Forests have ecological functions in water conservation, climate regulation, environmental purification, soil and water conservation, biodiversity protection and so on. Carrying out forest ecological quality assessment is of great significance to understand the global carbon cycle, energy cycle and climate change. Based on the introduction of the concept and research methods of forest ecological quality, this paper analyzes and summarizes the evaluation of forest ecological quality from three comprehensive indicators: forest biomass, forest productivity and forest structure. This paper focuses on the construction of evaluation index system, the acquisition of evaluation data and the estimation of key ecological parameters, discusses the main problems existing in the current forest ecological quality evaluation, and looks forward to its development prospects, including the unified standardization of evaluation indexes, high-quality data, the impact of forest living environment, the acquisition of forest level from multi-source remote sensing data, the application of vertical structural parameters and the interaction between forest ecological quality and ecological function.

The wave effect and the shyness phenomenon in Alnus acuminata (Kunth) are crown parameters rarely studied, but important in the quality of the wood of standing trees, therefore, a morphometric modeling of the crowns of Alnus acuminata in homogeneous forests in the Sierra Norte de Puebla was carried out. In 20 rectangular sites of 1,000 m², the following were evaluated: total height (TA), normal diameter (ND), crown diameter (CD) and crown cover (CC). The Kruskal Wallis test was applied to data that did not meet the assumption of normality; for those that did, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used, with Tukey mean comparison tests (α ≤ 0.05). The forest value index was 14.99, so its two-dimensional structure is normal based on DN, AT and CC. Its average slenderness index was 93.52, which makes the tree not very stable to mechanical damage. The life-space index was 38.92, which is high indicating that trees with low intraspecific competition developed better. At the canopy level, a pattern following an upward, oscillatory and constant wave effect was observed in groups of 10 trees. The shyness phenomenon showed an average crack opening of 27.39 cm between canopies, so this phenomenon is well defined for the species. It is concluded that in the crowns of Alnus acuminata, the wave effect is observed as a consequence of inequality in the acquisition of resources, and one way to minimize this inequality is through the phenomenon of botanical shyness.

Species of the Moraceae family are of great economic, medicinal and ecological importance in Amazonia. However, there are few studies on their diversity and population dynamics in residual forests. The objective was to determine the composition, structure and ecological importance of Moraceae in a residual forest. The applied method was descriptive and consisted of establishing 16 plots of 20 m × 50 m (0.10 ha), in a residual forest of the Alexánder von Humboldt substation of the National Institute of Agrarian Innovation-INIA, Pucallpa, department of Ucayali, where individuals of arboreal or hemi-epiphytic habit, with DBH ≥ 2.50 cm, were evaluated. The floristic composition was represented by 33 species, distributed in 12 genera; five species not recorded for Ucayali were found. Structurally, the family was represented by 138 individuals/ha with a horizontal distribution similar to an irregular inverted “J”. However, there were different horizontal structures among species. It was determined that 85% of the species were in diameter class I (2.50 to 9.99 cm), being the most abundant Pseudolmedia laevis (Ruiz & Pav.) J.F. Macbr. (41.88 individuals/ha); and the most dominant were Brosimum utile (Kunth) Oken (1.71 m²∕ha) and Brosimum alicastrum subsp. bolivarense (Pittier) C.C.Berg (0.90 m²/ha). Likewise, P. laevis and B. utile were the most ecologically important. The information from the present research will allow the establishment of a baseline, which can be used to propose the management of Moraceae in residual forests in the same study area.

With the purpose of identifying the characteristics of variation in fruit size and seed production (potential and efficiency) of Cedrela odorata L. between sites and progenies established in the ejido La Balsa, municipality of Emiliano Zapata, Veracruz, fruits were harvested from 20 trees in February 2013, preserving the identity of each one. Fruit length and width were measured, seed was extracted and developed and aborted seeds were counted to calculate Seed Production Potential (SPP) and Seed Efficiency (SE). The results showed significant differences between sites and between progenies and for fruit length between sites. The mean values found were: 32.52 mm (fruit length), 18.73 mm (fruit width), 39.9 seeds per fruit (SPP) and 57.51% (SE). The seed of this species for its use should be selected taking into account the production characteristics of crops and outstanding individual trees, in addition, due to the current regulatory restrictions on seed collection, the establishment of trials and plantations for germplasm production is a viable option for forest management of the species.

The ultimate objective of the study was to investigate the effects of being landlocked on the living standards in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1991 to 2019. Adopting the two-step estimation technique of System GMM (generalized method of moments), the study found that being landlocked has a negative and significant effect on the living standards in SSA countries when using GDP per capita as the living standard measure. Moreover, the historical living standard experiences of SSA countries have a positive and significant influence on the current living standard level. In addition, the population growth rate has a positive and significant effect on the living standards in SSA countries. On the other hand, the official exchange rate, broad money as a percentage of GDP, and inflation have a negative and significant effect on the living standards in SSA countries. Generally, the estimated result reveals the existence of a significant variation in the living standards in landlocked and coastal SSA countries. This study suggests that regional integration between landlocked and transit countries should be improved to minimize entry costs and increase access to global markets for landlocked countries. We argue that this study is of interest to landlocked and coastal countries to increase trade integration and promote the development of both groups, and it will contribute to the scarce empirical evidence.