The Member States of the European Union have committed to the maintenance and protection of forestlands. More precisely, the Member States aim to ensure the sustainable development and managementof the EU’s forests. For 2013, Eurostat’s statistics about primary and secondary wood products in theEuropean forest land (65% thereof privately owned) estimate a roundwood production of 435 million m3in total. Harmonised information, i.e., spatially and temporarily differentiated, on forestry and woodharvesting activities in the European forests are missing however. This lack of information impedes thescientific assessment of the impacts that forest management practices have on the soil-related forestecosystems (e.g., accelerated water soil erosion, delivery of inert sediments and pollutants within thedrainage network, pauperization of aquatic ecosystems). It also prevents national and European institu-tions from taking measures aimed at an effective mitigation of the rapidly advancing land degradation.This study provides a first pan-European analysis that delineates the spatial patterns of forest coverchanges in 36 countries. The first dynamic assessment of the soil loss potential in the EU-28 forests isreported. The recently published High-resolution Global Forest Cover Loss map (2000–2012) was repro-cessed and validated. Results show that the map is a powerful tool to spatiotemporally indicate the forestsectors that are exposed to cover change risks. The accuracy assessment performed by using a confusionmatrix based on 2300 reference forest disturbances distributed across Europe shows values of 55.1% (pro-ducer accuracy) for the algorithm-derived forest cover change areas with a Kappa Index of Agreement(KIA) of 0.672. New insights into the distribution of the forest disturbance in Europe and the resultingsoil loss potential were obtained. The presented maps provide spatially explicit indicators to assess thehuman-induced impacts of land cover changes and soil losses on the European soil-related forest ecosys-tems. These insights are relevant (i) to support policy making and land management decisions to ensurea sustainable forest management strategy and (ii) to provide a solid basis for further spatiotemporalinvestigations of the forestry practices’ impacts on the European forest ecosystems.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

This study aims to present a comparison analysis of two data collection methods that can be used in order to obtain reference ground truth data for forestry – a conventional method that uses specific equipment such as Field Map system, caliper and vertex inclinometer and a modern method based on terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technology. The research was conducted in six circular Permanent Plots (PPs) with an area of 500 square meters each, within thinning and selected cuttings stands of sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.), common beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.), all situated in the Southern Carpathians (Mihăești, Mușeteși and Vidraru Forest Districts). Using the conventional method, the dendrometric tree characteristics such as height, diameter at breast height (dbh) and tree position were directly recorded in the field. As a modern method for data collection, a Faro Focus3D X 130 HDR terrestrial laser scanning device was used to scan each plot and to extract the dbh and height of the trees. In this regard, two scanning approaches were used - single scan (SS) and multiple scan (MS). In order to compare the two data acquisitions methods, we applied a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis on the basis of which we could establish the pros and cons of using the two methods. Therefore, one can choose the most advantageous method for obtaining the reference data for forestry, in terms of equipment acquisition cost, personnel skills and qualifications, data collection working time, accuracy of the data recorded, post processing time, labor costs. Although the use of TLS in forest inventory is a technology with high potential, further investigations need to be done, especially in the case of automatic extraction of the tree height. For accurate reference ground data for forest inventory purposes, we still recommend using the conventional methods although they are time consuming.

Dead wood (DW) is an important component of sustainable forest management and climate change mitigation. Three research plots (each with an area of 1 ha), located in virgin forests in the Southern Carpathians (Semenic P20, Retezat–Zănoaga, and Făgăraș–Șinca), were installed in order to study the synergies between DW and climate change mitigation effects. Data on the dendrometric characteristics of standing and lying DW, the species, and the degree of decay were recorded. The aboveground biomass (AGB) and carbon stock (CS) of the DW were also determined. The DW volume was between 48 m³·ha⁻¹ and 148 m³·ha⁻¹, with the total volume (dead and alive) ranging between 725 m³·ha⁻¹ and 966 m³·ha⁻¹. The DW volume distribution shows a decreasing trend, with the most suitable theoretical distributions for describing this being the lognormal, the 2P Weibull, and the 2P-Gamma. The AGB ranged between 17 t·ha⁻¹ and 30 t·ha⁻¹ and showed a decreasing trend according to altitude. The CS was between 8 t·ha⁻¹ and 14.33 t·ha⁻¹. A slow decomposition rate for the hardwood was identified by analyzing the relationship between the surface and volume of the DW. This highlighted the capacity of DW to store carbon for a long period of time.