Regulatory compliance does not fully capture riparian conservation status: evidence from a systematic review and a Chilean case study
December 2026
Riparian zones are vegetated areas adjacent to watercourses that provide critical ecosystem functions and are widely protected under environmental regulations to support soil, water, and biodiversity...
Hair stable isotopes reveal mammalian trophic reorganization between a near-primeval forest and human-modified landscapes
December 2026
Near-primeval forests provide ecological benchmarks for evaluating the functional consequences of landscape transformation. Using stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope analyses of mammalian...
Spatial pattern dynamics of subalpine secondary forests over eighteen years on the eastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, China
December 2026
Revealing the dynamic changes in tree spatial patterns holds significant implications for the restoration practices of natural secondary forests. We analyzed the dynamics of tree spatial patterns using...
Habitat heterogeneity shapes conspecific negative density dependence: functional trait effects are habitat dependent
December 2026
Habitat heterogeneity may influence conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) in karst forests through direct effects and indirect pathways mediated by shifts in functional traits, with consequences...
Effect of initial spacing and thinning practices on timber quality of broadleaf and coniferous species: A weighted meta-analysis
December 2026
Forest management is essential for producing high-value timber, yet the impacts of silvicultural practices such as initial spacing and thinning on wood properties remain inconsistent across the studies....
A pan-tropical database and synthesis of age–height and age–diameter growth in planted forest stands up to 40 years
December 2026
Tree size–age relationships in tropical planted forest stands support management and ecosystem service assessments, but locally calibrated growth models are unavailable for many taxa and regions. We...
A budget-constrained input state-space compression framework for scaling process-based forest growth models: A 3-PG case study in Ontario
December 2026
Large-scale applications of process-based forest growth models are often constrained by the large number of forest conditions that must be represented and the computational burden of simulating them....
Forest carbon sink estimation models: Progress, challenges, and opportunity of space–air–ground integrated assimilation
December 2026
Estimates of forest carbon sinks are essential for global carbon cycle studies, forest stewardship, and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV); nonetheless, current methodologies exhibit limitations...
Projecting climate change impacts on Bambusa species richness in China
December 2026
The genus Bambusa plays an important role in ecological conservation and economic development, owing to its excellent mechanical properties and rapid growth. However, climate change may disrupt the...
Contrasting effects of litter removal and root exclusion on soil phosphorus availability in a temperate broad-leaved forest
December 2026
Plant detrital inputs sustain soil phosphorus (P) fertility, yet they are increasingly disrupted by global environmental change and forest management. Although P availability frequently constrains temperate...
Responses in forest structure to edge effects from seismic lines and well pads in western North American boreal forest
December 2026
Edge effects are a major consequence of forest fragmentation, altering forest structure by changing the amount of standing dead trees (snags) and downed coarse woody debris (CWD). Edge orientation and...
Large-tree effect is associated with the reversal in structural diversity–drought resilience relationship from individual to population level
December 2026
The stability of forest ecosystems in the face of increasing droughts depends on the transfer of resilience across ecological levels, a process that remains mechanistically unclear. In species-poor...
A double-constrained convex hull approach for tree crown volume estimation: A mobile laser scanning case study of Catalpa bungei
December 2026
Individual tree crown volume (CV) is an important three-dimensional indicator of tree growth, crown architecture, and physio-ecological functioning, but its quantification remains challenging because...
Nitrogen-fixing trees rather than tree species richness dominate the molecular diversity of soil organic carbon in subtropical planted forests
December 2026
Multi-species afforestation is widely recognized as a promising nature-based solution for enhancing carbon sequestration in support of climate change mitigation. However, the effect of tree species...
Vertical decoupling of radiation absorption and thermal mass controls the sub-daily timing of canopy heat storage in a tropical dipterocarp forest
December 2026
Forest eddy-covariance (EC) towers commonly leave a 10%–30% daytime surface energy-balance residual widely attributed to unresolved canopy heat storage. Conventional one-dimensional corrections treat...
Drivers of aboveground biomass along riparian gradients in desert Populus euphratica forests
December 2026
Populus euphratica is a key dominant tree species in desert riparian forests, and the formation and maintenance of its aboveground biomass (AGB) are important for sustaining ecosystem functioning in...
Selective herbivory by white-tailed deer is associated with demographic and compositional bottlenecks across forest regeneration stages in the National Capital Region
December 2026
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in eastern North America now exceed historical levels, imposing intense browsing pressure on forest regeneration where hunting is limited. Using...
Soil hydrothermal dynamics drive growth responses of Siberian larch forests at the dry distribution margin in the Eurasian interior to climate warming
December 2026
Under global warming, understanding forest growth dynamics and their environmental constraints at distributional margins is critical for assessing the stability of arid ecosystems. Using four tree-ring...
Site-dependent associations of tree vitality with radial growth, xylem anatomy and isotopes in drought-stressed broadleaf plantations
December 2026
Whether visible current crown deterioration, a proxy of tree vitality, is associated with long-term variation in radial growth, xylem anatomy, and isotope signals remains unclear in drought-stressed...
Intensified drought alters carbon–nutrient coordination but not seasonal homeostasis in mature Pinus massoniana
Available online 28 October 2026
Drought significantly affects the carbon and nutrient cycling processes in forest ecosystems. However, it remains largely unclear whether organ-level concentrations and whole-tree pool sizes of non-structural...
Stomatal regulation alters environmental controls on Pinus tabuliformis transpiration in a semi-arid region of China
Available online 28 October 2026
Stomatal regulation plays a critical role in tree water use in semi-arid regions, determining the amount of transpiration and its responses to environmental drivers. However, how dynamic stomatal behavior...
Long-term nitrogen fertilization drives divergent allocation of leaf nitrogen and phosphorus fractions in temperate birch and oak forests
Available online 28 October 2026
Increasing atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition alters plant nutrient use strategies. As conventional stoichiometric frameworks rely on bulk tissue concentrations, they often fail to capture the plasticity...
Global soil carbon–water responses to forest thinning reveal target-dependent scenario preferences
Available online 20 October 2026
Forest thinning alters stand structure and can influence soil carbon and water processes, yet whether these responses change consistently with thinning intensity remains unclear. Previous syntheses...
Competition modulates growth in Pinus canariensis plantations: Implications for precision thinning
Available online 15 October 2026
Competition is a key driver of tree growth and stand dynamics; yet, in managed forests, its structural dimension remains insufficiently understood. Here, we analyzed how competition intensity and structure...