Forest Adaptation Strategies to Reconcile Timber Production and Carbon Sequestration Objectives Under Multiple Risks of Extreme Drought and Windstorm Events

Brèteau-Amores, Sandrine; Yousefpour, Rasoul; Hanewinkel, Marc; Fortin, Mathieu

doi:10.2139/ssrn.4154872

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Apart from stabilizing forest trajectories and reducing disturbance impacts, the transitions initiated by browsing reduction, including increase in forest carbon stocks, align with European climate change adaptation strategies (European Commission, 2021; Lindner et al., 2010) and the goals of the Paris Agreement, which promotes forest management as a means of mitigating climate warming by reducing CO 2 concentrations (UN FCCC, 2015). On the downside, shifting forest demography towards smaller diameter trees and changing species composition from conifers to broadleaves can reduce timber production and the amount of habitat related to the presence of large coniferous trees (Brèteau‐Amores et al., 2023; Felton et al., 2016). Still, although the reduction of browsing can set the forest on an adaptation trajectory, the continued overabundance of game remains a realistic possibility due to logistical, economic, legislative, and societal barriers to game regulation (Carpio et al., 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The interacting effect of climate change and herbivory can trigger large‐scale transformations of European temperate forests

Dobor,

Baldo,

Bílek

et al. 2024

Global Change Biology

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In many regions of Europe, large wild herbivores alter forest community composition through their foraging preferences, hinder the forest's natural adaptive responses to climate change, and reduce ecosystem resilience. We investigated a widespread European forest type, a mixed forest dominated by Picea abies, which has recently experienced an unprecedented level of disturbance across the continent. Using the forest landscape model iLand, we investigated the combined effect of climate change and herbivory on forest structure, composition, and carbon and identified conditions leading to ecosystem transitions on a 300‐year timescale. Eight climate change scenarios, driven by Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5 and 8.5, combined with three levels of regeneration browsing, were tested. We found that the persistence of the current level of browsing pressure impedes adaptive changes in community composition and sustains the presence of the vulnerable yet less palatable P. abies. These development trajectories were tortuous, characterized by a high disturbance intensity. On the contrary, reduced herbivory initiated a transformation towards the naturally dominant broadleaved species that was associated with an increased forest carbon and a considerably reduced disturbance. The conditions of RCP4.5 combined with high and moderate browsing levels preserved the forest within its reference range of variability, defining the actual boundaries of resilience. The remaining combinations of browsing and climate change led to ecosystem transitions. Under RCP4.5 with browsing effects excluded, the new equilibrium conditions were achieved within 120 years, whereas the stabilization was delayed by 50–100 years under RCP8.5 with higher browsing intensities. We conclude that forests dominated by P. abies are prone to transitions driven by climate change. However, reducing herbivory can set the forest on a stable and predictable trajectory, whereas sustaining the current browsing levels can lead to heightened disturbance activity, extended transition times, and high variability in the target conditions.

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