The Challenge of Forest Diagnostics
The Challenge of Forest Diagnostics
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森林诊断的挑战
DOI：
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发表时间：
2011
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
E. Ostrom
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
H. Nagendra;E. Ostrom
生态学家和从业者通常使用森林地块或样带来监测森林状况属性随时间的变化。然而，由于收集此类数据的困难，保护从业者经常依赖林务人员和森林使用者的判断来评估变化。这些方法很少被比较。我们使用五个国家 53 个森林的数据集来比较森林地块对森林变化的评估，以及林务人员和用户对森林密度变化的评估。我们发现，用户对树木密度变化的评估与对随机分布森林图的统计分析得出的变化评估密切相关。用户对灌木/树苗水平密度变化的评估也与植被地块统计评估得出的评估相关，但这种关系并不那么强，而且只有微弱的显着性。专业林务员对变化的评估更难获得，而且可靠性较差，因为林务员往往不熟悉特定当地区域的变化。相反，林务员评估可以更好地提供森林与类似生态区其他区域的有效单次比较。因此，在当地森林用户所在的森林中，他们的评估可用于对其访问区域的树木密度变化提供可靠的评估。然而，在灌木/树苗层面评估人类干扰和再生的空间异质模式可能需要补充植被分析。
Ecologists and practitioners have conventionally used forest plots or transects for monitoring changes in attributes of forest condition over time. However, given the difficulty in collecting such data, conservation practitioners frequently rely on the judgment of foresters and forest users for evaluating changes. These methods are rarely compared. We use a dataset of 53 forests in five countries to compare assessments of forest change from forest plots, and forester and user evaluations of changes in forest density. We find that user assessments of changes in tree density are strongly and significantly related to assessments of change derived from statistical analyses of randomly distributed forest plots. User assessments of change in density at the shrub/sapling level also relate to assessments derived from statistical evaluations of vegetation plots, but this relationship is not as strong and only weakly significant. Evaluations of change by professional foresters are much more difficult to acquire, and less reliable, as foresters are often not familiar with changes in specific local areas. Forester evaluations can instead better provide valid single- time comparisons of a forest with other areas in a similar ecological zone. Thus, in forests where local forest users are present, their evaluations can be used to provide reliable assessments of changes in tree density in the areas they access. However, assessments of spatially heterogeneous patterns of human disturbance and regeneration at the shrub/sapling level are likely to require supplemental vegetation analysis.