Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Forest Management
Forest harvesting operational planning tools: a systematic review of optimization, simulation, and spatial decision support systems
Published: 2025-10-15
Subjects: Forest Management, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
Sustainable forest management relies on effective operational planning to ensure that harvesting practices support long-term objectives. Operations research methods have largely been used to support operational decision-making in forest harvest planning but the broader strengths, limitations and barriers to adoption remain unclear. This review addresses this gap by synthesizing existing research [...]
Developing a prototype decision support framework to assess forest management scenarios as a nature-based decarbonization solution for the mining sector: A case study in British Columbia, Canada
Published: 2025-10-14
Subjects: Forest Management, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
This study, realized in partnership with a leading global gold producer, explores how forest management nature-based solutions (NbS) can be integrated into decarbonization strategies to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. NbS, including carbon sequestration in forests, are expected to play an important role in meeting decarbonization commitments in the mining sector. Our primary contribution is a [...]
WS3: An open-source Python framework for integrated simulation and optimization of forest landscape and wood supply systems
Published: 2025-10-12
Subjects: Forest Management, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
Transparent decision support for forest landscapes demands integrated scheduling, carbon account-ing, and spatial reporting. WS3 is an open-source Python framework that unifies modular simu-lation, solver-backed Model I optimization, and raster allocation in a single workflow. The systemingests Woodstock-style inventories, actions, and scenarios; exposes an explicit data model; andautomates [...]
Beyond the mangroves: a global synthesis of tidal forested wetland types, drivers and future information needs
Published: 2025-09-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
There is increasing awareness of the global diversity of tidal forested wetlands (TFWs) and their significance in the provision of ecosystem services. These ecosystems, including mangrove forests, tidal freshwater forested wetlands, supratidal forests and transitional forests together span tropical to temperate climatic zones and occur across diverse geomorphic, inundation and salinity regimes. [...]
Support for Forest Conservation Imperatives: A Robust Approach for Multi-dimensional, Spatially Explicit Resilience Assessment
Published: 2025-09-18
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Forest Management, Natural Resources and Conservation, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Forest ecosystems are ecologically, socially, and culturally valuable, and are arguably considered essential to global sustainability. Climate change and altered disturbance regimes are threatening the future of forests around the globe. Many countries are coming together to support and implement conservation and monitoring initiatives to improve future prospects for the restoration and [...]
Comparing timber marking versus operator select to thin open longleaf pine stands
Published: 2025-08-11
Subjects: Forest Management, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences
Introduction: Open longleaf pine stands in the southeast U.S. are often marked prior to thinning to ensure quality residual trees are left. We present a case study where operator select thinning was applied in a longleaf pine forest where the optimization of water resources was a major goal. Longleaf pine stands were in Trinity County, Texas, U.S.A. Stands were overstocked and had a dense, [...]
From Maps to Mandates: Multitemporal Vegetation Cover Analysis as a Tool to Evaluate Environmental Judicial Decisions
Published: 2025-07-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Forest Management, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences
This study examines the use of multitemporal vegetation cover analysis as a tool to assess the ecological effectiveness of judicial decisions that recognize the rights of nature, using Colombia’s 2016 T-622 decision on the Atrato River as a case study. Using satellite data from MapBiomas and generalized additive models (GAMs), we evaluated changes in ten types of vegetation cover between 2006 and [...]
Four-Decade Analysis of Fire Behavior in the Brazilian Caatinga Biome 1985-2023
Published: 2025-04-10
Subjects: Forest Management, Geographic Information Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing
The Caatinga, unique in northeastern Brazil, has species adapted to the semi-arid climate. Recurrent fires put its biodiversity at risk, highlighting the need for urgent measures to protect this fragile ecosystem. This study analyzed four decades of fire behavior in the Caatinga biome (1985-2023) using data from the MapBiomas Fire project and spatial analysis, revealing a worrying dynamic of [...]
Modeling stand-level forest attributes using lidar and Common Stand Exam data
Published: 2025-02-04
Subjects: Forest Management, Natural Resources and Conservation
This study focuses on the development of a lidar-based methodology that recreates stand-level inventory results from Common Stand Exams (CSE). CSE protocols are the U.S. Forest Service’s approach to measuring forest stocking and volume on public lands. Using an open-sourced dataset, stand-level statistics of lidar-derived height metrics, individual tree height, and tree density were generated for [...]
Potential impacts of plant pests and diseases on trees and forests in the UK
Published: 2024-12-13
Subjects: Forest Biology, Forest Management, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Plant pests and diseases (PPDs) pose a serious threat to trees and forests globally. In the wake of the ash dieback epidemic, the UK Government instigated the UK Plant Health Risk Register (PHRR) to provide semi-quantitative estimates of invasion probability and impact on host plants for PPDs thought to pose a risk to the UK to help prioritize biosecurity activities. The PHRR currently contains [...]
Sensitivities of soil respiration and heterotrophic respiration to temperature in a cool-temperate forest with sika deer-induced understory vegetation alteration
Published: 2024-08-05
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Monitoring, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Soil Science, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Overpopulated ungulates reduce the biomass of understory vegetation and promote the expansion of unpalatable plants in world forests. These understory degradations possibly influence sensitivities of soil respiration (Rs) and heterotrophic respiration (Rh) to temperature and moisture. Here, we examined this possibility in a cool-temperate forest in southern Kyushu, Japan. At the study site, the [...]
Advancing forest aboveground biomass mapping by integrating GEDI with other Earth Observation data using a cloud computing platform: A case study of Alabama, United States
Published: 2024-04-06
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Forest Management, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences
Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is a crucial indicator for monitoring carbon and requires accurate quantification. This study aimed to advance AGB estimation using open access Earth observation (EO) data and cloud computing, focusing on Alabama, USA. The specific objectives were to: (1) develop a workflow for creating a 30 m forest AGBD map with GEDI, using GEE, (2) evaluate and compare [...]
Using computer vision to detect and segment fire behavior classifications in UAS-captured images
Published: 2024-02-21
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Forest Management, Natural Resources and Conservation
The widely adaptable capabilities of artificial intelligence, in particular deep learning and computer vision has led to significant research output regarding fire and smoke detection. Previous studies often focus on themes like early fire detection, increased operational awareness, and post-fire assessment. To further test the capabilities of deep learning detection in these scenarios, we [...]
The Potential for Fuel Reduction to Offset Climate Warming Impacts on Wildfire Intensity in California
Published: 2024-02-21
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Meteorology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Statistics and Probability, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Probability, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability
Increasing fuel aridity due to climate warming has and will continue to increase wildfire danger in California. In addition to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, one of the primary proposals for counteracting this increase in wildfire danger is a widespread expansion of hazardous fuel reductions. Here, we quantify the potential for fuel reduction to reduce wildfire intensity using [...]
Understanding Europe’s forest harvesting regimes
Published: 2023-08-31
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations
The functioning and structure of most European forests are actively shaped by intensive human use. Harvesting of wood is one of the key processes of forest management, making it a crucial element to include in any large-scale analysis of forest ecosystems. Yet, our understanding of how forests are harvested across Europe is limited, as the true harvest regimes – a realisation of decisions made by [...]