PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 37: Forest Ecology.
Thursday, August 5 Presentations from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall A 1.
A new scorecard method for rapid assessment of sustainability of forest ecosystem function.
Madson, Stephanie*,1, Markewitz, Daniel1, 1 University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602
ABSTRACT- Sustainability has been recognized globally as a valuable guiding paradigm for environmental and economic policies. Despite many national and international efforts, the concept has been difficult to operationalize, due to its nature as a societal construct and due to incomplete scientific information. Ecologically, we are concerned with the ability of the system to continue to deliver ecosystem services, such as water quality or nutrient cycling. Our goal was to develop a cost-effective, rapid assessment protocol for monitoring the state of ecosystem functions within forest stands, which can be utilized by multiple stakeholders, similar to the use of the indicators of biological integrity (IBI) technique used in aquatic systems. We have completed an extensive literature review and have proposed a list of candidate indicators, including growth increment, leaf area index, soil organic matter carbon to nitrogen ratio, and water infiltration rate. We have developed these into a functional indicators scorecard method to utilize as a rapid assessment of functional sustainability within forest stand types across the United States. An example of the scorecard method, applied to a southeastern loblolly pine forest, is presented. As the IBI has been shown to be an effective tool as an early warning system for stream health, the functional indicator scorecard method can be an effective tool for assessing the state of ecosystem function within forest stands. We see the scorecard method of terrestrial functional indicators as an aid for providing quantitative information to forest managers and policymakers in pursuit of sustainable management of forests.
Key words: forest, management, sustainability, assessment