Sustaining humans and forests in changing landscapes Forests, Society and Global Change 5th to 12th November 2012 Concepción - Chile Conference book IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference 2 IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference Welcome message We are greatly delighted to welcome you to the biannual IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference, in Concepción, Chile from 2-12 November 2012. This is the first time that the Working Group has gathered in the Southern Hemisphere, and the local hosts are proud to be the local organizers of this important event. This Conference is organized by researchers and volunteers from the Faculty of Forest Sciences at the University of Concepción, the Austral University of Chile, and the Catholic University of Temuco. This year, the framework for the 2012 Conference is dedicated to “Sustaining humans and forests in changing landscapes: Forests, society and global change”. We certainly believe that delegates have strong arguments, based on scientific research, to raise concern on the need to manage and conserve forests for people in a context of global change. We also believe that attendees recognize that changing landscapes represent a challenge to sustain human welfare. The 2012 IUFRO LE Conference brings together more than 300 delegates from 51 countries of all continents. The presentations are related to the topics of biodiversity conservation, forest management, spatial patterns, ecological processes, ecosystem functions and services, landscape restoration, climate change, socioeconomic connections, and urban and land-use issues. In this event, delegates will be able to exchange experiencies and knowledge through various venues such as pre-conference courses, field trips, publication of short manuscripts in BOSQUE journal, symposia, oral and poster presentations, and post-conference field trips. We are quite sure that you delegates will have a productive exchange and discussion on forest and landscape ecology whilst you enjoy your stay in a global biodiversity hotspot. We hope that this Conference provides an important career impact in a place like southern Chile where forests compose and shape the landscapes. Enjoy the Conference! Welcome to Concepción! Cristian Echeverria Chair of the IUFRO Landscape Ecology Conference Organizing Committee 2 3 IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference Messages from the Chair It has been several years since we, the committee of the Landscape Ecology Working Party (WP) of the IUFRO, discussed the possibility for a conference in South America. The reason is because not only have we not had a meeting within the continent and know relatively little about its landscapes, but also because of the rapid increase in both the number of individuals and organizations and their enthusiasm. This is also well-reflected as South America holds the highest membership within the International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE). I am confident that you will feel the high morale in this regard during the meeting. Here, we have to thank the leaders of this conference for their interests and commitments that started in early 2010. I know that amounts of work and challenges for this conference are significantly more than those of the past. The scientific community faces pressing issues, mostly at a global scale. These include the rapid changes of the global climate, energy crisis, invasions of alien species, ecosystem degradation, conservation of biological diversity, fragmentation of virgin forests, pollution of our environment, high demands for natural resources, etc. Landscape ecologists are in the center of these issues by providing sound solutions for the policy makers and societies (i.e., human perspective). There is no doubt that landscape ecology’s global perspective promises a bright future. These challenges have determined the theme of this conference: Sustaining Humans and Forests in a Changing Climate. Previous biannual conferences have been held in the United States, Japan, Italy, Canada, China, and Portugal. In the last decade, the WP also paid much attention to publishing the papers presented at our biannual conferences. Several books and special issues based on these conferences have been published. The WP is now soliciting proposals for future conferences. Please contact any of the committee members during the conference to discuss your interests and/or plans. Unlike other professional organizations, our WP has always been maintained so that members become individuals within a large family, with primary efforts in facilitating the communication and interaction among the members. We do have a permanent Webpage (http://research.eeescience.utoledo.edu/lees/IUFRO/), a listserv to promote communication ([email protected]), an online registration page (http://research.eeescience. utoledo.edu/lees/IUFRO/member/), and a committee structure that is composed of regional coordinators and liaisons with the IALE. As of October 2012, there are over 520 members in the WP database. The Landscape Ecology journal continues its support for a special page for us to publish important developments from the WP. To keep our communication beyond this conference, I strongly encourage you to subscribe to a membership via our Webpage and share your experiences, new developments, personnel changes, etc. via the WP’s listserv. With your support and the synergetic efforts of all members, I believe that our WP will remain the most active group within the IUFRO. The WP appreciates the kindness of our sponsors for this conference. We also owe a lot to the members of the Organization Committee, the Scientific Committee, and the Scholarship Committee for their quality work over the past 24 months. Without the financial and in-kind support of many organizations, we would not be able to have this great conference. Jiquan Chen Chair, IUFRO 8.01.02 4 IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference Organization IUFRO Unit 8.01.02 Landscape Ecology Universidad de Concepción, Chile Universidad Austral de Chile Universidad Católica de Temuco, Chile Sponsors International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF), Chile Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Desarrollo, Universidad de Concepción, Chile Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad de Concepción, Chile Landscape Ecology Laboratory (LEP), Universidad de Concepción, Chile Forestal MININCO S.A. ARAUCO S.A. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente Ministerio de Agricultura Centro de Biotecnología, Universidad de Concepción, Chile Committees Scientific Committee Louis Iverson (Chair), USDA Forest Service, USA. João Azevedo, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Portugal. Jean Paul Metzger, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. Sandra Luque, IRSTEA, France. Ajith Perera, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Canada. Guillermo Martínez Pastur, Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas, Argentina. Damasa Magcale-Macandog, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines. Jan Boegart, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Ad hoc members: Jiquan Chen, ad hoc, IUFRO LE working group. Cristián Echeverría, ad hoc, editor for Bosque journal. Organizing Committee’s assistants and student volunteer Cristian Echeverría (Chair), Landscape Ecology Laboratory, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Laura Nahuelhual, Universidad Austral de Chile, Chile. Fernando Peña, Universidad Católica de Temuco, Chile. Claudia Ortiz, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. James Rodríguez, Landscape Ecology Laboratory, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Paula Gatica, Landscape Ecology Laboratory, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Julián Reyes, Landscape Ecology Laboratory, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Dania Muñoz, Landscape Ecology Laboratory, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Miguel Henríquez, Landscape Ecology Laboratory, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Celia Mercado, Universidad Austral de Chile. Daniel Rozas, Universidad Católica de Temuco. Fernando Drake, Universidad de Concepción, Chile. 4 5 IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference IUFRO Landscape Ecology Working Group International Conference Pre-Conference Training Courses Course 1: Guidos: landscape pattern and connectivity analysis. Speaker: Dr. Peter Vogt, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Italy. Guidos implements new techniques for the morphological analysis of landscape patterns that allows classifying the landscape at the pixel level into a set of mutually exclusive pattern categories related to fragmentation and connectivity. It can also be used to generate inputs for Conefor Sensinode. In addition, Guidos includes a variety of generic image analysis and processing tools, a complete GIS environment and statistical software for post-processing, and a graphical application for map publishing in GoogleEarth. It is being used by a variety of organizations, for example the European Commission and the USDA Forest Service. Course 2: Analyzing landscape connectivity through Conefor Sensinode: methods and applications. Speaker: Dr. Santiago Saura, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. Conefor Sensinode (www.conefor.org) is oriented to support decision making in landscape planning by identifying the key habitat areas and linkages for the maintenance or restoration of landscape connectivity, as resulting from recent developments