Forest biomass is an essential indicator for monitoring the Earth’s ecosystems and climate. It is a critical input to greenhouse gas accounting, estimation of carbon losses and forest degradation, assessment of renewable energy potential, and for developing climate change mitigation policies such as REDD+, among others. Wall-to-wall mapping of aboveground biomass (AGB) is now possible with satellite remote sensing (RS). However, RS methods require extant, up-to-date, reliable, representative and comparable in situ data for calibration and validation. Here, we present the Forest Observation System (FOS) initiative, an international cooperation to establish and maintain a global in situ forest biomass database. AGB and canopy height estimates with their associated uncertainties are derived at a 0.25 ha scale from field measurements made in permanent research plots across the world’s forests. All plot estimates are geolocated and have a size that allows for direct comparison with many RS measurements. The FOS offers the potential to improve the accuracy of RS-based biomass products while developing new synergies between the RS and ground-based ecosystem research communities.

The assessment of the succession status and the forecast of the development of pine forests depend on their origin and need a detailed study of historical and modern fire regimes. This article summarises the information on the dynamics of fires in the forests of the plain area in the Pechora-Ilych Biosphere Reserve (Russia) before 1942. Current forest fires in the pine forests in the Pechora-Ilych Biosphere Reserve are a legacy of previous traditional land use on this territory. Thanks to the material analysis of the first forest inventory, the condition of the forests of the plain area was assessed for the first time 10 years after the foundation of the Pechora-Ilych Biosphere Reserve. It was shown that about 50% of the forests of the modern plain area (most of the lichen, green moss-lichen and green moss-shrub communities) at that time were already touched by ground and crown fires. The population got accustomed to the smoke along the tributaries of the Pechora and the Ilych rivers, so that they reflected it in the names. Perhaps, for several centuries, fires were initiated by the Mansi, who used this territory as winter pastures until the middle of the 19 th century. Eventually, a small human population actively visited the forests having the purpose of logging, hunting, gathering of wild-growing plants and fishing. The interfluve of the Pechora and Ilych rivers was a mosaic of land, divided between the inhabitants of various villages. Careless handling of fire led to numerous uncontrolled fires that no one put out and as a result, vast territories of forests were burnt. After the formation of the Pechora-Ilych Biosphere Reserve, these pine forests continued to burn, but much less. Since the plain area adjoins the navigable River Pechora, the anthropogenic causes of these fires cannot be completely ruled out. At the same time, we do not exclude the possibility of fires from dry thunderstorms. However, when assessing the modern fire regime, it is important to remember that the high fire danger in these forests is a legacy of previous impacts, which requires further study.

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