SustForest Resin Lab: A network of experimental and monitoring plots of the resin resource

Resin production test plot in a European forest

Source:

Personal communication outside INCREDIBLE events

Objective:

Researchers and forest managers interested in the study of the resin resource have difficulties in locating and accessing experimental data generated in previous projects.

This circumstance means the loss of precious research and management resources and the experimental data, obtained at the cost of significant technical and economic effort.

SustForest Resin Lab is a platform to share experimental and management data, facilitating both the offer of such data, as well as access to data generated by other agents and the possibility to request its use.

Context:

Over the last few decades, a large number of research projects have been carried out in Europe concerning natural resin resources, which have generated a significant volume of experimental data of high scientific and technical value.

However, researchers and forest managers face the difficulty of accessing these data, as they are scattered in the scientific literature or in private archives, difficult or impossible to locate.

SustForest Resin Lab is a web repository open to the consultation and request of field data available in the area of natural resin experimentation.

Main results:

SustForest Resin Lab offers a European-wide database with metadata of experimental plots in the natural resin field.

This database can be accessed both through a web viewer and an online catalogue that offers the main characteristics of each of the plots, both technical and administrative.

The web platform allows the interested users (1) to offer the data collected in plots managed by them, and (2) to request access to the data of the plots already included in the repository, and/or access to the plot for new experimentation.

Main practical recommendations:

To include a plot in the SustForest Resin Lab repository a form must be sent to the network manager that will include aspects such as objectives and protocols of experimentation, available data, and seizure period, among others.

The network manager will request periodically the update of the collected information to the plot managers.

The use of the SustForest Resin Lab resin plots network must be preceded by a request that will be evaluated with the plot managers to ensure its viability and concurrence with other ongoing activities.

Impacts and weaknesses:

The network of plots for the Resin experimentation SustForest ResinLab is constituted as a scientific-technical infrastructure to improve the experimentation and monitoring of the resin activity in Europe in the medium and long term.

Future developments:

SustForest Resin Lab should integrate a system that allows the monitoring of the productions and other parameters between campaigns or within the same campaign, through a standardized protocol at the European level to improve sectoral statistics.

Organisation:

Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria

Fundación Cesefor

Contacts:

Ricardo Alía Miranda, alia@inia.es, http://www.inia.es/inia/.

Javier Calvo-Simón, cesefor@cesefor.com, http://www.cesefor.com/.