Spatially explicit information on forest management at a global scale is critical for understanding the status of forests, for planning sustainable forest management and restoration, and conservation activities. Here, we produce the first reference data set and a prototype of a globally consistent forest management map with high spatial detail on the most prevalent forest management classes such as intact forests, managed forests with natural regeneration, planted forests, plantation forest (rotation up to 15 years), oil palm plantations, and agroforestry. We developed the reference dataset of 226 K unique locations through a series of expert and crowdsourcing campaigns using Geo-Wiki (https://www.geo-wiki.org/). We then combined the reference samples with time series from PROBA-V satellite imagery to create a global wall-to-wall map of forest management at a 100 m resolution for the year 2015, with forest management class accuracies ranging from 58% to 80%. The reference data set and the map present the status of forest ecosystems and can be used for investigating the value of forests for species, ecosystems and their services.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) are recognized as the main greenhouse gases causing climate warming. In forest ecosystems, the death of trees leads to the formation of coarse woody debris (CWD) that is one of the sources of greenhouse gas emissions due to wood decomposition. We quantified the CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes from CWD of larch (Larix gmelinii (Rupr.)) and birch (Betula tortuosa Ledeb.) collected in the northern boreal forests of Central Siberia. The CWD samples were incubated at +5, +15 and +25 °C. The CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes showed strong correlations with temperature, moisture, decomposition stage and the type of wood’s rot. The temperature coefficient Q₁₀ indicated higher temperature sensitivity of CO₂ flux within the temperature interval from +5 to +15 °C than from +15 to +25 °C. Methane flux had higher temperature sensitivity within the interval from +15 to +25 °C. It was found that, in boreal forests, CWD of early decay stage can serve as a source of methane to the atmosphere when air temperatures increased above +15 °C. Strong positive correlation between CH₄ production and CO₂ emission indicated a biological source and supported findings on aerobic origin of the main process contributing to the CH₄ flux from decomposing CWD.

Landscape fires play the leading role in the modern anthropogenic dynamics of forest ecosystems in south-eastern Siberia. Forest pyrologists consider them the most destructive manifestation of fires - an environmental factor that acts across wide areas to change the state of landscapes. Due to the insufficient knowledge of the nature of pyrogenic forest ecosystems, especially its dynamic aspects in the forestforming process, obtaining data on the pyrogenic dynamics of forest ecosystems belonging to various ranks is of broad scientific interest. A new aspect of this study is assessing ecosystem transformations under various pyrological regimes that determine the pyrogenic successions of plant communities, the hydrothermal regime of soils, a post-fire runoff, etc. The history of catastrophic landscape fires in the Baikal and Trans-Baikal regions began after the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. At that time, a long strip of coastal hemiboreal small-leaved deciduous forests formed along the southern shore of Lake Baikal, in the area of indigenous dark coniferous taiga, as a result of the “selective” impact of a lingering series of fires that followed intense forest harvesting. It happened regardless of the average productivity of the pyrogenic stands being 30-40% lower vs. the potential level. The landscape fires of the 1930-1950s that arose during industrial development, especially in the areas of intense forest harvesting, caused heavy damage to forest ecosystems throughout Transbaikalia. Now, due to a regress in the Russian forest management, landscape fires have turned into an archaic alternative to the ecological progress as of the 1970s and 1980s. Therefore, the relevant goal of this article is to consider the transformation of forest ecosystems after landscape fires. The emergence and spread of landscape fires were studied during two fireintensive seasons through the air monitoring of the Trans-Baikal territory. Geographic coordinates: 49-57° N, 99-122° E. Regular pyrological studies of the seasonal dynamics of the forest fire danger implied the use of the method suggested by N.P. Kurbatsky (1970) [9]. The permanent trial plots were located on the Malkhansky and Khamar-Daban Mountain Ranges. The route studies covered the Selenga Highlands, as well as the basins of the Rivers Barguzin, Turka, Upper Angara, Muya, and Chara. Fig. 1 shows the schematic map of the sites. The pyrological regimes of vegetation complexes were established based on research data (see the table). The environmental consequences of landscape fires were studied in the forests of South-Eastern Baikal and Central Transbaikalia. The closest observations of the dynamics of burned (including through prescribed burning) and control stands were performed on permanent sample plots. There the researchers also ensured regular accounting of litterfall using special 1x1m collectors. The grain composition and physical and mechanical properties of the soils were determined via the common methods [21]. The pyrogenic variations of the forest-forming process after landscape fires were observed in different natural districts (Fig. 2). Pyrological regimes differ in the altitude-belt complexes (ABC) of vegetation and correspond to a wide range of atmospheric moistening. Forest-steppe vegetation prevails in the valleys of large rivers and low mountains in the conditions of extremely insufficient moistening. This vegetation is exposed to an extreme fire regime in the spring and in the early summer. The Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) prevails in subtaiga-forest-steppe forests. There, an intense regime takes place even in a standard weather situation. The fire maturation of forests in the light-coniferous taiga belt with predominant larches (Larix sibirica Ledeb., Larix gmelini Rupr.) is approximately two times longer vs. forest-steppe and hemiboreal forests. Accordingly, the pyrological regimes vary from intense to moderate. Dark coniferous forests comprising the Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica Du Tour.), fir (Abies sibirica Ledeb.) and spruce (Picea obovata Ledeb.) are confined to wet belts with a moderate pyrological regime. A safe regime prevails in the subalpine ABC. The general fire danger is determined by ground fires, after which most burned forests retain their vitality at the level of their fire resistance, as well as depending on the actual intensity of fire in this area. Fig. 3 illustrates the typical dynamics of Scots pine stands established based on forest management data. In fact, diverse structural transformations of plant communities are observed after landscape fires - from a moderate fire damage to heavy thinning caused by an intense fire, and even complete death after head fires with probable local deforestation. Fig. 4 shows the comparative dynamics of the population of trees in normal and pyrogenic larch forests. Larch trees have an advantageous position vs. pines, as they are better protected from thermal damage by their thick bark. Besides, the crowns of larch trees are capable of regenerating needles and shoots damaged by fire. The duration of recovery to the pre-fire basal area increases exponentially with age, since forest stands inevitably face a growth decline as they become old. The pyrogenic digression of larch forests in permafrost areas with a burned peat horizon was followed by a tree fall, which was observed during the air monitoring of fires. Later thickets of birch and willow trees formed there. The fire damage to trees (trunks and crown), the ground cover, as well as the hydrothermal regime of soils are most comprehensively studied in the Scots pine forests of Central Transbaikalia where the ground cover and lower forest layers were explored not only at natural fire sites but also through prescribed burning. The integral picture of forest disturbance with landscape fires is complex and diverse. On mountain slopes, the strongest fire was observed when it was moving...