Unsustainable overgrazing is one of the most important threats to the endemic and endangered population of dragon’s blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari) on Socotra Island (Republic of Yemen). However, there is a lack of information about the exact population size and its conservation status. We estimated the population size of D. cinnabari using remote sensing data. The age structure was inferred using a relationship between crown projection area and the number of branch sections. The conservation importance of each sub-population was assessed using a specially developed index. Finally, the future population development (extinction time) was predicted using population matrices. The total population size estimated consists of 80,134 individuals with sub-populations varying from 14 to 32,196 individuals, with an extinction time ranging from 31 to 564 years. Community forestry controlled by a local certification system is suggested as a sustainable land management approach providing traditional and new benefits and enabling the reforestation of endemic tree species on Socotra Island.
* Most experimental evidence on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning comes from ecosystems with fast-growing plants, such as grasslands. Although forests provide essential ecological services, they have been less well investigated. * We used dendrochronology to compare the tree radial growth rates of four important timber species in replicated, spatially mapped stands that differed in tree composition and diversity within a central European managed forest. * Growth rates differed among species but were largely unaffected by the density of neighbouring trees. * Increasing stand diversity enhanced individual growth rates, after accounting for the effects of tree density and size. These increases were statistically indistinguishable among the four species. In contrast, the effects of stand and neighbourhood species composition on growth rates were non-significant. * Policy implications. Our study of long-established central European forest stands revealed levels of tree diversity can be increased in managed forests, with the potential for modest increases in tree growth rates. These results suggest that in addition to the biodiversity and risk mitigation benefits associated with shifting practices away from monoculture management, increased carbon sequestration and yields in mature forests are likely to be realized. Our results suggest that it is possible to increase forest diversity with little or no costs to production and even with the potential for modest increases in tree growth rates
Conifers and other trees are constantly adapting to changes in light conditions, water/nutrient supply and temperatures by physiological and morphological modifications of their foliage. However, the relationship between physiological processes and anatomical characteristics of foliage has been little explored in trees. In this study we evaluated needle structure and function in Norway spruce families exposed to different light conditions and transpiration regimes. We compared needle characteristics of sun-exposed and shaded current-year needles in a control plot and a thinned plot with 50% reduction in stand density. Whole-tree transpiration rates remained similar across plots, but increased transpiration of lower branches after thinning implies that sun-exposed needles in the thinned plot were subjected to higher water stress than sun-exposed needles in the control plot. In general, morphological and anatomical needle parameters increased with increasing tree height and light intensity. Needle width, needle cross-section area, needle stele area and needle flatness (the ratio of needle thickness to needle width) differed most between the upper and lower canopy. The parameters that were most sensitive to the altered needle water status of the upper canopy after thinning were needle thickness, needle flatness and percentage of stele area in needle area. These results show that studies comparing needle structure or function between tree species should consider not only tree height and light gradients, but also needle water status. Unaccounted for differences in needle water status may have contributed to the variable relationship between needle structure and irradiance that has been observed among conifers.
Between 2010 and 2011 a field survey dedicated to Dracaena cinnabari (DC) population was conducted in Firmihin, Socotra Island (Yemen). It’s main goal was to collect data that would make it possible to unbiasedly estimate main characteristics of the local DC population. Our motivation was to provide reliable information to support decision-making processes as well as other research activities. At the same time we were not aware of a survey which could provide this kind of statistical-sound estimates for the whole population covering an area of almost 700 ha. This article describes how the survey has been planned and carried out in practice. In addition, we also provide a set of preliminary estimates of the main DC population figures - totals and per hectare densities of stems, overall and partitioned according to predicted crown age. Among estimated parameters there are also mean crown age and proportions of predefined age classes on the total number of living DC stems. These estimates provide an explicit information on age structure of the whole DC population in Firmihin. Although we collected data on more than one hundred randomly located plots, the reported accuracy of our estimates is still rather limiting. We discuss several possibilities to obtain more accurate results or at least to approach the supposedly lower true variance that can’t be calculated by approximate techniques applied here. The design and concept of our survey makes it possible to evaluate changes over time on stem by stem bases and to generalize these stem-level details to the whole population. Mortality, regeneration and even change of population’s mean crown age can be estimated from a future repeated survey, which would be extremely useful to draw firm conclusions about the dynamic of the whole DC population in Firmihin.
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