What is the potential for replacing monocultures with mixed-species stands to enhance ecosystem services in boreal forests in Fennoscandia?

Huuskonen, Saija; Domisch, Timo; Finér, Leena; Hantula, Jarkko; Hynynen, Jari; Matala, Juho; Miina, Jari; Neuvonen, Seppo; Nevalainen, Seppo; Niemistö, Pentti; Nikula, Ari; Piri, Tuula; Siitonen, Juha; Smolander, Aino; Tonteri, Tiina; Uotila, Karri; Viiri, Heli

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118558

Cited by 115 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 226 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Secondly, the growth rate of the individual trees is slower than that of the surrounding Norway spruce. These findings indicate that the birch proportion in mixtures demands active management in order to retain the mixture over the full rotation, which is a finding likewise supported by independent results from experiments and scenario analysis (Fahlvik et al 2015;Holmström et al 2015;Holmström et al 2016b;Huuskonen et al 2021). Active management to preserve spruce-birch mixtures may involve heavier thinning in Norway spruce stands, reducing the overall competitive pressures in the stand.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

“…Thirty years ago, a new forest act was implemented which emphasized the need to balance multiple objectives for forest lands (Gustafsson and Perhans 2010). Mixed forest of planted conifers and naturally regenerated broadleaves are suggested as a measure to combine both a sustainable wood supply and a high level of biodiversity conservation (Bergquist et al 2016;Felton et al 2010;Felton et al 2016) and in Fennoscandia, mixed-forests represent less than 20% of forest land area (Huuskonen et al 2021). The definition of what counts as a mixture versus a monoculture varies across studies (Bravo-Oviedo et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Keeping mixtures of Norway spruce and birch in production forests: insights from survey data

Holmström

Carlström

Goude

et al. 2021

Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Admixtures of birch in Norway spruce plantations are being promoted as a means to increase habitat and species diversity. The implications of this mixture were analysed with regional survey data from southern Sweden. Permanent sample plots from the Swedish National Forest Inventory (NFI), with Norway spruce and admixture of birch, were used to describe the temporal trends in the admixture, regarding species composition and competitive strength. Observations from thinned plots show a higher harvest removal in birch (35%) than for Norway spruce (19%). Observations without thinnings in the period before measurement showed that individual birch tree growth was lower compared to Norway spruce and it decreased even more with increasing stand age and competition. In addition, a complementary field survey, with multiple distributed sample plots in each stand, was used to detect within-stand variation of species composition and density. Although within-stand heterogeneity was larger in mixed stands in terms of species composition, it was not different from Norway spruce monocultures in terms of stand density. These two surveys show that the admixture of birch, for several reasons, decreases over stand age and although birch increases tree species diversity, it does not necessary imply a change in density.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Keeping mixtures of Norway spruce and birch in production forests: insights from survey data

Holmström

Carlström

Goude

et al. 2021

Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We note, then again, that the management alternatives simulated in our study were limited in terms of all of the choices that can be made in stand management, such as the timing and intensity of harvesting, use of fertilization, and choice of tree species planted after final felling or favored during thinnings. For example, as encouraged by Finnish recommendations and as implemented in our study, rotation forestry favors the development of coniferous monocultures, but research suggests that mixed-species stands may be better at providing multiple ecosystem services (Huuskonen et al 2021). Tree species choice may also be guided by specific management goals such as resistance to herbivory instead of site type, with consequences on ecosystem services and biodiversity (Felton et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Forest multifunctionality is not resilient to intensive forestry

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is ample evidence that intensive management of ecosystems causes declines in biodiversity as well as in multiple ecosystem services, i.e., in multifunctionality. However, less is known about the permanence and reversibility of these responses. To gain insight into whether multifunctionality can be sustained under intensive management, we developed a framework building on the concept of resilience: a system’s ability to avoid displacement and to return or transform to a desired state. We applied it to test the ability of forest multifunctionality to persist during and recover from intensive management for timber production in a boreal forest. Using forest growth simulations and multiobjective optimization, we created alternative future paths where the forest was managed for maximal timber production, for forest multifunctionality, or first maximal timber production and then multifunctionality. We show that forest multifunctionality is substantially diminished under intensive forestry and recovers the slower, the longer intensive forestry has been continued. Intensive forestry thus not only reduces forest multifunctionality but hinders its recovery should management goals change, i.e., weakens its resilience. The results suggest a need to adjust ecosystem management according to long-term sustainability goals already today.

show abstract

“…For example, a forest in southern Europe with a dry and warm climate includes tree species that differ from a forest in Scandinavia or a high mountain forest [71]. Furthermore, variations in forestry systems are largely neglected, but mixed forests provide higher levels of most ES-as well as higher biodiversity-compared to monocultures [72]. Additionally, changes over time within seminatural LULC types, such as the densification of shrubs and forests [10], are not reflected.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Prospectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Ecosystem Services across Europe Due to Land-Use/Cover Changes

Schirpke

Tasser

2021

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The growing pressure on society due to global change requires better integration of ecosystem services (ES) into decision-making. Despite a growing number of ES assessments, Europe-wide information on recent changes of multiple ES is still rare. This study aimed at analysing changes in ES values between 2000 and 2018 across Europe based on land use/land cover (LULC) distribution. We mapped 19 ES for 52 ecoregions and identified six major groups of ecoregions with similar LULC distribution and trends. Our results indicated that provisioning ES mainly increased in the forest-dominated region (G2), decreasing in the near-natural grassland region (G1), the region with agricultural mixed systems (G3), and the intensively-used steppic region (G6). Regulating ES slightly decreased in G1 and G6, but increased in G2 and the wetland-dominated region (G5). Cultural ES had generally low negative trends for most ecoregions. In addition, our results revealed ecoregions with differing trends in ES that could be related to specific socioeconomic developments. Our findings provide spatial and quantitative information that can be used for policy development at European national and regional levels—as well as for monitoring of ES.

show abstract

What is the potential for replacing monocultures with mixed-species stands to enhance ecosystem services in boreal forests in Fennoscandia?

Cited by 115 publications

References 226 publications

Keeping mixtures of Norway spruce and birch in production forests: insights from survey data

Keeping mixtures of Norway spruce and birch in production forests: insights from survey data

Forest multifunctionality is not resilient to intensive forestry

Trends in Ecosystem Services across Europe Due to Land-Use/Cover Changes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About