Mapping forest research activities in the Mediterranean region G. Scarascia-Mugnozza, G. Di Matteo, S. Bajocco, P. Nardi (CRA) J.C. Valette, G. Herrero, A. Jambois (INRA)
Mediterranean forests: the most important ecological infrastructure of the region High biological diversity, 25,000 species of vascular plants Impacts on the most strategic resources: water and soil High relative importance of non-wood products and non-market services Their sustainability is threatened by climate and land use changes
Large socio-economic differences within the Mediterranean region, but a common environment
Why mapping Mediterranean research capacities? Who... How many... What... Where......conducting forest research
CHARACTERIZING MEDITERRANEAN FORESTRY RESEARCH
FORESTERRA: Enhancing FOrest RESearch in the MediTERRAnean through improved coordination and integration http://193.146.122.109/formtools/clients/index.php A total of 81 forms have been submitted 48 from research organizations and the rest from funding bodies and programs
PARTICIPANT COUNTRIES Countries participating in the FORESTERRA Consortium. Questionnaires survey coverage - Green: complete; Blue: partial; Orange: information collected directly through documentation from main scientific organizations.
Information Forest research structures (number, where) Research staff (permanent, non-permanent) Budget for research (overall, for forestry) Major research subjects Research projects Scientific publications (how many, journals) Research infrastructures
COUNTRY ANALYSIS FRANCE SPAIN ITALY TURKEY CROATIA PORTUGAL GREECE SLOVENIA BULGARIA ALGERIA TUNISIA MOROCCO ISRAEL TOT Overall Budget per year (M ) 87,4 54,1 50,8 27,7 10,1 8,0 7,6 6,6 1,8 1,1 0,8 0,6 na 256,4 TURKEY ITALY SPAIN FRANCE PORTUGAL ISRAEL CROATIA SLOVENIA GREECE BULGARIA MOROCCO ALGERIA TUNISIA TOT Forestry Scientific Structures (Nr) 17 10 9 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 63 FRANCE TURKEY ITALY SPAIN CROATIA BULGARIA GREECE ALGERIA PORTUGAL TUNISIA MOROCCO SLOVENIA ISRAEL TOT Forestry Perm. Staff (Res.+Tech.+Adm.) 878 858 551 481 286 245 148 123 114 110 70 64 36 3964 FRANCE SPAIN ITALY PORTUGAL GREECE TURKEY SLOVENIA CROATIA BULGARIA ISRAEL ALGERIA MOROCCO TUNISIA TOT Forestry Non-perm. staff (Post-doc+PhD stud) 356 335 322 166 140 104 66 38 17 15 na na na 1559 PORTUGAL SLOVENIA GREECE SPAIN FRANCE ITALY ISRAEL CROATIA TURKEY BULGARIA ALGERIA MOROCCO TUNISIA AVG Non-permanent/ Permanent % 188% 100% 99% 73% 71% 65% 54% 33% 32% 13% na na na 73% FRANCE ITALY SPAIN TURKEY PORTUGAL GREECE CROATIA BULGARIA ALGERIA SLOVENIA MOROCCO ISRAEL TUNISIA TOT Total Researchers (perm.+ non-perm.) 777 652 566 548 217 204 192 145 123 100 70 51 42 3687 FRANCE ITALY SPAIN TURKEY PORTUGAL SLOVENIA TUNISIA CROATIA BULGARIA ISRAEL ALGERIA GREECE MOROCCO TOT ISI Papers per year 261 226 221 151 108 38 29 24 21 16 na na na 1095 TURKEY SPAIN ITALY CROATIA SLOVENIA BULGARIA PORTUGAL TUNISIA ALGERIA ISRAEL FRANCE GREECE MOROCCO TOT Number of Forestry projects per year 128 111 87 73 35 34 11 5 4 3 na na na 491 FRANCE SPAIN ITALY TURKEY SLOVENIA CROATIA PORTUGAL BULGARIA TUNISIA ALGERIA ISRAEL GREECE MOROCCO TOT Budget of Forestry Proj. per year (M ) 21,2 17,0 16,4 5,1 3,3 3,0 2,2 0,7 0,2 na na na na 69,05 PORTUGAL ITALY SPAIN SLOVENIA TUNISIA CROATIA TURKEY BULGARIA FRANCE ISRAEL ALGERIA GREECE MOROCCO AVG Mean budget per forestry project (M /project) 0,20 0,19 0,15 0,09 0,05 0,04 0,04 0,02 na na na na na 0,10
Outcomes Some 66 institutions are engaged in forest research and forest education The total, full budget for the FORESTERRA countries amounts at 256 M per year Budget allocated to research projects and competitive grants in forest sciences is 69 M More than 3,600 researchers, including both permanent and non-permanent researchers Ratio non-permanent/permanent staff is 0.7 ISI papers published amount at about 1100 per year (on more than 60 scientific journals)
Dendrogramme elaborated from: Permanent staff,nonpermanent staff, Total Researchers; ISI papers; Number of forestry projects. Metrics: Euclidean distance
Cluster analysis on staff number
MAPPING RESOURCES & CAPACITIES
FORESTRY RESEARCH STAFF 1000 Forestry Permanent Staff: Researchers+Technicians+Administrative 1234 962 900 Forestry Non-permanent staff: Post-doc + PhD students 800 700 600 500 873 816 400 300 200 100 324 288 280 262 130 110 70 0 Nr Total staff employed in forestry scientific organizations. For Tunisia and Morocco data on non-permanent staff are lacking
PUBLICATIONS ON ISI JOURNALS 3 Forest journals with highest IF Most popular forest journals 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Nr Forest Ecology & Management IF: 2.744 European Journal of Forest Research IF: 1.982 International Journal of Wildland Fire IF: 2.231 New Phytologist IF: 6.645 Tree Physiology IF: 2.88 Frequency graph of the top five most popular ISI journals used by the FORESTERRA countries. 2 1 0 Nr Nature IF: 36.280 Science IF: 31.201 Ecology Letters if: 17.557 Trends in Ecology & Evolution IF: 15.748 Trends in Plant Science IF: 11.047 The Plant Cell IF: 10.224 PNAS IF: 9.681 Trends in Biotechnology IF: 9.487 Frontiers in Ecology & Environment IF: 9.113 Frequency graph of the top nine most prestigious IF journals (with highest IF) used by the FORESTERRA countries.
Co-signed publications among FORESTERRA s countries and with other Mediterranean climate countries (Australia, Chile, South Africa, USA).but only partially on Mediterranean forestry
MOST PROMISING RESEARCH LINES
MAPPING EFFICIENCY
How much does an ISI paper cost? 0,008 M 0,072 M 0,124 M NA
How many ISI papers per researcher (per year)? 0,1 0,3 0,7 NA
INFRASTRUCTURES: TYPES & FREQUENCY 1. Experimental forest nursery 2. Forest genetics and Biotechnology lab 3. Forest research site for long-term monitoring 4. Lab and field equipments for climate change studies 5. Meteorological station 6. Forest protection lab (entomology and pathology) 7. Soil lab 8. Eco-physiology lab 9. Experimental field 10. Forest genetic trial network 11. Greenhouses 12. Biomass and wood technology 13. Forest hydrology lab 14. Forest biometry lab 15. Forest geomatics lab 16. Microscopy lab 17. Carbon flux towers 18. Chemistry lab 19. Common garden for testing plant genetic material at local scale 20. Stable isotope lab 21. Wildlife ecology lab 22. Climate chambers and phytotrons 23. Ecology lab 24. Plant analysis lab 25. Silviculture lab 26. Wood harvesting lab 27. Botany lab 28. Environmental lab 29. Gis lab 30. Seed bank 31. Seed Lab 32. Arboretum 33. Ergonomics lab 34. Fire and Wildland fire modelling lab 35. Forest biochemistry lab 36. Micropropagation lab 37. X-ray analysis 38. Arboretum for fauna conservation 39. Botanical garden 40. Economics lab 41. Farm and experimental services 42. Forest construction and transportation lab 43. Informatics lab 44. Mobile Lab Unit 45. Rainfall simulator 46. Rhizotrons Frequency in FORESTERRA Countries: >10 5-10 2-5 <2
INFRASTRUCTURES COVERAGE Which countries have more types of infrastructures in forestry research? 15-25% 25-35% 35-45% 45-55% 55-65% NA NA
Some conclusions High geographic and thematic fragmentation of research capacities in the Mediterranean Considerable number of scientific publications on ISI journals, from forest research, in Mediterranean countries Potential for substantial improvements within the forest research sector, in Mediterranean countries Major opportunities exist to reinforce the coordination and integration of forest research capacities and programmes to reduce the high fragmentation and to maximize the impacts of Mediterranean forest research Large added value are expected from creating a truly integrated research community and improving quality research on forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean area