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Hardwood-dominated temperate forests (mostly in Eastern North America, Europe, North East Asia) provide valuable renewable timber and numerous ecosystem services. Many of these forests have been subjected to harvesting or conversion to agriculture, sometimes over centuries, that have greatly reduced their former extent and diversity. Natural regeneration following harvesting or during post-agricultural succession has often failed to restore these forests adequately. Past harvesting practices and the valuable timber of some species have led to a reduction in their abundance. The loss of apex predators has caused herbivore populations to increase and exert intense browsing pressure on hardwood regeneration, often preventing it. Particularly important are fruit, nut and acorn bearing species, because of their vital role in forest food webs and biodiversity. Restoring hardwood species to natural forests in which they were formerly more abundant will require a number of forest management actions (e.g., resistant hybrids, deer exclosures/protectors, enrichment planting, underplanting, etc.). Similarly, reforesting areas that were once natural forests will also require new silvicultural knowledge. Global warming trends will intensify the need for interventions to maintain the diversity and function of temperate hardwood forests, as well as for increase hardwood reforestation.

forest restoration --- Fagaceae species --- seed predation --- seedling establishment --- sub-tropical hardwoods --- native mixed forests --- agroforestry --- riparian forest restoration --- hardwoods --- Juglans nigra --- Quercus macrocarpa --- Pinus strobus --- vegetation management --- weed control --- nitrate --- phosphorus --- deer abundance --- forest diversity --- avian guilds --- protected landscape area --- understorey --- unmanaged forest --- tree shelter --- deer browsing --- hardwood restoration --- assisted migration --- enrichment planting --- shelterwood --- Pinus strobus L. --- Quercus rubra L. --- Carya cordiformis (Wangenh.) K. Koch --- Juglans nigra L. --- Quercus rubra --- oak regeneration --- Central Hardwood Forest region --- shelterwood --- deer herbivory --- sugar maple --- yellow birch --- tree vigor --- growth efficiency index --- tree selection --- invasive plants --- forest restoration --- soil disturbance --- herbicide effects --- forest regeneration --- floristic quality index --- species composition --- Bioclimatic niche --- Durango --- Mexican tree species --- MaxEnt --- non-parametric correlation --- forest restoration --- wildfire --- biological diversity --- cultural diversity --- ecosystem services --- monitoring --- indicators --- inventory --- Native Americans --- non-timber forest products --- tree plantation --- abandoned agricultural field --- predation --- competition --- tolerance --- facilitation --- precision restoration

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Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have already become an affordable and cost-efficient tool to quickly map a targeted area for many emerging applications in the arena of ecological monitoring and biodiversity conservation. Managers, owners, companies, and scientists are using professional drones equipped with high-resolution visible, multispectral, or thermal cameras to assess the state of ecosystems, the effect of disturbances, or the dynamics and changes within biological communities inter alia. We are now at a tipping point on the use of drones for these type of applications over natural areas. UAV missions are increasing but most of them are testing applicability. It is time now to move to frequent revisiting missions, aiding in the retrieval of important biophysical parameters in ecosystems or mapping species distributions. This Special Issue shows UAV applications contributing to a better understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem status, threats, changes, and trends. It documents the enhancement of knowledge in ecological integrity parameters mapping, long-term ecological monitoring based on drones, mapping of alien species spread and distribution, upscaling ecological variables from drone to satellite images: methods and approaches, rapid risk and disturbance assessment using drones, mapping albedo with UAVs, wildlife tracking, bird colony and chimpanzee nest mapping, habitat mapping and monitoring, and a review on drones for conservation in protected areas.

UAV --- great apes --- conservation --- survey --- Tanzania --- image resolution --- UAV --- aerial survey --- long-term monitoring --- Plegadis falcinellus --- bird censuses --- supervised classification --- image processing --- radio-tracking --- Motus --- drone --- boreal forest --- precision --- accuracy --- response surface --- forêt Montmorency --- UAVs --- ecological integrity --- LTER --- LTSER --- multispectral mapping --- ground-truth --- Parrot Sequoia --- Sentinel-2 --- hyperspectral --- UAS --- native grassland --- random forest --- low-cost UAV --- greenness index --- Pinus nigra --- Pinus sylvestris --- forest regeneration --- flight altitude --- small UAV --- unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) --- field experiments --- LTSER --- drought --- multiscale approach --- NDVI --- Sequoia --- protected areas --- drones --- RPAS --- conservation --- effective management --- biodiversity threats --- UAV --- albedo --- hyperspectral --- Landsat 8 --- Sentinel-2 --- Sentinel --- UAV --- Parrot SEQUOIA --- multispectral --- vegetation indices --- rice crops --- western swamphen --- UAVs --- ecological monitoring --- biological conservation --- drone mapping --- biodiversity --- phenology