Close-To-Nature Silviculture: Experiments and Modelling for Forestry Practice
online, 7-9 February 2023.
Units involved: 1.00.00, 4.00.00 and all Research Groups and Working Parties

The purpose of this conference is to showcase and discuss the concept, science and practice of close-to-nature silviculture, focusing mainly on experiments and modelling for forestry practice: 

1. Close-to-nature silviculture is often defined by what it is not or, rather, as a contrast to classical or conventional silviculture. What do we really mean with these terms?
2. Which type of experiments, experimental designs and forest modelling approaches are relevant to contrast classical, conventional, close-to-nature silviculture or other management principles?
3. Can we rely on inventory data when modelling the effects or outcome of these comprehensive approaches to forest management, or do we have to wait for long-term experiments to mature?
4. Is close-to-nature silviculture the solution to climate-change adaptation?

Details:  Poster - Flyer - 2nd Call - Programme

NEW: Video recordings
7^th February: https://educast.fccn.pt/vod/clips/xjj5gy20/html5.html?locale=pt
8^th February: https://educast.fccn.pt/vod/clips/19d1ww48y3/html5.html?locale=pt

IUFRO All-Division 1 Online Discussion Conference: Scaling-Up from Tree- and Stand-Level Research to Sustainable Silviculture at Forest- and Landscape-Level
online; 16-18 November 2021

Research on silviculture often focuses at tree- or stand-level issues, but can we safely scale-up to derive interpretations at forest and landscape level?

- How do we best integrate the forest-for-people concept in research on silviculture?
- Can climate-change adaptation really be solved at stand level?
- How do we best secure the long-term procurement of sustainably produced forest products while maintaining or even enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services?
- What are the consequences of tree- and stand-level decisions for hydrology at the scale of watersheds or the entire landscape?

This online Zoom conference will include all research on silviculture relating to these questions. You can present fresh research results as well as ongoing projects. Throughout the conference we will empha­sise discussion to improve the level of research in silviculture. We specifically invite you to seize this opportunity to present and discuss ongoing or planned research projects with colleagues across all continents.

Registration for the conference is by e‐mail!
Participants: to tfonseca@utad.pt no later than 12 November 2021
Presenters: to jps@slu.se no later than 5 November; indicate theme and title of the presentation
 
Further details:  https://www.iufro.org/fileadmin/material/science/divisions/div1/10000/all-div1-virtual-conference21-program.pdf

Submissions are invited for a Special issue of 'Soil Biology and Biochemistry'.

This special issue will bring together studies that provide mechanistic and quantitative knowledge and perspectives on plant and soil interactions, that are related to soil organic carbon and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. The formation of soil organic matter, physical (aggregation) and chemical protection, and nutrient cycling, are largely affected and modulated by plant species traits, diversity, and their interactive effects with root exudation, root-associated microorganisms, and litter quality, especially at the rhizosphere and litter-soil interface. However, our understanding of these processes is still limited and those variations in plant traits, especially root traits, that have the strongest potential to influence soil processes, as well as their interactions with soil organisms, remains largely unexplored. Furthermore, these processes and their interactions face modification or decoupling under the impacts of management practices, disturbances, and environmental change. For example, extreme weather events, including drought, heat and freezing, and species gains and losses that are a consequence of climate change, may affect above- and below- ground biota differently. Therefore, decoupling likely occurs, exerting significant impacts on carbon and nutrient cycles. We require an improved understanding of how belowground processes vary mechanistically across spatial and temporal scales, and how potential feedbacks to external factors, including management practices, disturbances, and climate, are affected. In-depth understanding is essential for increasing accuracy of terrestrial biogeochemical and dynamic vegetation models, which are often limited by inadequate integration of key belowground processes. This special issue focusing on plant-soil interactions related to soil organic carbon and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems, and the potential feedbacks under impacts of management, disturbances and climate change, aims to narrow down the role of plant and soil interactions in shaping soil organic carbon and nutrient cycling. We invite submissions on recent findings, methodological breakthroughs and challenges, and innovative concepts for inspiring discussions on plant-soil interactions in artificial or natural forest ecosystems in a variety of biomes.

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 11 April 2021

Guest editors: Junwei Luan, International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan; Shirong Liu, Chinese Academy of Forestry; Andreas Schindlbacher, Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Austria; Cindy Prescott, University of British Columbia; Alexia Stokes, French National Research Institute for Food, Agriculture and Environment; Joann Whalen, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University

Details: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/soil-biology-and-biochemistry/call-for-papers/plant-soil-interactions-in-forests-effects-of-management