This study explored and applied the concepts of Fire Regulation Capacity (FRC) and Fire Protection Ecosystem Service (FPES) in the assessment of the effects of landscape change in a mountain fire-prone landscape in Portugal. We adopted a modeling and simulation approach using BFOLDS-FRM with landscape data for years 1990 and 2006 (observed) and with three landscape scenarios for 2020. Proxy indicators for FRC (burned area and fire intensity) and for economic damage by fire (loss of provisioning ES) were used to establish trends in the supply and value of FPES. We found decreased FRC to restrain simulated fires burning over 100 ha from 1990 on and to regulate Very High and Extreme fire intensity levels, particularly under our 2020 scenario of Forest expansion. FPES is also expected to decrease, as indicated by higher fire-related damages, particularly if fuel hazard increases in the landscape. However, there were differences among scenarios, suggesting potential trade-offs between FPES and the supply of provisioning ES. Planning and management in this and similar areas experiencing farmland abandonment must consider fire trends and patterns, since landscape change is a major driver affecting FRC and FPES, which may further be decreased by future climatic conditions.

The book was inadvertently published with an incorrect affiliation of the author Michael Manton in Chapters 4 & 6 as Faculty of Forest Science and Ecology, Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Kaunas, Lithuania; School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skinnskatteberg, Sweden; State Environmental Institution National Park “Braslavskie Ozera”, Braslav, Belarus whereas it should be Faculty of Forest Science and Ecology, Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Kaunas, Lithuania.

In Boreal North America, management approaches inspired by the variability in natural disturbances are expected to produce more resilient forests. Wind storms are recurrent within Boreal Ontario. The objective of this study was to simulate wind damage for common Boreal forest types for regular as well as extreme wind speeds. The ForestGALES_BC windthrow prediction model was used for these simulations. Input tree-level data were derived from permanent sample plot (PSP) data provided by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. PSPs were assigned to one of nine stand types: Balsam fir-, Jack pine-, Black spruce-, and hardwood-dominated stands, and, Jack pine-, spruce-, conifer-, hardwood-, and Red and White pine- mixed species stands. Morphological and biomechanical parameters for the major tree species were obtained from the literature. At 5 m/s, predicted windthrow ranged from 0 to 20%, with damage increasing to 2 to 90% for winds of 20 m/s and to 10 to 100% for winds of 40 m/s. Windthrow varied by forest stand type, with lower vulnerability within hardwoods. This is the first study to provide such broad simulations of windthrow vulnerability data for Boreal North America, and we believe this will benefit policy decisions regarding risk management and forest planning.

Even after landscapes are disturbed by boreal wildfires, considerable quantities of residual vegetation remain. A method for developing spatially explicit predictive probability maps is presented to identify the presence of residual vegetation within burned boreal landscapes in North-western Ontario, where we learned residual presence expectations from a suite of wildfires that burned from 2002-2003. This approach relies on easily measured variables due to the lack of detailed local information in this remote region. We cross-validate predictions within our training data, a suite of 11 wildfires, using a bootstrapping approach (internal validation) and then test the model on an independent event that burned in 2011 (external validation). The predictive model is based on the Random Forest algorithm and is implemented at 5 separate spatial resolutions (4 to 64 m). The model has a reasonably high predictive power as determined by internal validation. The external validation yielded accuracy better than random prediction and we conclude that the existence of residual vegetation is clearly related to the presence of firebreak features and proximity to wet regions. Our repeatable approach is spatially explicit, implemented in an open software environment, and provides acceptable results where local and detailed data availability is substantially limited.

Wildfires are frequent boreal forest disturbances in Canada, and emulating their patterns with forest harvesting has emerged as a common forest management goal. Wildfires contain many patches of residual vegetation of various size, shape, and composition; understanding their characteristics provides insights for improved emulation criteria. We studied the occurrence of residual vegetation within eleven boreal wildfire events in a natural setting; fires ignited by lightning, no suppression efforts, and no prior anthropogenic disturbances. Relative importance of the measurable geo-environmental factors and their marginal effects on residual presence are studied using Random Forests. These factors included distance from natural firebreaks (wetland, bedrock and non-vegetated areas, and water), land cover, and topographic variables (elevation, slope, and ruggedness index). We present results at spatial resolutions ranging from four to 64 m while emphasizing four and 32 m since they mimic IKONOS- and Landsat-type images. Natural firebreak features, especially the proximity to wetlands, are among the most important variables that explain the likelihood residual occurrence. The majority of residual vegetation areas are concentrated within 100 m of wetlands. Topographic variables, typically important in rugged terrain, are less important in explaining the presence of residuals within our study fires.

Wildfires typically contain a considerable number of wildfire residual patches of various size, shape and composition. These residual patches can occupy substantial areas of fire footprints, thus understanding their patterns provides insight for emulating forest disturbances in harvesting operations. Eleven natural boreal wild fire events within Ontario are examined. Each fire was ignited by lighting, occurred in anthropogenically undisturbed forested landscapes and was never suppressed. The spatial patterns of the residual patches are assessed based on selected spatial metrics (related to composition, configuration and fragmentation). The char acterization of the occurrence of wildfire residual patches and their spatial patterns in reference to land cover composition and proximity to firebreak features, is imperative to examine the effects of vegetation or land cover on residual patch occurrence and distribution. This study examines which land cover types are more likely to dominate the existing residual patches. The results indicate that the proportion of land area that sur vived burning varies considerably across fire events, ranging from the smallest fire event at 3% (F09) to the largest event at 21% (F06). While the majority of residual patches are in close proximity (within 200 m) to surface water and the edge of the fire footprint, it is revealed that low abundance land cover types (e.g., treed wetland and sparse conifer) tend to dominate residual patches in certain areas.

Chapter 1. Forest Landscape Ecology and Global Change: an Introduction.- Chapter 2. Climate as an Agent of Change in Forest Landscapes.- Chapter 3. Wildfires and Landscape Dynamics in Portugal - A Regional Assessment and Global Implications.- Chapter 4. Humans as Agents of Change in Forest Landscapes.- Chapter 5. Changes in the Ecosystem Services Provided by Forests and their Economic Valuation - A Review.- Chapter 6. Carbon Fluxes and Storage in Forests and Landscapes.- Chapter 7. Forest Landscape Change and Biodiversity Conservation.- Chapter 8. Landscape Assessment and Monitoring.- Chapter 9. Forest Landscape Management in Response to Change: The Practicality.- Chapter 10. Forest Landscape Ecology and Global Change: What are the Next Steps.

Forest landscape ecology examines broad-scale patterns and processes and their interactions in forested systems and informs the management of these ecosystems. Beyond being among the richest and the most complex terrestrial systems, forest landscapes serve society by providing an array of products and services and, if managed properly, can do so sustainably. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the field of forest landscape ecology, including major historical and present topics of research, approaches, scales, and applications, particularly those concerning edges, fragmentation, connectivity, disturbance, and biodiversity. In addition, we discuss causes of change in forest landscapes, particularly land-use and management changes, and the expected structural and functional consequences that may result from these drivers. This chapter is intended to set the context and provide an overview for the remainder of the book and poses a broad set of questions related to forest landscape ecology and global change that need answers.

Any discussion of the formation of wildfire residuals in boreal forest landscapes must involve three topics: the forest communities that sustain the wildfires by providing fuel, and that eventually constitute the wildfire residuals; the wildfire behavior and the thermal energy generated during the fire, which causes mortality of some or all of the vegetation; and finally, the spatial patterns of wildfire residuals. This chapter answers two major questions: what factors affect the formation of wildfire residuals, and how are those residuals formed and spatially distributed during wildfires? To understand how wildfire residuals form, familiarity with the types of boreal forest community and the behavior of wildfires is required. The heterogeneity in wildfire behavior within a given event is the primary reason why wildfire footprints contain residual vegetation instead of only a vast expanse of charcoal and ash.