Customer Segments Among Family Forest Owners: Combining Ownership Objectives and Decision-Making Styles

Empirical forest owner classifications typically distinguish groups based on owners’ behaviour or motivations. Typologies are used to inform forest and environmental policies and market-based service provision. However, single typologies may be weak in discerning owner groups that would bring new insights for policymakers or service providers. The present study aims to put together two previously documented owner classification frameworks to form and analyse customer segments for decision-support services. The first grouping is based on owners’ objectives for forest ownership, while the second grouping focuses on owners’ decision-making styles. These two typologies deal with subjects of interest and motivations for communication, respectively. The study uses a subsample of the Finnish Forest Owner 2010 survey data, collected in 2009 (n = 2,106). Via cross-tabulation of the two groupings, the four largest and potentially most interesting combined owner groups are discerned: multiobjective learners (13 %), multiobjective thinkers (9 %), learning recreationists (8 %) and learning investors (7 %), while the other 16 combined groups each account for less than 6 % of owners. The result thus reveals the need for learning-oriented services for three differing principal subjects of interest as well as multiobjective services for deliberate thinkers, i.e. comparative information about forest management alternatives. The message for policymakers and service providers is that the majority of forest owners may be served with educative interactive services. Learning-oriented indifferent owners need special services to recognize their latent goals. Delegators need ready-made services for outsourced decision making and self-reliant owners need information packages of varying contents. Combinations of groups prove feasible for producing policy advice.     

Effect of tree-level airborne laser-scanning measurement accuracy on the timing and expected value of harvest decisions

The objective was to compare tree-level airborne laser-scanning (ALS) data accuracy with standwise estimation data accuracy as input data for forest planning, using tree- and stand-level simulators. The influence of the input data accuracy was studied with respect to (1) timing of the next thinning or clear-cutting and (2) the relative variation in the predicted income of the next logging expressed as the net present value (NPV). The timing and predicted NPV of thinning and clear-cutting operations were considered separately. The research was based on Monte Carlo simulations carried out with the tree- and stand-level simulators using a simulation and optimisation (SIMO) framework. The simulations used treewise measurements taken on 270 circular plots measured at the Evo Field Station, Finland, as input data. Deviations in the tree data measured were generated according to the mean standard errors found in standwise field estimation and tree-level ALS. The accuracy factors of ALS individual tree detection were based on the EUROSDR/ISPRS Tree Extraction Project. The results show that input data accuracy significantly affects both the timing and relative NPV of loggings. Tree-level ALS produces more accurate simulation results than standwise estimation with the error levels assumed. Diameter-based characteristics are the most important input data in all simulations. Accurate tree height estimates cannot be fully utilised in current simulators.     

Migration strategies of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in a subarctic river system as revealed by stable isotope analysis

We estimated the proportions of anadromous and freshwater‐resident brown trout (Salmo trutta) in different parts of the subarctic River Näätämöjoki/Neidenelva system (Finland and Norway) using carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen stable isotope analyses of archived scales as identifiers of migration strategy. Our results showed that carbon stable isotope values were the best predictor of migration strategy. Most individuals fell into two clearly distinct groups representing anadromous (47%) or freshwater‐resident (42%) individuals, but some fish had intermediate carbon values suggesting repeated movement between freshwater and the sea. The proportion of anadromous individuals decreased steadily with distance from the sea forming a spatial continuum in migration strategies which is probably maintained by the combination of several factors such as divergent availability of food resources, variable migration costs and genetic differences. These within‐catchment differences in migration strategies should be taken into account in fisheries management practices.     

Evolutionary impact assessment: accounting for evolutionary consequences of fishing in an ecosystem approach to fisheries management

Managing fisheries resources to maintain healthy ecosystems is one of the main goals of the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). While a number of international treaties call for the implementation of EAF, there are still gaps in the underlying methodology. One aspect that has received substantial scientific attention recently is fisheries‐induced evolution (FIE). Increasing evidence indicates that intensive fishing has the potential to exert strong directional selection on life‐history traits, behaviour, physiology, and morphology of exploited fish. Of particular concern is that reversing evolutionary responses to fishing can be much more difficult than reversing demographic or phenotypically plastic responses. Furthermore, like climate change, multiple agents cause FIE, with effects accumulating over time. Consequently, FIE may alter the utility derived from fish stocks, which in turn can modify the monetary value living aquatic resources provide to society. Quantifying and predicting the evolutionary effects of fishing is therefore important for both ecological and economic reasons. An important reason this is not happening is the lack of an appropriate assessment framework. We therefore describe the evolutionary impact assessment (EvoIA) as a structured approach for assessing the evolutionary consequences of fishing and evaluating the predicted evolutionary outcomes of alternative management options. EvoIA can contribute to EAF by clarifying how evolution may alter stock properties and ecological relations, support the precautionary approach to fisheries management by addressing a previously overlooked source of uncertainty and risk, and thus contribute to sustainable fisheries.     

Airborne LiDAR-derived elevation data in terrain trafficability mapping

Heavy off-road traffic causes soil compaction and rutting, which can significantly reduce the yield of forest stands. Reliable information on terrain trafficability, that is, the ability of terrain to support the passage of vehicles, would enable significant enhancement of wood procurement planning and reduction of soil damage. The objective here was to determine the feasibility of airborne scanning light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-derived digital terrain models (DTM) in terrain trafficability mapping. Soil damage was inventoried from a total of 13?km of forwarding trails, and a logistic regression model was fitted for predicting the event of soil damage. DTM-derived soil wetness indices performed well as predictor variables, and DTM-derived local binary patterns also proved useful in terrain trafficability mapping. A prediction accuracy of 83.6% (Cohen’s kappa of 0.38) was observed for soil damage probability modelling, using only DTM-derived predictors, and a corresponding accuracy of 85.0% (kappa of 0.45) was achieved when an existing soil map was used as well. In addition to the topography-related features, soil stoniness proved to be a critical factor affecting soil resistance to rutting. Our results indicate that the utilisation of LiDAR-derived elevation data for terrain trafficability mapping is a feasible method in sustainable forest management.     

Comparison of terrestrial laser scanning and X-ray scanning in measuring Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) branch structure

While X-ray scanning is increasingly used to measure the interior quality of logs, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) could be used to collect information on external tree characteristics. As branches are one key indicator of wood quality, we compared TLS and X-ray scanning data in deriving whorl locations and each whorl’s maximum branch and knot diameters for 162 Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) log sections. The mean number of identified whorls per tree was 37.25 and 22.93 using X-ray and TLS data, respectively. The lowest TLS-derived whorl in each sample tree was an average 5.56?m higher than that of the X-ray data. Whorl-to-whorl mean distances and the means of the maximum branch and knot diameters in a whorl measured for each sample tree using TLS and X-ray data had mean differences of ?0.12?m and ?6.5?mm, respectively. One of the most utilized wood quality indicators, tree-specific maximum knot diameter measured by X-ray, had no statistically significant difference to the tree-specific maximum branch diameter measured from the TLS point cloud. It appears challenging to directly derive comparative branch structure information using TLS and X-ray. However, some features that are extractable from TLS point clouds are potential wood quality indicators.     

Covering Norway spruce container seedlings with reflective shading cloth during field storage affects seedling post-planting growth

New Forests - The field storage of container seedlings is often a necessity after the seedlings have been transported from nurseries close to the regeneration area. Suboptimal storage conditions...     

Influence of coloured noise on the extinction risk in structured population models

We use simple models to compare extinction risk among basic life history types when environmental noise is either uncorrelated (“white”) or positively autocorrelated (“red”). The metric of extinction is probability of extinction in 50 years; variability of noise is scaled such that its expected variance is independent of colour at this time scale. We compare annual, semelparous biennial, iteroparous biennial and perennial life histories. Given an identical equilibrium population size and basic reproductive number, annual life history confers much higher extinction risk than semelparous biennial life history. Iteroparous biennial and perennial life histories have even lower extinction risks. Autocorrelated noise influences the life histories differently: the extinction risk of the annuals decreases with reddening noise, whereas the other life histories show an opposite response. We show that in a previously developed stage-structured population model for the Florida scrub jay Aphelocoma coerulescens ignoring the possibility of red environmental noise might result in much too optimistic assessment on population viability. In conclusion, simplifications of population structure and ignoring red environmental noise in population viability analyses can result in serious biases.     

Mapping of urban roadside trees – A case study in the tree register update process in Helsinki City

This case study describes a method for utilizing leaf-off airborne laser scanning (ALS) data for mapping characteristics of urban trees. ALS data were utilized to detect and update all street trees in the tree inventory of the City of Helsinki, Finland. The inventory consists of roughly 20,000 street trees with mean diameter at breast height (DBH) of 24 cm and mean height of 10.6 m. The large number of trees makes the manual updating process very laborious. The automatic mapping procedure presented in this paper detected 88.8% of all trees in the inventory. Tree height was predicted with root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.27 meters and tree DBH with RMSE of 6.9 cm. The presented method provides a practical and cost–effective tool for the mapping of urban tree characteristics. The cost–efficiency was further enhanced because the used ALS data were originally collected for other urban planning purposes.