| The aim of the DECIDE project is the development and testing of a decision-making tool for climate adapted protective forest management. With the help of the DECIDE-tool, decisions in silviculture with regard to sustainable, preventive forest management for the preservation and creation of climate-safe forests will be significantly supported. An essential pillar is the modeling and forecasting of damage susceptibilities of Austrian forests (with special consideration of climate-resilient tree species) along with a comprehensible visualization of adaptive capacities for sustainable and preventive forest management. The second pillar is the decision tool, which takes these predisposition assessments and options for action into account. The tool will be developed on the basis of the model regions of Styria and Lower Austria, thus providing the basis for an Austrian-wide application.
The project is organized into 7 work packages (WPs):
WP1 Project administration and coordination
WP2 Data preparation:
Prepare, transform, and merge existing geodata; calculate specific parameters for predisposition modeling, e.g. from LiDAR data
WP3 Model development:
Literature review on the most important potential damage factors and predisposition drivers for important forest tree species of the climate-smart forest (e.g. larch, fir, pine); create or adapt existing predisposition models for abiotic and biotic damaging factors (e.g. fire, Ips acuminatus, Armillaria s.l., or ruminant browsing) and linking of predisposition models according to the interaction of damaging factors
WP4 Model application:
Apply predisposition models for abiotic and biotic damaging factors to the currently prevailing forest-management context and to existing climate change scenarios
WP5 Decision tool development:
Lead stakeholder workshops to identify forest management variables that are needed for the decision tool and for applications in the forest protection sector, respectively; adapt and modify the decision tool to accommodate the identified variables
WP6 Interface definition and implementation along with synthesis:
Define the interfaces between the models generated in WP3 and WP4 along with their implementation in the DECIDE-tool; develop and test web application for the DECIDE-tool
WP7 Dissemination and communication:
Hold stakeholder workshops and trainings on the application and interpretation of the DECIDE-tool; publish articles in scientific and popular scientific outlets. |