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Topic Review
Wood-based pellets in Southeastern US
Effects of pellet production on selected Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) are evaluated using industry information, available energy consumption data, and published research findings. Challenges associated with identifying relevant SDG goals and targets for this particular bioenergy supply chain and potential deleterious impacts are discussed. We find that production of woody pellets in the SE US and shipments to displace coal for energy in Europe generate positive effects on affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), industry innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), and life on land (SDG 15). Primary strengths of the pellet supply chain in the SE US are the provisioning of employment in depressed rural areas and the displacement of fossil fuels. Weaknesses are associated with potential impacts on air, water, and biodiversity that arise if the resource base and harvest activities are improperly managed. The SE US pellet supply chain provides an opportunity for transition to low-carbon industries and innovations while incentivizing better resource management.
  • 859
  • 31 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Agroforestry and Global Climate Adaptation
Agroforestry plays a defining role in offsetting greenhouse gases, providing sustainable livelihoods, localizing Sustainable Development Goals and achieving biodiversity targets. 
  • 853
  • 08 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Forest-Based Initiatives
Research Highlights: This review gives an overview of existing literature on the emerging topic of human wellbeing-forest contact nexus and provides a preliminary framework linking forests to wellbeing by highlighting key variables a ecting this relationship. Background and Objectives: Existing literature reveals the psychological, physiological and social wellbeing benefits of contact with forest ecosystems; however, the role of forests in this relationship remains largely unexplored. The objectives of this review are twofold: (i) to provide an overview of the contributions of forest experiences to human wellbeing and the related interplay with forest ecosystems and (ii) to identify knowledge gaps to inform future research and systematize information available for forest managers and planners to support the development of e ective forest-based initiatives. Materials and Methods: A scoping review was performed with a five-phase method integrating a systematic approach on Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed databases and snowball search. Studies were analyzed using a descriptive-analytical method. Results: Overall, 93 papers were included in the review. These are mainly from health-related sciences providing limited information for forest managers, planners and practitioners. Four main underlying variables of the forest-wellbeing relationship are identified: interaction, forest features, sensorial dimension of the forest and individual traits and reactions. Conclusions: Forest-based initiatives provide good opportunities for supporting public health and time spent in contact with forests seems to have a “health-bonus”. Whether and to what extent forest management can contribute to this is still poorly investigated. There is the need to better study causal relationships between specific forest features, type of interactions, frequency and “dose” of experiences, individual reactions and needs and wellbeing e ects to maximize benefits from forest-based initiatives.
  • 837
  • 03 Aug 2020
Topic Review
Castanea mollissima
Chestnut (Castanea spp., Fagaceae family) is an economically important tree in the wood processing industry that occurs in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. There are four most important and cultivated chestnut varieties: C. molissima (Chinese chestnut) and C. crenata (Japanese chestnut) are distributed in Asia; C. sativa is distributed in continental Europe (European chestnut); and Castanea dentata is distributed in North America (American chestnut). Chestnuts are a source of nuts and industrial raw materials, including wood, that can be used as firewood, as well as to build timber and barrels for winemaking. Extracts from chestnut shells (e.g., tannins, polyphenols, and polysaccharides), female flower, and spring buds have been applied in the medical, pharmaceutical, and healthcare fields. Discarded chestnut shells, inner shells, burs, and leaves have been re-utilized as biomass and catalyst material. The important economic and environmental roles of chestnut underlie its high value to ecosystems and agroforestry systems.
  • 833
  • 16 Sep 2022
Topic Review
EU Timber Regulation
Illegal logging and the associated deforestation have serious consequences for biodiversity, the climate, the economy and society. The EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) prohibits the placing of illegally harvested timber or timber products on the market. The objective of this paper is to analyse the recent evolution of EU imports of these products from the international market, in order to check how the transparency index of the supplying countries’ institutions and tree cover loss have influenced this trajectory. To that end, a panel data model is estimated with 228 observations from 38 exporting countries between 2012 and 2017. The results show that EU timber imports have a direct association with the transparency index and an inverse relationship with tree cover loss; both these relationships are highly significant at the one-percent level. Other significant factors are the performance of the EU construction sector (as a proxy for timber demand) and timber supply. In the short and medium-term, Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) signed between the EU and non-EU timber-producing countries have a negative influence on the supply to EU member states. This study presents an analysis of EU timber imports after the implementation of the EUTR, providing specific conclusions that can inform policymakers’ efforts to foster sustainable forest management.
  • 824
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
BVLOS Unmanned Aircraft Operations in Forest Environments
Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations are attractive within forest environments because they remove the need for any pilot or visual observer to maintain Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) with the aircraft and the surrounding airspace. Technically speaking, even basic prosumer-grade unmanned aircraft are capable of BVLOS flight. However, they lack the technical capabilities to mitigate ground-based and airborne risks to the extent necessary to do this in a compliant manner with aviation regulations. There are also operational considerations around airspace use and organisational procedures, as well as other considerations such as those relating to human factors.
  • 771
  • 15 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Forest Grazing
Daegwallyeong is a mountain pass at an altitude of 832 m, which has been designated a conservation area because of its essential role in Korea’s forest ecosystem. Simultaneously, this area is considered a suitable place for forest grazing due to the cool temperature during the summer.
  • 757
  • 22 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Waterlogged Archaeological Wood
Due to long-term burial in the ground or water, the plant cell walls of some wooden cultural relics were degraded by microorganisms, the structure of cell wall was loose and filled with water. The moisture content of these wooden cultural relics is much higher than that of normal wood.
  • 752
  • 21 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Common Ash
Development of markers for traits related to tolerance to ash dieback and to investigate whether genotypes selected for tolerance were genetically different from susceptible populations.
  • 716
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Post-Mining Landscape in Indonesia
Tropical forests are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world, completed by huge biodiversity. An expansion in natural resource extraction through open-pit mining activities leads to increasing land and tropical forest degradation. Proper science-based practices are needed as an effort to reclaim their function.
  • 711
  • 14 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Biomass Production and Carbon Sequestration Potential in India
Agroforestry systems (AFS) and practices followed in India are highly diverse due to varied climatic conditions ranging from temperate to humid tropics. The estimated area under AFS in India is 13.75 million ha with the highest concentration being in the states of Uttar Pradesh (1.86 million ha), followed by Maharashtra (1.61 million ha), Rajasthan (1.55 million ha) and Andhra Pradesh (1.17 million ha). There are many forms of agroforestry practice in India ranging from intensified simple systems of monoculture, such as block plantations and boundary planting, to far more diverse and complex systems, such as home gardens. As a result, the biomass production and carbon sequestration potential of AFS are highly variable across different agro-climatic zones of India. Studies pertaining to the assessment of biomass and carbon storage in different agroforestry systems in the Indian sub-continent are scanty and most of these studies have reported region and system specific carbon stocks.
  • 678
  • 02 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Anti-Melanogenic Activity of Calocedrus formosana Wood Essential Oil
Calocedrus formosana (Cupressaceae) is one of the five precious woods of Taiwan. C. formosana wood essential oil (CFEO) could be a potential melanogenesis inhibitor.  Among the composition of C. formosana wood essential oil (CFEO), thymol exhibited the strongest the inhibitory melanin production activity the anti-melanogenesis principal of CFEO might be thymol. 
  • 669
  • 03 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Brinell Hardness of Silver Birch Wood
An analysis was undertaken of the Brinell hardness of silver birch wood and its dependence on stand location, tree age, tree thickness and forest habitat type, and the interactions between these factors. Wood was obtained from 12 forest districts throughout Poland, from trees aged approximately 30, 50, and 70 years. A total of 51 study plots was established, from which 306 trees were taken. Hardness was measured on three surfaces (transverse, radial, and tangential sections) for 4777 samples, giving a total of 14,331 measurements. It was shown that the hardness of silver birch wood in Poland is significantly influenced by location, tree age, tree thickness and habitat type, and by interactions between those factors. Habitat type was not shown to affect radial hardness, except in the case of Giżycko forest district. For the whole of the analysed material, the mean hardness on a transverse section was calculated as 66.26 MPa, corresponding to a very hard wood on Mörath’s scale, whereas the values for the lengthwise sections (radial 44.06 MPa, tangential 44.02 MPa) correspond to a soft wood. 
  • 661
  • 26 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Pre-Breeding for Biotic Resistance
Genes and markers involved in resistance to biotic stress can be divided into two categories. The first is involved in pathogen recognition (e.g., RGA genes, resistance gene analogues), while the other is more involved in defense responses (e.g., DGA genes or defense gene analogues). The best-studied RGAs are leucine-rich repeats of nucleotide binding sites, kinase receptor-like proteins, pentatricopeptide repeats, and apoplastic peroxidases.
  • 653
  • 09 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Agroforestry and Related Myths
Agroforestry, a sustainable land-use system that combines the trees, crops, and livestock on the same piece of land, increases the overall productivity of the land and create a system that is scientifically sound, ecologically desirable, socially acceptable and practically feasible. 
  • 648
  • 25 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Bioactive Molecules from Forest Resources
Forest trees are the world’s most important renewable natural resources in terms of their dominance among other biomasses and the diversity of molecules that they produce. Forest tree extractives include terpenes and polyphenols, widely recognized for their biological activity. These molecules are found in forest by-products, such as bark, buds, leaves, and knots, commonly ignored in forestry decisions. The present entry focuses on in vitro experimental bioactivity from the phytochemicals of Myrianthus arboreus, Acer rubrum, and Picea mariana forest resources and by-products with potential for further nutraceutical, cosmeceutical, and pharmaceutical development. 
  • 643
  • 01 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Insect Pest and Disease Threats to Forest Plantations
The planted forest area in Vietnam increased from 3.0 to 4.4 million hectares in the period 2010–2020, but the loss of productivity from pests and diseases continues to be a problem. During this period, frequent and systematic plantation forest health surveys were conducted on 12 native and 4 exotic genera of trees as well as bamboo across eight forest geographic regions of Vietnam. Damage caused by insects and pathogens was quantified in the field and laboratory in Hanoi. 
  • 623
  • 23 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Sesquiterpene Essential Oil from Jungia rugosa Less
As part of a project devoted to the phytochemical study of Ecuadorian biodiversity, new essential oils are systematically distilled and analysed. In the present work, Jungia rugosa Less (Asteraceae) has been selected and some wild specimens collected to investigate the volatile fraction. The essential oil, obtained from fresh leaves, was analysed for the first time in the present study. The chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography, coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for qualitative analysis, and to flame ionization detector (GC-FID) for quantitation. The calculation of relative response factors (RRF), based on combustion enthalpy, was carried out for each quantified component. Fifty-six compounds were identified and quantified in a 5% phenyl-polydimethylsiloxane non-polar column and 53 compounds in a polyethylene glycol polar column, including four undetermined compounds. The main feature of this essential oil was the exclusive sesquiterpenes content, both hydrocarbons (74.7% and 80.4%) and oxygenated (8.3% and 9.6%). Major constituents were: γ-curcumene (47.1% and 49.7%) and β-sesquiphellandrene (17.0% and 17.9%), together with two abundant undetermined oxygenated sesquiterpenes, whose abundance was 6.7–7.2% and 4.7–3.3%, respectively. 
  • 622
  • 21 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Tree Age Mediates Plant-Soil Relationships
The relationships between growth and soil are mediated by plant age. Stem growth and wood anatomy of 9-year-old trees and 2-year-old saplings of Enterolobium contortisiliquum, “tamboril” growing in eutrophic and oligotrophic soils were compared. Soil conditions have influenced the growth and variations in wood anatomical features.  
  • 601
  • 27 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Response to Abiotic Stresses of Birch, Oak, Poplar
Birch (Betula spp.), oak (Quercus spp.), and poplar (Populus spp.) are the most promising deciduous woody plants in forestry. These species were found to be sensitive to climate change that can badly affect their plantations. Thus, a deep understanding of genetic mechanisms of adaptation to adverse environmental conditions plays an important role in preventing the reduction of deciduous forest area. The stress responses of Betula spp., Quercus spp., and Populus spp. are described to drought and salt stresses
  • 593
  • 19 Jan 2023
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