
The 1st International Electronic Conference on Forests — Forests for a Better Future: Sustainability, Innovation, Interdisciplinarity
Part of the International Electronic Conference on Forests series
15–30 Nov 2020
Forest Ecology, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Wood Sciences, Forest Engineering, Fire Risks
- Go to the Sessions
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- S1. Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration
- S2. Forest Genetics, Ecophysiology and Biology
- S3. Forest and Urban Forest Sustainability
- S4. Forest Inventory, Quantitative Methods and Remote Sensing
- S5. Wood Science, Production Chains and Fuelwood
- S6. Forest Operations and Engineering
- S7. Fire Risks and Other Natural Hazards
- S8. Posters
- Event Details
All participants of IECF2020 are welcome to submit the extended work to the Forests special issue "Selected Papers from the 1st International Electronic Conference on Forests (IECF2020)".
Open for Discussion: From the Chair
Dear Colleagues,
It is with great pleasure that we invite you to attend the 1st International Electronic Conference on Forests—Forests for a Better Future: Sustainability, Innovation, Interdisciplinarity, which will be held online at https://iecf2020.sciforum.net/ from 15 to 30 November 2020.
IECF2020 will feature several interesting presentations on the latest research, new developments, and novel ideas concerning the multidisciplinary aspects of forests, forest products and services, and forest biodiversity.
Thanks to the flexibility of this innovative electronic platform, you are welcome to attend the conference completely free of charge and discuss the findings with the authors. The discussion is open from 15 to 30 November 2020.
The conference proceedings papers, presentations, and posters will be available on https://sciforum.net/conference/IECF2020 for discussion during the time of the conference (15–30 November 2020) and will be published in a dedicated volume in Environmental Sciences Proceedings (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/environsciproc).
We hope to have the opportunity to virtually meet you during this conference and that you enjoy participating in the exciting experience of IEFC2020.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your contribution and hope we can make this conference a success together!
Forests foster the future!
Dr. Angela Lo Monaco
Dr. Cate Macinnis-Ng
Prof. Dr. Om P. Rajora
Welcome from the Chairs
Dear colleagues,
It is with immense pleasure that we announce the 1st International Electronic Conference on Forests:
Forests for a Better Future: Sustainability, Innovation, Interdisciplinarity
Forests and forestry activities provide an opportunity to address the pressing challenge of climate change through sustainable production. Forests also play a strategic role in mitigating critical issues, including biodiversity conservation, water regulation, energy efficiency, pollution reduction and mitigation, production of raw biological materials, food safety, and human and ecosystem health and poverty.
Forests contribute to the improvement of some important development issues focused on sustainability and responsible forest management as a shared and essential factor to address global challenges and guarantee the conservation and enhancement of the global forest heritage as well as the socio-economic development of production, environmental, and socio-cultural chains.
The global pandemic has forced us to reduce travel and to reflect on our ability to leave scientific acquisitions as a legacy to future generations. This reduced mobility stimulates us to maintain connections with the scientific network using emerging technologies. This conference is an opportunity to communicate our shared passion for forests, forest products and services, and forest biodiversity.
The conference will discuss the state of the art of forestry operations, wood supply chains, and ecosystem services, and objectives for the future will be sought. Sharing and discussing the latest research findings with the global community of scientists in the field of forests is the central purpose of this virtual meeting.
We invite you to join us with your work and be part of this exciting experience.
Topics of the conference include:
- Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration
- Forest Genetics, Ecophysiology and Biology
- Forests and Urban Forest Sustainability
- Forest Inventory, Quantitative Methods and Remote Sensing
- Wood Science, Production Chains and Fuelwood
- Forest Operations and Engineering
- Fire Risks and Other Natural Hazards
While our virtual conference will be a different experience from the traditional gatherings we all know and love, this virtual conference will allow us to connect in new ways while keeping our carbon footprints low and maintaining social distancing. Your presentation will be accessible to hundreds of researchers around the world. Hopefully, it will be a more inclusive and sustainable way of meeting because of the lack of taxes and travel costs.
This conference, for now virtual, is a commitment to a “physical” meeting, which we hope will take place in the very near future.
We warmly invite our colleagues from across the world to be part of this exciting event.
Hoping for a next forest (“in situ”) workshop.
Forests foster future!
Dr. Angela Lo Monaco
Dr. Cate Macinnis-Ng
Prof. Dr. Om P. Rajora
Chairs of the 1st International Electronic Conference on Forests
Conference Secretariat
Sponsoring Opportunities
For information regarding sponsoring opportunities, please contact the conference secretariat([email protected]).
Call for Papers
The 1st International Electronic Conference on Forests (IECF) will be held from 15 to 30 November 2020. IECF aims to promote and advance the exciting and rapidly changing field of forests and forestry. All proceedings will be held online at https://sciforum.net/conference/IECF2020.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:
- Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration
- Forest Genetics, Ecophysiology and Biology
- Forest and Urban Forest Sustainability
- Forest Inventory, Quantitative Methods and Remote Sensing
- Wood Science, Production Chains and Fuelwood
- Forest Operations and Engineering
- Fire Risks and Other Natural Hazards
IECF is a virtual conference sponsored by Forests (ISSN 1999-4907; Impact Factor 2.116 (2018)). Participation is free of charge for authors and attendees. Accepted papers will be gathered in the proceedings of the conference. Selected extended versions of the papers will be published in a Forests conference Special Issue with a 20% discount applied to the article processing charge (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/Forests/special_issues/IECF2020).
IECF offers you the opportunity to participate in this international, scholarly conference without having the concern or expenditure of travel—all you need is your computer and access to the Internet. We would like to invite you to “attend” this conference by presenting your latest work.
Abstracts (in English) should be submitted online before 30 September 2020 at https://www.sciforum.net/login.
Paper Submission Guidelines
For information on the procedure for submission, peer-review, revision and acceptance of conference proceedings papers, please refer to the section “Instructions for Authors”: https://www.sciforum.net/conference/IECF2020/instructions.
Time Schedule
- Abstract Deadline: 30 September 2020
- Abstract Acceptance Notification Deadline: 10 October 2020
- Full Files Submission Deadline: 31 October 2020
- Conference: 15–30 November 2020
- Awards Announcement: 15 January 2021
Conference Chairs

Department of Agriculture and Forest Science (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Italy.
Angela Lo Monaco is Associate Professor of Wood Technology and Forest Harvesting at the University of Tuscia (Viterbo, Italy), where she is also Head of the Wood Science and Technology laboratory. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Wood Science” of Forests. Angela Lo Monaco’s research interests mainly concern wood science and technology both for the environment as well as for cultural heritage. Trees and timber are taken into consideration, not only as a source of materials and byproducts but also as sensors of anthropic and climatic events. Her research interests also focus on the properties of wood in artefacts of historical and artistic interest, with a special emphasis on the characteristics of wood degraded by environmental factors, in which the color and chemical characteristics of surfaces are used as monitoring systems. The impacts of forest logging on residual trees and seedlings as well as the influence of human activities on the quantity and quality of dead wood in the forest are some of the topics of her studies.

Cate Macinnis-Ng is Associate Professor and Rutherford Discovery Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. She is also a PI in Te Pūnaha Matatini—New Zealand’s Centre for Research Excellence in Complex Systems. Cate is a tree ecophysiologist with an interest in plant–climate intersections. Her main research is focused on a field-based throughfall exclusion experiment which examines the effects of drought on the southern conifer, kauri (Agathis australis). Cate is the immediate past president of the New Zealand Ecological Society.

Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, Canada
Prof. Dr. Om Rajora is the Coordinator of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (UFRO) unit 2.04.01 “Population, Ecological and Conservation Genetics”. He was also the Coordinator of the IUFRO unit 7.01.04 “Impacts of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Forest Ecosystems – Genetics Aspects”. Dr. Rajora has been the recipient of many national and international awards, honors, and distinctions. He is frequently invited as a lead, plenary, and/or keynote speaker at international conferences, as well as frequently an invited author by many scientific journals and book publishers. He has served in the organization and/or scientific committee of many international conferences and has been organizing an annual Population and Conservation Genomics workshop at the International Plant and Animal Genome conferences since 2008.
Conference Committee

Department of Agroforestry Technology and Science and Genetics, School of Advanced Agricultural and Forestry Engineering, Castilla La Mancha University.
Since 2005, I have been working on different research projects and teaching activities at Castilla La Mancha University (Spain). I developed my doctoral thesis in Cuenca Mountains working on Spanish black pine (Pinus nigra Arn. ssp salzmannii) natural regeneration and sustainable forest management. I have also spent some years in different European and national universities and research institutes, such as Edinburgh University (Scotland), Instituto Superior de Agronomía de Lisboa (Portugal), Tras-Os-Montes e Alto Douro University (Portugal), Centro de Biología Aplicada del Segura (Spain), and USDA Forest Service (Rocky Mountains Research Station, Arcata). I am currently involved in many different research and teaching activities at the School of Advanced Agricultural and forestry Engineering (Castilla La Mancha University).
- Ecological forest restoration. Postfire management strategies effects on forest plant biodiversity, soil properties, and multiple ecosystem functions, including nutrient cycling, climate regulation, waste decomposition, symbiosis, wood production, and w

Miha Humar is a professor at the Department of Wood Science at the University of Ljubljana. He gives courses about the performance of wood, wood pest, wood protection, wood modification, and wood conservation. From 2010–2020, he held managerial positions at the Department of Wood Science and the Biotechnical Faculty, and for the 2016–2018 term, he was the dean of the Biotechnical faculty. Currently, as vice-dean of the Biotechnical Faculty, he is responsible for the development of one of the largest and most excellent Slovenian faculties.
His current research work deals with the problems of service life prediction of wood, the performance of wood in outdoor conditions, the development of classical biocidal and non-biocidal solutions for wood protection, wood modification, wood conservation

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova.
He is the head of Dept. TESAF (2015–2019), Responsible for the management and maintenance of Villa Revedin Bolasco (from 2016). He has been responsible for many research programmes at regional, national, and European levels; he has taken scientific offices in regional and national bodies. He is a member of the Editor Board of Sherwood Journal (since 2003), Associate Editor of the European Journal of Forest Research (from 2004); Member of the Editorial Committee of L’Italia Forestale e Montana the International Editorial Board of Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering (from 2011), and a member of the Editorial Board of Forests (2019). Deputy of IUFRO (International Union of Research Organizations) Research Group 3.06.00 "Forest operations in mountainous conditions" (2006–2010; Coordinator of IUFRO Research Group 3.06.00 "Forest operations in mountainous conditions" (2010–2019); Coordinator of IUFRO Research Group 3.01.00 "Harvesting and transportation engineering" (from 2020). He is the author of 331 papers in national and international scientific journals and books
His main lecturing and research activities concern forest engineering and wood supply chain.

Southwest University of Science and Technology.,
University of Lleida.
Víctor Resco de Dios is a Professor at Southwest University of Science and Technology and he is also affiliated with the University of Lleida. He obtained his PhD at the University of Wyoming and held faculty positions at the University of Castilla-La Mancha/Fire Research Center and the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of New Phytologist, Trees, Plant Ecology and Diversity, Forests, Forest Systems, and Frontiers in Forests and Global Change and, a few years ago, he contributed to the IPCC 5 AR. He is the most recent former president of the Catalan Institute of Chartered Foresters.
His fire research is focused on pyrophysiology (the physiological mechanisms that affect fire activity and how fires shape plant species structure and function) and fire–atmosphere interactions.

Department of Biology, School of Natural Sciences, University Of Patras.
I hold a degree on Biological Sciences and a PhD diploma on "Flora and Vegetation Ecology of mountains"; currently I'm Professor in Botany & Ecology (Department of Biology, University of Patras). I have published 120 articles in peer-reviewed International journals (1990-2020); I have participated as principal investigator and coordinated 35 national and 15 European research projects; I have participated with 108 and 90 oral and poster presentations in International and National Conferences respectively. I have served and still serve as: II) National Representative on Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES activities, 2014-) ; IV) President of the Natura 2000 National Committee for the Protected Areas of Greece (2020-2023)
My research interests and key-expertise (1990-2020) lie in: flora and vegetation recording, conservation and ecology of species and habitats focusing to: inventory, monitoring, assessment and mapping of habitats and ecosystems in protected areas (Greece &

Department of Soil and Water Resources, Institute of Industrial and Forage Crops, Hellenic Agricultural Organization “Demeter” (former NAGREF).
Dr. George P. Petropoulos (PhD, King’s College London UK) is an Associate Researcher in Remote Sensing & GIS at the Dept. of Soil & Water Resources of the Institute of Industrial & Forage Crops (IIFC) of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization “ELGO DEMETER”, Greece. He also holds a Marie Curie Fellowships with the Dept. of Mineral Resources Engineering of the Technical University of Crete in Greece. Previously (until 02/2018) he was Associate Professor in Remote Sensing & GIS at the Dept. of Geography & Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, UK. He is author/co-author so far of +70 peer-reviewed journal articles, +22 book chapters, and editor/co-editor of 4 books published by Elsevier and Taylor & Francis.
His research is focusing on the exploitation of technologically advanced EO sensors and synergistic multi-sensor EO modelling & GIS geospatial techniques for obtaining spatiotemporal estimates of key state variables characterising land surface processes.

CREA-AA (Italian Research Council for Agriculture and Economics—Research Center on Agriculture and Environment)
Sofia Bajocco, PhD in Plant Sciences, is a researcher at CREA-AA (Italian Research Council for Agriculture and Economics—Research Center on Agriculture and Environment). She is mainly engaged in computational landscape ecology and the study of environmental processes at the landscape scale. Her research interests and main fields of expertise are forest phenology dynamics, disturbance/stress impacts at landscape level, forest fire spatio-temporal behavior, land cover change processes, land degradation, and thematic mapping. Such issues are mainly investigated through remotely sensed data analysis, geoprocessing techniques, spatial modeling analysis, and multivariate statistical methods.
Her research interests and main fields of expertise are forest phenology dynamics, disturbance/stress impacts at landscape level, forest fire spatio-temporal behavior, land cover change processes, land degradation, and thematic mapping.

Rodolfo Picchio obtained his Forest Science degree and PhD degree in Forest Mechanization from Tuscia University in Viterbo. From 2004 to 2014, he worked as a university researcher and has served as Associate Professor in Forest Logging and Wood Technologies since his appointment in 2014. He has led the ‘Forest Utilization Work Group’ at Tuscia University (DAFNE) since 2004. From 2015 to 2017, he served as President of the Master program of Forest Science “Conservation and Restoration of the Forest Environment and Soil Defense” at Tuscia University (DAFNE). He has served on the board of the PhD programs “Science and Technologies for Forest and Environmental Management” (2005–2013) and “Engineering for Energy and Environment” (since 2018) at Tuscia University. He has worked as the Italian representative in two EU COST Actions on silviculture and biomass. Furthermore, he has co-authored 75 peer-reviewed papers in international journals indexed by WoS and Scopus, 20 technical books, and over 150 papers in technical magazines. He also serves on the editorial boards of four international scientific journals covering forestry and forest engineering subjects. He has served as Guest Editor for three Special Issues of Forests, Energies, and Sustainability. He is a member of two scientific societies: the Italian Society of Forest Restoration and the Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology.
His fields of expertise include forest logging, forest mechanization, precision forestry, wood technologies, and the environmental impacts of wood harvesting operations.

After graduating from his Agricultural Engineering course, Dr. Blanco obtained a PhD in Forest Ecology from the Public University of Navarre (Spain), and then worked as a postdoctoral research fellow and research associate at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) for seven years. Then, he returned to Spain, and began working as a "Marie Sklodowska-Curie" research fellow, at the Department of Environmental Sciences in Universidad Publica de Navarra (UPNA). He is currently working at the same university, as an assistant professor in the Department of Sciences. His research interests are focused on the development and evaluation of ecological models to simulate the influences of management, climate, and other ecological factors on tree growth. He is currently collaborating with research teams from several countries (Canada, USA, Spain, Cuba, China and Taiwan), to use ecological models to explore the effects of climate change, atmospheric pollution and alternative forest practices in natural and planted forests, in boreal, temperate and tropical forests. He has published a multitude of scientific papers on forest ecology topics, and his research has been applied not only in ecological studies, but also in mining to optimize reclamation plans, in forestry to assess the potential for carbon sequestration, and by government agencies and consulting companies to define local guidelines for long-term sustainable forest management. Among other topics related to forest ecology, Dr. Blanco has studied the influence of climate variations on tree growth and estimated the possible ecological consequences of climate change in forest ecosystems. Dr. Blanco has been a member of the Global Forest Expert Panel and part of the IUFRO “Task Force on Forests, Soils, Water and their relationships”. He has also co-authored his first book, dedicated exclusively to the use of hybrid ecological models in forest management, entitled "Forecasting Forest Futures" (Earthscan, London), and has edited three books on Climate Change, one on Forest Ecosystems, and one more on Biodi
His research interests are focused on the development and evaluation of ecological models to simulate the influences of management, climate, and other ecological factors on tree growth.

Department of Economics, Engineering, Society and Business Organization (DEIM), University of Tuscia
Claudia Pelosi is currently a senior researcher and aggregate professor in Analytical Chemistry at the Department of Economics Engineering, Society and Business Organization (DEIM) of the University of Tuscia (Italy). She is also the manager of the Laboratory of Diagnostics and Materials Science, and an assistant professor of Chemistry for Restoration (CHIM/12); Diagnostics and Spectroscopy for Cultural Heritage (CHIM/01), and the Laboratory of Materials Science (ING-IND/22). On 6th September 2018, Claudia obtained her National Scientific Qualification to become an associate professor in Analytical Chemistry (D.D. 1532/2016), which is valid from 6th September 2018 to 6th September 2024 (art. 16, comma 1, Law 240/10). As well as this, she is an expert in spectroscopic techniques applied to cultural heritage materials and to materials for coatings and wood protection. So far, she has co-authored 72 scientific publications (source Scopus, Author ID: 22836449900).
Claudia Pelosi is an expert in spectroscopic techniques applied to cultural heritage materials and to materials for coatings and wood protection.

United States Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture
Matthew Thompson is a Research Forester with the Human Dimensions Program of the Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service. His research interests include risk and decision analysis, systems thinking, operations research and analytics, wildland fire management, and forest management. His current focus is addressing COVID-19 impacts on the health and capacity of the wildland firefighting community. In 2016, he received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
Matthew Thompson research interests include risk and decision analysis, systems thinking, operations research and analytics, wildland fire management, and forest management. His current focus is addressing COVID-19 impacts on the health and capacity of th

Department of Agroforestry Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Terra s/n, Spain
Ignacio J. Diaz-Maroto earned his Higher Degree in Forest Engineering and his Forest Engineering Ph.D. from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. From 1991 to 1992, he worked as a researcher at the Forest Research Centre of Lourizán, Pontevedra, where he continued to collaborate until finished his doctoral thesis on ecology, dendrometry, and forestry of Quercus robur L. At the same time, in 1992, he began his teaching career at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) where he currently works as a professor and researcher. Although his teaching specialties are dendrometry, forest inventory, and forest management, during his almost 30 years as a professor, he has had the possibility of teaching other subjects in forest engineering, environmental engineering and, now for the Degree in Landscape, including, among others, planning and management of natural protected areas, territorial planning, and landscape planning. He has led the "Forest Modelling, Dendrochronology and Forest Industries Group" (MoDenFo) at USC from 1994 to 2014. From 2013 to 2014, he was the Director of the Master in Forest Engineering at USC. He coordinated the Doctoral Program in “Engineering for Rural Development”, Department of Agroforestry Engineering, which obtained the Excellence Mention of the Ministry of Education from 2011 to 2014. Moreover, he has co-authored 40 peer-reviewed papers in international journals indexed by WoS and/or Scopus, as well as books, book chapters, and conference proceedings, both national and international. He has been both a principal researcher and a member of the research team in numerous projects, having supervised six doctoral theses. He has participated in research stays in different centres; the most recent was six months ago at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of twelve indexed journals (WoS): Anais Academia Brasileira Ciências, Annals of Forest Research, Austrian Journal of Forest Science, Baltic Forestry, Bosque, Ciência Florestal, Ciência Rural, Chapingo Journal: Forestry and En
His fields of expertise include dendrometry, forest inventory, forest management, landscape ecology, landscape planning, natural protected areas, planning and rural development, and wood technology.

Department of Forest Utilisation, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland
Professor at Poznań University of Life Sciences in Poland. Interested in economic optimisation of cut-to-length technologies in thinning operations. Co-author of “Principles of Forest Utilisation” for forestry managers, co-author of over 80 scientific papers. Lecturer at leading European Universities in Eberswalde, Florence, Jelgava, Padova, Thessaloniki, and Viterbo. Speaker at IUFRO, FORMEC, and FEC conferences in Europe, Asia, and New Zealand. Local coordinator of European Union projects and leader of projects focused on improving forest operations and the management practices of the State Forests in Poland. Board member of International Journal of Forest Engineering, reviewer of scientific papers in over twenty leading international forestry journals, including Forest Ecology and Management, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, and Land Degradation and Development.
[email protected]

Mark Vanderwel holds a Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Toronto and is currently Associate Professor at the University of Regina. His research focusses on how tree-level demographic processes interact with disturbance to create changing patterns of structure, biomass, and diversity within forest stands and landscapes. He takes a quantitative approach to this topic by developing models to project how forests dynamics emerge from variation in demographic performance among individual trees, among species, and across environmental gradients. By understanding how tree growth, mortality, and recruitment are controlled by different environmental factors, he seeks to learn how processes such as climate change and disturbance affect the broader condition of forest ecosystems over time.
[email protected]

Dr Philip Smethurst is current a principle research scientist at CSIRO, Australia, working in agriculture, forestry, and agroforestry on system understanding and simulation in relation to wood and food production. He has degrees from University of Melbourne (BAgSci, MSc) and University of Florida (PhD), and during both industry and government roles, has developed particular expertise in the experimentation and modelling of soil, hydrology, agriculture, forestry, and plant productivity. He currently leads or works on projects in South America, Africa, and Australia, including the development of plantation wood forecasting technologies that integrate current inventory, empirical and process-based modelling, and remote sensing. Links: https://people.csiro.au/S/P/Philip-Smethurst, https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=Philip%20Smethurst&user=CCr6rYUAAAAJ
[email protected]
Sessions
S1. Forest Ecology, Management and RestorationS2. Forest Genetics, Ecophysiology and Biology
S3. Forest and Urban Forest Sustainability
S4. Forest Inventory, Quantitative Methods and Remote Sensing
S5. Wood Science, Production Chains and Fuelwood
S6. Forest Operations and Engineering
S7. Fire Risks and Other Natural Hazards
S8. Posters
Instructions for Authors
Authors should make submissions online by registering at www.sciforum.net and using the "New Submission" function once logged into the system.
- Scholars are encouraged to participate in the conference with their research results. It is required that a short abstract (about 200–300 words) of the research needs to be submitted online by 30 September 2020.
- The Conference Committee will notify authors of the acceptance of their abstract by 10 October 2020.
- In the case of acceptance, authors will be asked to submit the extended version of abstract for the conference proceedings, with the option to include presentation slides or a video presentation of their abstract. If authors do not want to publish a proceedings paper, they are also encouraged to only present posters/presentation slides/videos with an accompanying short abstract, and these files will be available online on this website during and after the e-conference. However, they will not be added to the proceedings of the conference. All files should be submitted online by 31 October 2020.
- All accepted extended abstracts will be published as one dedicated volume in MDPI Environmental Sciences Proceedings (ISSN 2673-4931 , https://www.mdpi.com/journal/environsciproc).
- The proceedings papers, presentations and posters will be available on https://sciforum.net/conference/IECF2020 for discussion and rating during the time of the conference (15–30 November 2020).
- The open access journal Forests will set up a conference Special Issue to publish full paper versions of proceedings papers or abstracts(https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/special_issues/iecf2020).
- The authors are encouraged to submit the full paper to the conference Special Issue after their accepted submission becomes available on the conference website.
If authors would like to publish their research in the conference proceedings, the extended version of abstract is compulsory. The extended version of the abstract for the proceedings issue must have the following structure:
First page:
- Title
- Full author names
- Affiliations (including full postal address) and authors' e-mail addresses
- Abstract
- Keywords
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results and Discussion
- Conclusions
- (Acknowledgments)
- References
Manuscripts should be prepared in MS Word or any other word processor and should be converted to PDF format before submission. The publication format will be PDF. The manuscript should be at least three pages (including figures, tables and references). Although there is no page limit on the length, it is recommended not to exceed 6 pages. Authors are asked to keep their papers as concise as possible.
Authors are encouraged to prepare a presentation in PowerPoint, or similar software, to be displayed online along with the manuscript. Slides, if available, will be displayed directly on the website https://sciforum.net/conference/IECF2020 using the proprietary slide viewer. Slides can be prepared in the same way as for any traditional conference where research results are presented. Slides should be converted to PDF format before submission so that they can easily and automatically be converted for online display.
Besides their active participation within the forum, authors are also encouraged to submit video presentations. This is a unique way of presenting your paper and discussing it with peers from all over the world. Make a difference and join us in this project!
The video should be no longer than 10 minutes and be prepared in one of the following formats: .MOV; .MPEG4; .MP4; .AVI; .WMV; .MPEGPS; .FLV. Once it is ready, please submit it to us via [email protected] before 31 October 2020 (submission deadline for full files), and we will upload it for you.
Posters will be available on the conference website during and after the event. As with papers presented at the conference, participants will be able to ask questions and make comments about the posters. Posters that are submitted without a paper will not be included in the proceedings of the conference.
If you decide to submit a poster instead of proceedings paper, please select “Poster Section” when you submit the short abstract. After acceptance, please upload a copy of the short abstract as PDF and Word files, in the corresponding fields, and upload the Poster PDF in the field “Presentation PDF (optional)”.
Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.sciforum.net/login by registering and logging in.
Accepted File Formats
- MS Word: Manuscripts prepared in MS Word must be converted into a single file before submission. When preparing manuscripts in MS Word, the Electronic Conference on Forests Microsoft Word template file (see download below) must be used. Please do not insert any graphics (schemes, figures, etc.) into a movable frame, as this can superimpose the text and make the layout very difficult.
- LaTeX: Manuscripts prepared in LaTeX must be collated into one ZIP folder (include all source files and images so that the Conference Secretariat can recompile the submitted PDF). When preparing manuscripts in LaTeX, please use the provided LaTeX template file.
The 1st International Electronic Conference on Forests Microsoft Word template file and LaTeX template file
Paper Format: Papers should be in A4 paper format, with a printing area of 17.5 cm × 26.2 cm. The margins should be 1.75 cm on each side of the paper (top, bottom, left, and right sides).
- Formatting/Style: Papers should be prepared following the style of Forests. The full titles and the cited papers must be given. Reference numbers should be placed in square brackets and placed before the punctuation; for example, [1,2], [3] or [1–3]. All the references should be listed separately in full detail as the last section at the end of the manuscript.
- Author List and Affiliation Format: Authors' full first and last names must be given. Abbreviated middle names can be added. For papers written by various contributors, a corresponding author must be designated. The PubMed/MEDLINE format is used for affiliations: complete street address information, including city, zip code, state/province and country, and email address should be added. All authors who contributed significantly to the manuscript (including writing a section) should be listed on the first page of the manuscript, below the title of the article. Other parties who provided only minor contributions should be listed under Acknowledgments only. A minor contribution might be a discussion with the author, reading through the draft of the manuscript, or performing English corrections.
- Figures, Schemes and Tables: Authors are encouraged to prepare figures and schemes in color. Full-color graphics will be published free of charge. Figures and schemes must be numbered (Figure 1, Scheme I, Figure 2, Scheme II, etc.) and an explanatory title must be added. Tables should be numbered, titled and inserted into the main text. All table columns should have an explanatory heading. Please supply legends for all figures, schemes and tables. The legends should be prepared as a separate paragraph of the main text and placed in the main text before a table, a figure or a scheme.
For further inquiries, please contact us at [email protected].
It is the authors' responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state here "The authors declare no conflict of interest." This should be conveyed in a separate "Conflict of Interest" statement preceding the "Acknowledgments" and "References" sections at the end of the manuscript. Financial support for the study must be fully disclosed under the "Acknowledgments" section.
MDPI, the publisher of the Sciforum.net platform, is an open access publisher. We believe that authors should retain the copyright to their scholarly works. Hence, by submitting a paper to this conference, you retain the copyright of your paper, but you grant MDPI the non-exclusive right to publish this paper online on the Sciforum.net platform. This means you can easily submit your paper to any scientific journal at a later stage and transfer the copyright to its publisher (if required by that publisher).
Full paper versions of accepted submissions are encouraged to be submitted to the conference Special Issue after the conference. These full papers should be novel and significantly different from the proceeding papers. These papers will be subject to peer review after they are submitted using journal submission system (https://susy.mdpi.com/user/manuscripts/upload).
List of accepted submissions (133)
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sciforum-036434 | Taxonomic value of leaf epidermal markers in discriminating some medicinal tree species of Apocynaceae Juss. | , |
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Apocynaceae is a useful family comprising of trees notable for different medicinal remedies. Consequent to their importance vis-à-vis scarcity in the forest, they are being sold in various Nigerian markets by herb sellers mostly in sterile and fragmentary forms. Hence, the medicinal plants are subjected to adulteration and substitution. Frequently, identification of the plants by users are basically via floristic markers, which are not readily available for such purpose. It therefore becomes pertinent to carry out the taxonomic revision of these trees to provide additional markers that will contribute to their effective identification for correct use. Various documentations have been made on members of apocynaceae and are properly placed on their respective taxa using epidermal traits. However, such information is scarce for Alstonia boonei, Holarrhena floribunda, Rauvolfia vomitoria, Thevetia nerifolia and Vocanga africana. This study therefore aimed at providing epidermal taxonomic markers that could be employed in delimiting the species as alternative when the fruit or floral parts are wanting. Leaf epidermis of five (5) species of apocynaceae representing 5 genera were studied under a Biological microscope with camera attachment. Data obtained were statistically analyzed. Epidermal cell was Penta or hexagonal in A. boonei and V. africana. Stomatal length varied from 20.88 µm (R. vomitoria) to 25.92 µm (T. nerifolia) and 18.96 µm (R. vomitoria) to 29.28 µm (V. africana) on the abaxial and adaxial layers respectively. All the epidermal characters on the adaxial layer were significantly different (p<0.05) among the species. Anticlinal walls were sinuated in H. floribunda and T. nerifolia while in R. vomitoria, it was straight to wavy. V. africana and A. boonei anticlinal walls were straight. This study represents the first account of epidermal characterization of the members of apocynaceae in Nigeria and are of taxonomic importance in setting boundaries among the species. |
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sciforum-038064 | Effect of genotypes on micropropagation of Terminalia arjuna – an important medicinal tree | , , , | N/A |
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Terminalia arjuna is an important tree of medicinal and sericulture industry, commonly known as Arjun. It’s bark rich in secondary metabolites makes this plant highly valuable in medicine industry to treat cardiovascular disease. It is also used as feeder plant for tasar silkworm (Antheraea mylitta). Over exploitation due to high demand in medicine, low seed germination, limitations of conventional method of propagation push this plant towards being endangered. To conserve germplasm of such tree species and meet the requirement in medicinal industry, some non-conventional propagation method like micropropagation have been developed. The present work highlighted the effect of genotypes on tissue culture of T. arjuna. For this objective, nodal explants were collected from three genotypes (G-1, G-2 and G-3) of T. arjuna situated at Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. In vitro shoot proliferation was achieved on modified MS medium enriched with BAP + additives. Genotype -1 showed maximum bud break response (100%) followed by G-3 (93.33 %) and G-2 (86.66%). Further multiplication of these shoots on modified MS medium containing BAP + NAA + additives gave 11.38±0.26 (G-1), 9.44±0.21 (G-2) and 10.22±0.32 (G-3) shoots. In vitro rooting was done by pulse treatment with IBA for 10 min prior to transfer on hormone free half strength MS medium containing 0.1% activated charcoal. Maximum in vitro rooting was obtained in G-1 (80%) followed by G-3 (71.11%) and G-2 (68.88%). In present study it was observed that optimum growth in all three genotypes require different dose of Plant Growth Regulator. Thus, by identifying and multiplying the best performing genotypes the gap between demand and supply of such medicinal plant can be fulfilled. |
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sciforum-035793 | TRAINING AND EQUIPPING CHAINSAW OPERATORS AND OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY IN POLISH FORESTS | , , , | N/A |
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In order to ensure safety at work, chainsaw operators are required to have adequate knowledge of the saw’s operation, how to work safety with it, as well as use of appropriate auxiliary equipment and protective clothes. Polish regulations require that a logger starting work must complete appropriate training and obtain a license to harvest trees. The aim of the study was the assessment of trainings provided for chainsaw operators and identification of the potential hazards by logging operations. In order to assess the state of knowledge of chainsaw operators and their occupational safety during logging, a survey was carried out. The survey covered 15 forest districts. Questionnaire forms were delivered to 354 chainsaw operators, of which 209 completed the forms and returned them. A large group of respondents acquired chainsaw operating skills on their own, while some of them were qualified in courses lasting 2-3 days. Chainsaw operators assess their knowledge and skills in working with a chainsaw at a relatively high level. The longer they have been licensed and the longer they have worked as a logger, the higher they rated their skills. Safely working with a chainsaw depends not only on the techniques of the work, so the study also asked respondents about personal protective equipment and the use of auxiliary tools in the logging process and the operation of chainsaws. A lack of the use of personal protective equipment was also observed. 25% of the surveyed chainsaw operators had had an accident or suffered an injury during logging, the main cause of which was tripping, a fallen tree or a falling branch. A large group of respondents stated that the most frequent cause of accidents was failure to observe safety rules, the lack of personal protective equipment or the improper use of working tools. 76% of sustained injuries were not reported to the employer as accidents occurring in the course of work. The identified deficiencies in the training of chainsaw operators and the declared behaviors indicating the assumption of a routine approach as one’s service in forestry lengthened, indicate the need to introduce periodic continuing education and training courses. Such training should become a permanent element of the system of increasing the safety of logging with a chainsaw. |
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sciforum-038129 | Therapeutic functions of forests and green areas with regard to the universal potential of sensory gardens. | , , | N/A |
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A significant part of the world's population lives in urban areas, where there are many stressors. Studies show that the less green in the neighbourhood, the higher level of cortisol, the "stress hormone", in the blood of residents. The health benefits of contact with nature has been widely researched. They are described, among others, by “Nature Therapy Theory”. One example of this form of therapy is forest bathing, also known as shinrin-yoku, a practice that combines a series of outdoor exercises and tasks based on mindfully using all five senses. There are also “Therapeutic landscapes”, which are places that for various reasons can have a beneficial effect on health and well-being. Moreover, a positive impact on behaviour and interpersonal self-improvement has "Wilderness therapy". This therapy combines experiential education, individual and group therapy with adventure-based therapy in a wildlife environment. Research show that physical activity in the natural environment is preferable to physical activity in a closed space in terms of the feeling of relaxation, well-being, reduction of stress and aggression. Furthermore, the therapeutic properties of various plant communities have a wide range of impact on specific medical aspects, including disinfection, blood pressure lowering, anti-asthma, or immune-boosting etc. In the category of green areas which on a small area intensify feelings are sensory gardens. They also have great potential for eliminating stress symptoms and stimulating sensory feelings among people with disability. Sensory gardens, being an element of universal recreational development in urban and suburban conditions, can perfectly fulfil social, educational and therapeutic functions. Their distinguishing feature is a strong influence on non-visual senses. The space adapted to the needs of people with disability gives a sense of security, provide greater independence, can be used for passive and active therapy, and constitute a zone of social inclusion. Sensory gardens can be considered as an example of a comprehensive development of green areas that meets the requirements of universal design. The presented study is a review. The authors show that providing urban communities a therapeutic contact with nature through the use of urban forests is a very important aspect of improving the quality of life. Special attention was paid to the potential of sensory gardens in the designing of recreational development which may be an opportunity to reduce the process of social exclusion of people with disability in the local environment. |
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sciforum-036480 | An external Agribusiness risk analysis using KBDI: A case of veldfires in the Northern Territory of Australia | , , | N/A | N/A |
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The 2019/20 Australian bushfires burned over 46 million acres of land, killed 34 people and left 3500 individuals homeless. Majority of deaths and buildings destroyed were in New South Wales, while the Northern Territory accounted for approximately 1/3 of the burned area. Many of the buildings that were lost were farm buildings, adding to the challenge of agricultural recovery that is already complex because of ash-covered farmland accompanied by historic levels of drought. The current therefore aimed at characterising veldfire risk in the study area using Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI). A 39 year-long time series data was obtained from an online NASA database. Both homogeneity and stationarity tests were deployed using a non-parametric Pettitt’s and Dicky-Fuller tests respectively for data quality checks. Major results revealed a non-significant two-tailed Mann Kendall trend test with a p-value=0.789 > 0.05 significance level. A suitable probability distribution was fitted to the annual KBDI time series where both Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Chi-square tests revealed Gamma (1) as a suitably fitted probability distribution. Return level computation from the Gamma (1) distribution using XLSTAT computer software, resulted in a cumulative 40-year return period of moderate to high fire risk potential. With this low probability and 40-year long return level, the study found the area less prone to fire risks detrimental to animal and crop production. More agribusiness investments can safely be executed in the Northern Territory without high risk aversion. |
Event Awards
Session | Title | Authors | Awards |
---|---|---|---|
Wood Science, Production Chains and Fuelwood |
Using Thermal Neutron Imaging in Forest Products Research | Best Paper Award | |
Posters |
Needle senescence affects fire behavior in Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis Mill.) stands: a simulation study. | Best Poster Award |
To acknowledge the support of the conference’s esteemed authors and recognize their outstanding scientific accomplishments, we are pleased to launch the Best Paper Award and the Best Poster Award.
The Awards
The Best Paper Award is presented to the paper judged to make the most significant contribution to the conference.
The Best Poster Award was established to recognize the scientific merit exhibited in poster presentation and preparation.
Terms and Conditions:
Best Paper Award
As a sponsor, Forests would like to present an award for the best paper, as determined by the conference committee. The award will consist of 500 Swiss Francs. We look forward to reviewing your contributions.
Best Paper Award Criteria
Only full papers submitted to IECF 2020 will be considered. Papers will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Originality/novelty of the paper;
- Significance of content;
- Scientific soundness;
- Interest to the readers;
- English language and style.
Evaluation
- Each Evaluation Committee member will assess each entry in terms of the criteria outlined above;
- Total scores for each presentation will be ranked, from highest to lowest;
- If two or more authors get the same score, further evaluation will be carried out;
- All decisions made by the Evaluation Committee are final.
Best Poster Award
As a sponsor, Forests would like to grant an award (500 Swiss Francs) for the best poster presented at the conference. This prize will be determined by a jury and awarded to the best-designed poster presented at the conference.
Posters should have the following information:
- Title (with authors and affiliations)
- Introduction/Objectives/Aims
- Methods
- Results
- Conclusion
- References
- Acknowledgments
- Contact information
For consideration for this award, posters should be accompanied by a three-minute video presentation. During the conference, the chair will be invited to judge the quality of the video presentations and posters. Presentations will be judged on how well they are able to summarize the content of the work and make the observer interested in viewing the poster. Posters will be judged on clarity quality of appearance.
S1. Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration
Session Chairs
Dr. Manuel Esteban Lucas Borja, Higher Technical School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.
Dr. Panayotis Dimopoulos, Department of Biology, School of Natural Sciences, University Of Patras.
Dr. Juan A. Blanco, Department of Sciences, Universidad Pública de Navarra.
Prof. Dr. Ignacio J. Diaz-Maroto, Department of Agroforestry Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
S2. Forest Genetics, Ecophysiology and Biology
Session Chair
Prof. Dr. Om P. Rajora, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, Canada
S3. Forest and Urban Forest Sustainability
Session Chair
Dr. Rodolfo Picchio, Tuscia University
S4. Forest Inventory, Quantitative Methods and Remote Sensing
Session Chair
Dr. Mark Vanderwel, Department of Biology, University of Regina, Canada
S5. Wood Science, Production Chains and Fuelwood
Session Chair
Dr. Miha Humar, Department of Wood Science, University of Ljubljana.
S6. Forest Operations and Engineering
Session Chairs
Dr. Raffaele Cavalli, Department TESAF, University of Padova.
Dr. Rodolfo Picchio, Tuscia University (DAFNE)
S7. Fire Risks and Other Natural Hazards
Session Chairs
Dr. Sofia Bajocco, CREA-AA (Italian Research Council for Agriculture and Economics—Research Center on Agriculture and Environment)
Dr. Matthew P. Thompson, United States Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture