Management of oak forests: striking a balance between timber production, biodiversity and cultural services

Abstract

Identification of the ecosystem services provided by oak-dominated forests in southern Sweden is a prerequisite for ensuring their conservation and sustainable management. These forests seem well-suited for multiple-use forestry, but knowledge is limited regarding how to manage them for multiple uses. Management for the production of high-value timber species like oaks and management to conserve biodiversity, or for cultural services can be in conflict with each other. This study evaluates the capacity of three contrasting management regimes to provide societies with economic revenue from timber production, habitats for biodiversity and cultural services, and the study analyses associated trade-offs and synergies. The three regimes were: intensive oak timber production (A), combined management for both timber production and biodiversity (B) and biodiversity conservation without management intervention (C). We synthesized relevant scientific literature, governmental statistics and grey literature. Our assessments identified that Regime A provided the highest levels of economic returns and the lowest level of biodiversity. Regime C provided higher levels of habitat provision but at expense of wood production and cultural services. In contrast, Regime B provided a balanced delivery of timber production, biodiversity conservation and cultural services. We identified several stand-management options which provide comparatively synergistic outcomes in ecosystem services delivery. The use of these management options in combination with more traditional stand-management approaches may be a more effective means of achieving sustainable forest goods and services.

Influence of canopy openness, ungulate exclosure, and low‐intensity fire for improved oak regeneration in temperate Europe

“…Oaks (Quercus L.) are typical components of northern temperate ecosystems in which they provide multiple ecosystem services (Johnson, Shifley, Rogers, Dey, & Kabrick, 2018;Löf et al, 2016;Mölder, Meyer, & Nagel, 2019). Due to their disproportionate importance for biodiversity they are foundational species (Dayton, 1972;Ellison et al, 2005), creating crucial habitats for saproxylic invertebrates (Jonsell, Weslien, & Ehnström, 1998), lichens, fungi (Ranius, Eliasson, & Johansson, 2008), and birds (Rodewald & Abrams, 2002).…”

Success factors for high-quality oak forest (Quercus robur, Q. petraea) regeneration

“…Oak forests in Central Europe with pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) and sessile oak (Q. petraea) are highly valued by forestry and nature conservation, since they frequently provide both high quality timber and a rich and typical biodiversity (Lüpke 1998; Brändle and Brandl 2001;Löf et al 2016;Leuschner and Ellenberg 2017;Mölder et al 2019). Within the framework of close-tonature forestry (Pommerening and Murphy 2004;Brang et al 2014), oak forest regeneration techniques that consider both silvicultural and nature conservation demands have become a very important issue.…”

The value of local habitat heterogeneity and productivity when estimating avian species richness and species of concern

“…Conservation and land managers are guided by ecological and social factors and try to balance biodiversity and productivity when identifying, preserving, and restoring areas beneficial to animal diversity (Löf et al 2015). Thus, the knowledge of how and where local habitat heterogeneity and productivity benefit animal richness is critical to the success of their conservation actions.…”