“Innovating the competitive edge: from research to impact in the forest value chain”: half-century of FORMEC

Determination of forest road surface roughness by Kinect depth imaging

Roughness is a dynamic property of the gravel road surface that affects safety, ride comfort as well as vehicle tyre life and maintenance costs. A rapid survey of gravel road condition is fundamental for an effective maintenance planning and definition of the intervention priorities.
Different non-contact techniques such as laser scanning, ultrasonic sensors and photogrammetry have recently been proposed to reconstruct three-dimensional topography of road surface and allow extraction of roughness metrics. The application of Microsoft Kinect™ depth camera is proposed and discussed here for collection of 3D data sets from gravel roads, to be implemented in order to allow quantification of surface roughness.
The objectives are to: i) verify the applicability of the Kinect sensor for characterization of different forest roads, ii) identify the appropriateness and potential of different roughness parameters and iii) analyse the correlation with vibrations recoded by 3-axis accelerometers installed on different vehicles. The test took advantage of the implementation of the Kinect depth camera for surface roughness determination of 4 different forest gravel roads and one well-maintained asphalt road as reference. Different vehicles (mountain bike, off-road motorcycle, ATV vehicle, 4WD car and compact crossover) were included in the experiment in order to verify the vibration intensity when travelling on different road surface conditions. Correlations between the extracted roughness parameters and vibration levels of the tested vehicles were then verified. Coefficients of determination of between 0.76 and 0.97 were detected between average surface roughness and standard deviation of relative accelerations, with higher values in the case of lighter vehicles.

Dipteryx alata Vogel (Fabaceae) a neotropical tree with high level of selfing: implication for conservation and breeding programs

Stable isotope ratios and reforestation potential in Acacia koa populations on Hawai’i

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes can be influenced by a multitude of factors including elevation, precipitation rate, season, and temperature. This work examined the variability in foliar stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope ratios of koa (Acacia koa) for 17 sites on Hawai’i Island delineated by elevation and precipitation gradients. Sites were identified and grouped with respect to mean annual precipitation (MAP), mean annual temperature (MAT) and position along three elevation ranges. Analysis of the resultant δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N isotope ratios from multiple individuals at these sites indicated that certain sites showed a demonstrated correlation between carbon and/or nitrogen content, isotope ratios, precipitation, and elevation however many sites showed no correlation. We used publicly available temperature and moisture data to help eliminate confounding effects by climatic drivers and capture possible points of contention. At sites where the temperature, precipitation, and elevation data were not significantly different we compared stable isotope information to determine if additional variables could have contributed to the lack of more correlative data. Our results note several areas within the Waiakea Forest Reserve and Volcanoes National Park where, based on isotope results, reforestation efforts could be most successfully initiated.

Effects of different thinning systems on the economic value of ecosystem services: A case-study in a black pine peri-urban forest in Central Italy

Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) should be able to produce an optimal level of bundle of Ecosystem Services (ES), thus ensuring more resilient forest ecosystems also creating benefits for local population and human well-being. Yet, choosing between alternative forest management practices is not straightforward as it necessarily involves ES trade-offs. Forest management decisions have to reconcile the socio-economic and ecological contributions of forest ecosystems by fostering a synergistic relation between multiple ES while lowering ES trade-offs. The aim of the study is to analyze different forest management practices (selective and traditional thinning) in black pine peri-urban forest in Central Italy, by investigating their contribution in terms of provisioning (wood production), cultural (recreational benefits), regulating (climate change mitigation) ES. For each management option was performed: (1) the biophysical assessment of selected ES by using primary data and calculating indicators for wood production with special regard to biomass for energy use (living trees and deadwood volume harvested), recreational benefits (tourists’ preferences for each forest management practice), climate change mitigation (carbon sequestration in above-ground and below-ground biomass), and (2) the economic valuation of wood production, recreational benefits and climate change mitigation ES using direct and indirect methods (environmental evaluation techniques). The results show that the effects of the selective thinning on ES is higher that the effects of the traditional thinning. The economic value of the three ES provided by traditional and selective thinning are respectively: bioenergy production 154.2 € ha^-1 yr^-1 and 223.3 € ha^-1 yr^-1; recreational benefits 193.2 € ha^-1 yr^-1 and 231.9 € ha^-1 yr^-1; carbon sequestration 29.0 € ha^-1 yr^-1and 36.2 € ha^-1 yr^-1. The integrated (biophysical and economic) assessment of ES in addition to the trade-off analysis can provide multi-perspective insights for forest policy makers and can be included as a part of the local forest management plans.

Development of genic and genomic microsatellites in Gleditsia triacanthos L. (Fabaceae) using Illumina sequencing

Twenty new polymorphic genic SSRs (EST-SSRs) and 13 genomic SSRs were developed in honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos) using Illumina transcriptome and low-coverage genome sequencing. A diversity panel of 40 honeylocust samples covering large parts of the species distribution range was characterized. As expected the level of genetic variation was lower in EST-SSRs than for non-genic genomic SSRs. This is the first report of EST-SSRs for honeylocust. All markers are polymorphic and produce clear single locus amplification products and can be used for genetic diversity and gene flow analyses. The transcriptome sequencing data provide a rich resource for new marker development.