Katharina Lapin

Katharina Lapin
Austrian Research Centre for Forests · Department Forest Biodiversity & Nature Conservation

PhD

About

103
Publications
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Introduction
Katharina Lapin is the head of the Department for Forest Biodiversity and Nature Conservation at the Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW). She holds a PhD in Landscape Planning and Landscape Architecture from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. She has made contributions to forest biodiversity management, vegetation science, invasion biology, and biodiversity conservation.

Publications

Publications (103)
Article
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Context Ecological connectivity is key to mitigating global change impacts such as isolation and climate change effects on populations, especially in historically modified biomes such as European forests. The term connectivity is widely used in conservation, but the multiple methods for measuring it, as well as the scales and objects of study to wh...
Article
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Balancing increasing demand for wood products while also maintaining forest biodiversity is a paramount challenge. Europe’s Biodiversity and Forest Strategies for 2030 attempt to address this challenge. Together, they call for strict protection of 10% of land area, including all primary and old growth forests, increasing use of ecological forestry,...
Article
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Purpose of review We are amid a historical momentum encouraging forest restoration, yet the translation of ambitious targets into reality is hindered by poor documentation and understanding of the success and failure of past restoration efforts. This review aims to evaluate the ecological, social, political and economic characteristics of forest re...
Article
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Early detection and rapid response are essential to deal effectively with new introductions of invasive alien species (IAS). Citizen science platforms for opportunistic recording of species are increasingly popular, and there is potential to harvest their data for early detection of IAS, but this has not been tested. We evaluated the potential of d...
Article
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Purpose of review A rapidly changing climate is weakening the resilience of forest ecosystems through vitality loss of major native tree species, which reduces the ability of forests to deliver ecosystem services. Established invasive tree species (EITS) may take over the vacant space potentially preventing the regeneration of the preferred native...
Article
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Restoration involves the recovery and repair of environments because environmental damage is not always irreversible, and communities are not infinitely resilient to such harm. When restoration projects are applied to nature, either directly or indirectly these may take the form of ecological, forestry or hydrological restoration, for example. In t...
Article
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Invasive alien plant species pose a significant global threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services, with climate playing a crucial role in their successful establishment beyond native and recognized non-native ranges. Native to North America, A. fruticosa is recognized for its invasive nature, negatively impacting local species composition in thr...
Article
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A species’ diet niche is shaped by the evolutionary processes of adaptation to the available food resources in its habitat and by competition with ecologically similar species. In the European Alps, Alpine mountain hares ( Lepus timidus varronis ) and European hares ( Lepus europaeus ) occur parapatrically along the elevation gradient and hybridise...
Article
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For centuries, non-native tree (NNT) species have been planted throughout Europe for ecosystem services including timber and urban greenery. Public interest in NNTs has recently increased due to their potential role in climate change adaptation as alternatives to vulnerable native forest tree species. However, opinions regarding the benefits and ri...
Article
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Forestry is facing an unprecedented challenging time. Due to climate change, major tree species, which until recently fulfilled major ecosystem services, are being lost and it is often unclear if forest conversion with other native or non-native tree species (NNT) are able to maintain or restore the endangered ecosystem services. Using data from th...
Presentation
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The urgent need to address biodiversity loss in relation to climate emergencies necessitates the development of effective monitoring tools to assess the pressures on and state of forest biodiversity. This presentation explores the untapped potential of forest biodiversity indicators within the UNECE region, focusing on their applicability for monit...
Article
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A large number of non‐native trees (NNTs) have been introduced globally and widely planted, contributing significantly to the world's economy. Although some of these species present a limited risk of spreading beyond their planting sites, a growing number of NNTs are spreading and becoming invasive leading to diverse negative impacts on biodiversit...
Article
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Habitat degradation and fragmentation are two of the main drivers for biodiversity loss. To mitigate the negative impact of fragmentation in forests, conservation targets are increasingly addressing connectivity to facilitate the independent movement of species between habitat fragments to ensure genetic diversity and adaptation to climate change....
Chapter
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Zusammenfassung Die Technische Zusammenfassung des APCC-Sonderberichts ″Landnutzung und Klimawandel in Österreich″ umfasst die Kernbotschaften der Kapitel 1–9. In ihr sind die Hauptaussagen zu den sozioökonomischen und klimatischen Treibern der Landnutzungsänderungen, zu den Auswirkungen von Landnutzung und -bewirtschaftung auf den Klimawandel, zu...
Chapter
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Zusammenfassung Die Zusammenfassung für Entscheidungstragende fasst die Inhalte des APCC Special Report „Landnutzung und Klimawandel in Österreich“ in komprimierter Form zusammen. Im Lichte des Zusammenhanges von Landnutzung, Klimawandel und gesellschaftlichem Wohlergehen werden die gegenwärtige Situation und zukünftige Entwicklungen in Österreich...
Chapter
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Zusammenfassung Es existiert eine Fülle von potenziellen Maßnahmen der Klimawandelanpassung und Emissionsminderung im Bereich der Landnutzung. Allerdings stehen Klimawandelanpassung und Emissionsminderung nicht notwendigerweise in einem synergistischen Zusammenhang. Neben der Klimarelevanz sind auch andere Kriterien von Bedeutung, wenn die integrat...
Chapter
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Zusammenfassung Die vielfältigen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels führen in Österreich zu einem dringenden Anpassungsbedarf von menschlichen und natürlichen Systemen (APCC, 2014). Während Anpassung prinzipiell ein biologischer oder sozialer Entwicklungsprozess ist, sind jene Anpassungen an den Klimawandel effektiver, die proaktiv, geplant und voraussc...
Article
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The Mura-Drava-Danube transboundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve represents one of the best preserved wetlands in Europe. The Reserve's riparian forests play a significant role in ecosystem functioning and pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) is one of the keystone species of these forests. In recent years, pedunculate oak trees in the Reserve displayed sym...
Article
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Woody and non-woody plant species conservation is one of the ecosystem services provided by agroforestry (AF) systems across the agricultural landscapes. Little attention has been paid to assessing the conservation of plant diversity in AF systems. This study was, thus, aimed at investigating plant species diversity, structure, and composition of t...
Article
Citation: Tesfay, H.M.; Oettel, J.; Lapin, K.; Negash, M. Plant Diversity and Conservation Role of Three Indigenous Agroforestry Systems of Southeastern Rift-Valley Landscapes, Ethiopia. Diversity 2024, 16, 64. Abstract: Woody and non-woody plant species conservation is one of the ecosystem services provided by agroforestry (AF) systems across the...
Article
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Woody and non-woody plant species conservation is one of the ecosystem services provided by agroforestry (AF) systems across the agricultural landscapes. Little attention has been paid to assessing the conservation of plant diversity in AF systems. This study was, thus, aimed at investigating plant species diversity, structure, and composition of t...
Preprint
Full-text available
Woody and non-woody plant species conservation is one of the ecosystem services provided by agroforestry (AF) systems across the agricultural landscapes. Little attention has been paid in as-sessing the plant diversity conservation of AF systems. The study was, thus, aimed to investigate plant species diversity, structure, and composition of three...
Article
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The Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) is an important tool for biological invasion policy and management and has been adopted as an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) standard to measure the severity of environmental impacts caused by organisms living outside their native ranges. EICAT has already been in...
Article
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Purpose of Review As litter decomposition is a fundamental process in forest ecosystems, representing the link between aboveground and belowground biogeochemical processes, we developed an effect size summarisation of the implications of forest management on litter decomposition rate, by applying a multi-level meta-analysis and multivariate mixed-e...
Article
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Riparian forests are particularly vulnerable to environmental change and anthropogenic influences because they are highly dynamic ecosystems, thus proper adaptation measures are crucial. The implementation of these measures, however, strongly depends on the actors’ perceptions of the specific problems occurring in such forests. For understanding th...
Article
Climate change is only continuing to advance, and so its effects are continuing to balloon. Within that, Rosaceae trees, with immense economic and ecological importance, are being variably impacted depending on their usability and niche association. Furthermore, genetic-based conservation is growing in popularity due to its ability to more accurate...
Article
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Non-native tree species-defined as those species intentionally or unintentionally introduced by humans-have long been a part of the Alpine Space, providing numerous benefits, but also posing a potential threat to native biodiversity and related ecosystem services. Compared to the urban space where non-native trees comprise most tree species, the nu...
Chapter
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Im Klimawandel gehören die Wahl geeigneter Baumarten und Samenherkünfte sowie die Anlage von Mischbeständen zu den vielversprechendsten Anpassungsmaßnahmen in der Waldbewirtschaftung (siehe Kap. 2). Ein Baumartenwechsel ist generell durch natürliche oder künstliche Verjüngung möglich. Die natürliche Verjüngung ist jedoch auf die am jeweiligen Stand...
Chapter
Seit fast einem Jahrhundert beschäftigen sich Wissenschaftler:innenaus unterschiedlichen Fachrichtungen der Ökologie, aber auch die forstliche Praxis mit dem Phänomen der Mast, welches die synchrone Produktion großer Samenmengen einer Pflanzenpopulation ganzer Regionen in sehr unregelmäßigen Jahresintervallen beschreibt (Kelly, 1994; Pearse et al.,...
Chapter
Die Nutzung von Wäldern nimmt eine zentrale Stellung in der Gesellschaft ein – von der Selbstversorgung (z. B. Brennholz, Nahrung) bis hin zur Holzversorgung globalisierter Wertschöpfungsketten multinationaler Unternehmen. Wälder spielen eine zentrale Rolle für das globale Klima. Darüber hinaus sind Wälder Lebensraum für unzählige Tier-, Pflanzen-...
Article
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Standing deadwood is an important structural component of forest ecosystems. Its occurrence and dynamics influence both carbon fluxes and the availability of habitats for many species. However, deadwood is greatly reduced in managed, and even in many currently unmanaged temperate forests in Europe. To date, few studies have examined how environment...
Article
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Knowledge of habitat requirements of saproxylic insects and their response to habitat changes is critical for assessing the ecological impacts of forest management. Several studies have demonstrated a positive relationship of tree-species richness, deadwood volume, or structural diversity with saproxylic species diversity, while the relationship wi...
Article
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Riparian forests are among the most diverse terrestrial ecosystems, yet their biodiversity is increasingly threatened by habitat degradation, climate change, river regulation and invasive species. We investigated deadwood, widely recognized as an indicator for forest biodiversity, in riparian forests of the Mura-Drava-Danube Transboundary Biosphere...
Book
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In this pocket guide, we describe 49 non-native tree species (NNT), selected from more than 530 NNT that occur in forests, peri-urban and urban areas in the Alpine Space. We selected these NNT because they are widely distributed in the countries of the Alpine Space (i.e. Austria, Italy, Slovenia, France, Switzerland and Germany) and appear useful f...
Book
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In ten chapters this Handbook provides results and scientific approaches of our partners about the situation of non native tree species in Alpine Forest areas. Selected non native tree species that were already introduced in the Identification Handbook find additional indepht information about legislative frameworks as well as expert's opinions.
Book
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In ten chapters this Handbook provides results and scientific approaches of our partners about the situation of non native tree species in Alpine Forest areas. Selected non native tree species that were already introduced in the Identification Handbook find additional indepht information about legislative frameworks as well as expert's opinions.
Article
Forest ecosystems play a fundamental role in mitigating global environmental changes. The development of environmentally sound behavior, and inter- and intragenerational equity can help counteract these global changes. One type of formal and non-formal environmental education is forest education, which aims to promote the achievement of sustainable...
Article
In a changing world, riparian forests are coming under more and more stress from biotic threats. This impacts all stages from saplings to older trees. One of the most dominant biotic threats are alien species and eruptive pest species. Sustainable silvicultural methods are required to reduce the risk of such biotic threats. We investigated the infl...
Article
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Significant gaps remain in understanding the response of plant reproduction to environmental change. This is partly because measuring reproduction in long-lived plants requires direct observation over many years and such datasets have rarely been made publicly available. Here we introduce MASTREE+, a dataset that collates reproductive time-series d...
Article
Full-text available
Riparian forests are among the most diverse terrestrial ecosystems, yet their biodiversity is increasingly threatened by habitat degradation, climate change, river regulation and invasive species. We investigated deadwood, widely recognized as an indicator for forest biodiversity, in riparian forests of the Mura-Drava-Danube Transboundary Biosphere...
Article
Full-text available
Non-native tree species (NNT) are used in European forestry for many purposes including their growth performance, valuable timber, and resistance to drought and pest or pathogen damage. Yet, cultivating NNT may pose risks to biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and the provisioning of ecosystem services, and several NNT have been classified as inva...
Research
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The development of the report was part of the ALPTREES project (A transnational cooperation for sustainable use and management of non-native trees in urban, peri-urban and forest ecosystems in the Alpine region), co-funded by the Alpine Space Programme (https://www.alpine-space.eu/project/alptrees/). This report presents the main results of the pil...
Technical Report
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Forests in Ethiopia are keys in supporting the livelihood of all Ethiopians by providing most of the energy consumed by the majority of the population, protecting soil erosion, conservation of water in watersheds and supplying other goods and ecological services in the entire landscape. Juniperus procera is one of the most important tree species th...
Article
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The prioritization of alien species according to the magnitude of their environmental impacts has become increasingly important for the management of invasive alien species. In this study, we applied the Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT) to classify alien taxa from three different taxonomic groups to facilitate the prioritis...
Technical Report
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The accelerating rate of species extinction worldwide and the inevitable impact of human activity on biodiversity have increased the demand for conservation, habitat restoration and the sustainable use of ecosystems. Biodiversity indicators are the most commonly used tool to monitor the status and changes of biodiversity and the related impact of m...
Article
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The understanding of spatial distribution patterns of native riparian tree species in Europe lacks accurate species distribution models (SDMs), since riparian forest habitats have a limited spatial extent and are strongly related to the associated watercourses, which needs to be represented in the environmental predictors. However, SDMs are urgentl...
Article
This work synthesizes all aspects of Asclepias syriaca L. (Apocynaceae) including the taxonomy, distribution, history of introduction and spread, ecology, biology, uses and benefits, impacts on biodiversity and agriculture, legislation, and management. Asclepias syriaca is a perennial broad-leaved species native to North America. Introduced for orn...
Book
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Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Switzerland are part of the Alpine space (Figure 1) and the presence of non-native tree (NNT) species has been a reality in the region and in the wider European area for some time. During last hundred years, NNT species have been promoted in forest and urban areas due to their characteris...
Article
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The accelerating global rate of species extinctions and the inevitable human impacts on biodiversity have increased the need to conserve, restore and use ecosystems sustainably. Indicators for biodiversity are the most frequently used tool to monitor the status of biodiversity, changes to biodiversity, and the effects of management actions. In this...
Article
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Drought tolerance is becoming an increasingly important criterion for the selection of tree species, especially in urban areas characterized by low water availability. Apart from drought tolerance, the introduction of non-native species should be considered for new planting programs under such conditions to enhance the resilience of urban forests....
Article
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Sustainably managed non-native trees deliver economic and societal benefits with limited risk of spread to adjoining areas. However, some plantations have launched invasions that cause substantial damage to biodiversity and ecosystem services, while others pose substantial threats of causing such impacts. The challenge is to maximise the benefits o...
Article
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Sustainably managed non-native trees deliver economic and societal benefits with limited risk of spread to adjoining areas. However, some plantations have launched invasions that cause substantial damage to biodiversity and ecosystem services, while others pose substantial threats of causing such impacts. The challenge is to maximise the benefits o...
Chapter
The importance of environmental citizenship has increased in recent decades, particularly with a view to global environmental developments such as climate change and urbanisation. The significance of civic participation in political decision-making processes is therefore increasingly being recognised. Various initiatives focus on the conservation a...
Article
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Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the major threats to global and local biodiversity. In forest ecosystems, the threats caused by IAS include hybridization, transmission of diseases and species competition. This review sets out to analyze the impact of alien plant species on forest regeneration, which we consider to be one of the key stages i...
Article
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Diet is important for understanding the ecology and evolution of populations. When examining animals’ diets, the lowest taxonomic rank (i.e., species level) is generally used. However, it is questionable whether dietary description varies with respect to the plant taxonomy or with the extent of plant species diversity in landscapes. We studied the...
Article
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Europe has a history rich in examples of successful and problematic introductions of trees with a native origin outside of Europe (non-native trees, NNT). Many international legal frameworks such as treaties and conventions and also the European Union have responded to the global concern about potential negative impacts of NNT that may become invas...
Article
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Deadwood is an important structural feature in forests providing essential resources for various organisms. Both forest management and conservation are increasingly focusing on the integration of deadwood into forest management. Deadwood volume and composition are driven by forest type, stand age, natural tree mortality, tree species composition an...
Article
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The expected benefits and potential risks of non-native tree species (NNT) to European geographic regions have polarized the opinions of experts and citizens. Benefits include climate change (CC) mitigation and adaptation, contributions to bioeconomy, urban and peri-urban green infrastructure and mitigation of natural hazards. However, NNT may beco...