The Brazilian mammalian fauna is threatened by several factors, the main ones being anthropogenic origins, such as agriculture, cattle ranching, and hunting. Medium and large mammals are continually ...affected by these factors. In this context, we conducted an inventory and estimated the abundance of medium and large mammals in a particular peri-urban remnant forest in the city of Porto, Rondônia. Fieldwork was carried out involving 88 kilometers of census during the daytime, indirect signs research, and interviews. We recorded 21 species of mammals. Private forest reserves have the potential to conserve endangered species, and therefore, actions that favor the connection of these areas in the rural environment should be prioritized
Peri-urban forests play crucial role in quality of life and environment for citizens. To effectively utilize the services provided by these forests, it is essential to establish an integrated forest ...management system that aims to achieve a balance of all ecosystem services. This can be accomplished through a participatory approach that involves key citizen stakeholders. Mountaineers shape a specific group which have showed high pro-environmental behaviors to protect natural resources. This research aimed to examine the influencing factors on mountaineers' intention to participate and their actual behavior in the management of riparian peri-urban forests in this field using extended theory of planned behavior.
Environmental values and perceived barriers were added to original model as additional components to enhance its explanatory power. A sample size of 416 individuals was surveyed using a questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Smart-PLS.
The findings of the analysis revealed that the developed model accounted for 75.2% of the variance in mountaineers' intention and 67.8% of behavior. The results demonstrated that three main components of model including attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control significantly influenced individuals' intentions to participate in peri-urban forests management. Furthermore, intentions were cleared to have a positive influence on actual behavior in this context. Additionally, environmental values were found to be positively correlated with individuals' intentions but not statistically significant behavior toward participate in urban forest management. Perceived barriers were found to have a negative impact on individuals' intentions toward participate in urban forest management. The perceived barriers and behavior had not statistically significant relationship.
The results of study provide valuable insights for the development of effective management strategies to promote mountaineers' participation in riparian PUFs management. The study emphasizes the importance of environmental education and awareness campaigns targeted at mountaineers.
Owing to industrialization and urbanization in recent decades, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the atmosphere has become a major environmental problem worldwide. This environmental issue pushed ...the use of forests as air filtering tools. However, there is a lack of continuous and long-term forest management to efficiently mitigate PM2.5. In this study, we assessed the potential of different forest types to control air pollution by measuring the seasonal PM2.5 concentrations inside and outside the forest for one year. In addition, the PM2.5 reduction efficiencies (PMREs) of two forest types were compared, and their relationship with stand characteristics was analyzed. The results showed that the average PMRE inside the forests was approximately 18.2%; the seasonal PMRE was highest in winter (approximately 28.1%) and lowest in summer (approximately 9.6%). The average PMRE of the Taehwa deciduous broad-leaved forest (TDF) (approximately 18.8%) was significantly higher than that of the Taehwa coniferous forest (TCF) (approximately 17.5%) (P < 0.001); differences were also observed seasonally. The PMRE in the TCF was higher in spring and summer (P < 0.001), while that in the TDF was higher in autumn and winter (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the PMRE in the TDF was negatively correlated with stand density (P = 0.003) and positively correlated with the average diameter at breast height (DBH) (P = 0.028). However, the PMRE in the TCF did not significantly correlate with stand characteristics. As such, the results of this study revealed the differences in PM2.5 mitigation according to stand characteristics, which should be considered in urban forest management.
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•We estimated the PM2.5 reduction efficiency (PMRE) in the forest compared to outside.•The PMRE in the forest was higher in autumn and winter than in spring and summer.•The PMRE between two types of forests was compared by stand characteristics.•The PMRE in broad-leaved forest was correlated with stand density and tree size.
The dataset supplied in this article provides data from continuous forest inventory carried out in the Castel di Guido estate, located in the Italian Tyrrhenian coast. The reforestation project ...started over 30 years ago using native and non-native species: 29 forested plot areas have been surveyed in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2011, 2013 and 2017 where information about species and stem diameters have been collected for a total of 2’215 tree stems. The dataset also contains height-diameter curves modelled for 1997, 2006 and 2017 years to let the user to estimate growing stock and total biomass easily. These data can be exploited to assess net primary productivity, pollutant uptake, and as comparisons with other European artificial reforestations programs with similar species. The database is finalized to narrow the knowledge gap on long-term growth pattern of urban and peri-urban reforestations, providing comparative data on different species performances, grown in pure and mixed stands. Dataset and metadata here presented are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2633972.
Socio-ecological networks maintain reciprocal interactions between nature and society. As a result of these interactions key abundant ecological resources and ecosystem services for society emerge. ...Urban expansion is a direct driver of peri-urban forest change and cause shifts in socio-ecological relationships. However, to date there has not been an attempt to analyze resource management alongside peri-urban forests based on social-ecological network, and in the network the connection between the social and peri-urban forests. In this paper, we developed and applied social-ecological network analysis to assess peri-urban forests management in the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration area. Exponential random graph models and multilevel networks were used to assess the structural characteristics and evolution of the peri-urban forest social-ecological network in 2010 and 2020. The results were as follows: (1) the spatial distribution of the 2010 and 2020 Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration ecology-human-resource security index was imbalanced and the surrounding area is safer than the central area. (2) in 2010, the number of two kind effective management modes was enhanced significantly and the number of two kind overexploited management modes was suppressed significantly, compared to 1000 random networks. (3) in 2020, the number of two kind effective management modes was enhanced significantly and the number of one kind overexploited management mode was suppressed significantly, compared to 1000 random networks. These results suggest a highly interconnected management structural feature with suppressed overexploited management mode through conceptualizing complex modes of social-ecological network. The management and utilization of resources need to take into account the ecological relationship between peri-urban forests and the common agreement between managers in network.
•Developed and applied social-ecological network analysis to assess peri-urban forests management by MPNet.•A highly interconnected management structural feature with suppressed overexploited management mode.•Ecological relationship between peri-urban forests and the common agreement between managers in network should be considered.
Peri-urban forests are wooded areas under the influence of urbanization and are becoming increasingly attractive as recreational areas for urban populations. This study focused specifically on the El ...Meridj-Est recreational forest, located in Constantine, the capital of eastern Algeria. This study selected this forest as the main case study because of its distinction as the region's most frequented woodland site. This research aimed to understand the practices of 350 users of this forest and to identify the determining factors behind the high affluence at El Meridj. This study also examined their individual and family perceptions, expectations, and concerns, adopting a methodological approach combining detailed qualitative and quantitative social survey techniques. This study fills a research gap in the field of peri-urban green space management with regard to social interactions and recreational activities in these spaces. It also highlights the importance of taking local specificities into account when studying recreational spaces. These results, potentially generalizable to other similar geographical and cultural contexts, offer practical perspectives for the management and conservation of peri-urban forests while minimizing the negative impacts of anthropogenic pressures leading to the degradation of these natural environments.
Urbanization decreases the species richness and results in the homogenization of bird communities. Bird species are important indicator species for biodiversity and reflect the habitat quality of ...urban forests and other green spaces. In this study we investigated the key drivers that influence bird communities in urban forests and green spaces in the Southeastern European city of Ljubljana, Slovenia. We were interested in how the number of species, species dissimilarity and indicator species are affected by the type of green space (urban forest vs park), area of green space and type of urbanization (urban vs peri-urban areas). We sampled birds twice in 2012 in 39 standardized point counts across Ljubljana. We found that the abundance was influenced by the area of the green space. Species dissimilarity and species turnover are affected by the area and type of green space. Interestingly, the analysis showed that the species composition of peri-urban areas was similar to that of urban areas. Indicator species were found for all environmental variables. On the basis of the results, we suggest the strategy that would increase the diversity of birds and increase the stability of their populations in urban areas. Urban planners should encourage 1) both forests and parks since they harbour different species of birds, 2) larger green spaces since larger areas have species that are more typical of larger areas and 3) a mosaic of a larger number of smaller forest remnants combined with larger forest complex serving as source areas.
Abstract Questions Forests are highly fragmented across the globe. For urban forests in particular, fragmentation increases the exposure to local warming caused by the urban heat island (UHI) effect. ...We here aim to quantify edge effects on herbaceous understorey vegetation in urban forests, and test whether these effects interact with forest structural complexity. Location We set up a pan‐European study at the continental scale including six urban forests in Zurich, Paris, Katowice, Brussels, Bremen, and Stockholm. Methods We recorded understorey plant communities from the edge towards the interior of urban forests. Within each urban forest, we studied edge‐to‐interior gradients in paired stands with differing forest structural complexity. Community composition was analysed based on species specialism, life form, light, nutrient, acidity and disturbance indicator values and species' thermal niches. Results We found that herbaceous communities at urban forest edges supported more generalists and forbs but fewer ferns than in forests' interiors. A buffered summer microclimate proved crucial for the presence of fern species. The edge communities contained more thermophilous, disturbance‐tolerant, nutrient‐demanding and basiphilous plant species, a pattern strongly confirmed by corresponding edge‐to‐interior gradients in microclimate, soil and light conditions in the understorey. Additionally, plots with a lower canopy cover and higher light availability supported higher numbers of both generalists and forest specialists. Even though no significant interactions were found between the edge distance and forest structural complexity, opposing additive effects indicated that a dense canopy can be used to buffer negative edge effects. Conclusion The urban environment poses a multifaceted filter on understorey plant communities which contributes to significant differences in community composition between urban forest edges and interiors. For urban biodiversity conservation and the buffering of edge effects, it will be key to maintain dense canopies near urban forest edges.
This review regards the pressures and threats linked with the human use of European urban and suburban forests. They can be divided into the following major categories: urban development, ...fragmentation, and isolation of forests; human pressures on soil and vegetation (e.g., changes in vegetation due to trampling, environmental and especially air pollution); human pressures on animals (e.g., wildlife losses due to collisions, frequent presence of dogs accompanying the visitors); and other threats and damages (e.g., littering and acts of vandalism). The directions of negative relations between people and forests shown in this review draw attention to the high complexity of the discussed issues. Awareness of this complexity (when planning and implementing forest management) can limit or counteract conflicts arising from the use of urban and suburban forests by people. This is of particular importance in the era of progressing urbanization and the evolution of human needs regarding the use of forests.
Human exposure to particulate matter (PM) is of great scientific interest due to its impact on both human health and the environment (climate change, reduced visibility, deterioration of ...archaeological sites, etc.). The aim of the current paper was to study the concentration of large-sized particulate matter (PM10) in relation to the season of the year. Measurements were performed with the help of a personal Button Sampler in three repeated cycles, namely summer, autumn, and winter, in order to obtain comparable results from three different seasons of the year. A total of 45 samples were collected, 27 of which were obtained from a peri-urban
Pinus brutia
forest and 18 from an adjacent urban area (9 and 6 samples in each repeated sampling cycle, respectively). Results obtained from both sampling areas show a significant increase in PM10 levels during the summer (8.86 mg m
−3
/24 h) in comparison with the autumn and winter concentrations (3.71 mg m
−3
/24 h and 4.12 mg m
−3
/24 h, respectively).
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