adjusted R2 values between 0.70 and 0.91 and low RMSE values from 65 to 204 kg CaCO3 ha−1. In comparison to univariate modeling, MLR models improved prediction by 3 to 27% with 9% improvement on average. The relative importance of covariates in the field-specific prediction models were quantified by computing standardized regression coefficients (SRC). The importance of covariates varied between fields, which emphasizes the necessity of a field-specific calibration of proximal sensor data. However, soil pH was the most important parameter for LR determination of the soils studied. Geostatistical semivariance analysis revealed differences between fields in the spatial variability of LRBNC. The sill-to-range ratio (SRR) was used to quantify and compare spatial LRBNC variability of the nine test fields. Finally, high resolution LR maps were generated. The BNC-based LR method also produces negative LR values for soil samples with pH values above which lime is required. Hence, the LR maps additionally provide an estimate on the quantity of chemically acidifying fertilizers that can be applied to obtain an optimal soil pH value.
Soil acidification is caused by natural paedogenetic processes and anthropogenic impacts but can be counteracted by regular lime application. Although sensors and applicators for variable-rate liming (VRL) exist, there are no established strategies for using these tools or helping to implement VRL in practice. Therefore, this study aimed to provide guidelines for site-specific liming based on proximal soil sensing. First, high-resolution soil maps of the liming-relevant indicators (pH, soil texture and soil organic matter content) were generated using on-the-go sensors. The soil acidity was predicted by two ion-selective antimony electrodes (RMSEpH: 0.37); the soil texture was predicted by a combination of apparent electrical resistivity measurements and natural soil-borne gamma emissions (RMSEclay: 0.046 kg kg−1); and the soil organic matter (SOM) status was predicted by a combination of red (660 nm) and near-infrared (NIR, 970 nm) optical reflection measurements (RMSESOM: 6.4 g kg−1). Second, to address the high within-field soil variability (pH varied by 2.9 units, clay content by 0.44 kg kg−1 and SOM by 5.5 g kg−1), a well-established empirical lime recommendation algorithm that represents the best management practices for liming in Germany was adapted, and the lime requirements (LRs) were determined. The generated workflow was applied to a 25.6 ha test field in north-eastern Germany, and the variable LR was compared to the conventional uniform LR. The comparison showed that under the uniform liming approach, 63% of the field would be over-fertilized by approximately 12 t of lime, 6% would receive approximately 6 t too little lime and 31% would still be adequately limed.