Selective and traditional forest management options for black pine forests in Central Italy: effects on ecosystem services

Abstract

Abstract. Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) should be able to produce an optimal level of bundle of Ecosystem Services (ES), thus ensuring more resilient forest ecosystems and creating benefits for local population and human well-being. Yet, choosing between alternative forest management practices is not straightforward as it necessarily involves ES trade-offs. Forest management decisions have to reconcile the socio-economic and ecological contributions of forest ecosystems by fostering a synergistic relation between multiple ES while lowering ES trade-offs. The aim of the study is to analyze different forest management practices (selective and traditional thinning) in black pine peri-urban forest in Central Italy, by investigating their contribution in terms of provisioning (wood production), cultural (recreational benefits) and regulating (climate change mitigation) ES. For each management option was performed: (1) a biophysical assessment of selected ES by using primary data and calculating indicators for wood production with special regard to biomass for energy use (living trees and deadwood volume harvested), recreational benefits (tourists' preferences for each forest management practice), climate change mitigation (carbon sequestration in above-ground and below-ground biomass), and (2) an economic valuation of wood production, recreational benefits and climate change mitigation ES using direct and indirect methods (environmental evaluation techniques). The results show that the effects of the selective thinning on ES are higher that the effects of the traditional thinning. The economic value of the three ES provided by traditional and selective thinning are respectively: bioenergy production 154. and 36.2 € ha -1 yr -1 . The integrated (biophysical and economic) assessment of ES in addition to the trade-off analysis can provide multi-perspective insights for forest policy makers and can be included as a part of the local forest management plans.

Comparing Thinning System Effects on Ecosystem Services Provision in Artificial Black Pine (Pinus nigra J. F. Arnold) Forests

“…Concerning wood production, the selective thinning yielded a higher harvesting rate and a higher percentage of roundwood compared with woodchips. The results are comparable to those in a black pine peri-urban forest in Central Italy where the harvesting rate is higher with selective thinning [38]. Even if the Italian market is mainly directed toward bioenergy production, more valuable wood assortments (i.e., roundwood or poles) can be obtained and sold on the market.…”

“…The annual forest capacity to transform atmospheric carbon into biomass was estimated considering two carbon pools (above-ground biomass and below-ground biomass); while the other three carbon pools (litter, soil, and deadwood) were not considered as the changes in the annual increment of carbon stock are negligible. In accordance with the approach proposed by [38,47], the biophysical assessment of carbon sequestration (C) in above-ground and below-ground biomass of the two study areas was estimated using the annual increment of tree volume (m 3 ha −1 ·yr −1 ) measured after the two silvicultural treatments.…”

“…Annual increments of volume were estimated by taking random wood samples with a Pressler borer from trees distributed across all diameter classes in the forest monitoring sectors and estimated at plot level. The other parameters considered in the estimation of C sequestration in above-ground and below-ground biomass were wood basal density, biomass expansion factor, and root/shoot ratio of black pine [38,47].…”

“…The average number of candidate trees per hectare must be balanced according to species and rotation age (i.e., maximum potential crown width), selected among the most vigorous and stable ones. With selective thinning, 30-40% of basal area is removed and all crown competitors trees are harvested, including standing dead trees and lying deadwood slightly decomposed [37,38].…”

Taper Function for Pinus nigra in Central Italy: Is a More Complex Computational System Required?

“…Recent studies also raised the interest in the ability of Pinus nigra spp. to provide a wide range of ecosystem services [20,21] creating an ecologically dynamic system where biodiversity level increased quickly, thanks to all the ecological processes restored due to the artificial stands [22]. A new potential roundwood market has also been studied in addition to woodchips [5,23] and non-woody products such as truffles [24,25].…”