Ecological Stability of Mixed-Species Forests

Bauhus, Jürgen; Forrester, David I.; Gardiner, Barry; Jactel, Hervé; Vallejo, V. Ramón; Pretzsch, Hans

doi:10.1007/978-3-662-54553-9_7

Cited by 101 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 159 publications

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“…This is in agreement with two recent reviews in which the effect of tree species richness on forest resistance to stress and disturbance was found to strongly depend on the type of disturbance and the tree species involved (Bauhus et al . ; Jactel et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relations in European forests depend on environmental context

et al. 2017

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The importance of biodiversity in supporting ecosystem functioning is generally well accepted. However, most evidence comes from small-scale studies, and scaling-up patterns of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (B-EF) remains challenging, in part because the importance of environmental factors in shaping B-EF relations is poorly understood. Using a forest research platform in which 26 ecosystem functions were measured along gradients of tree species richness in six regions across Europe, we investigated the extent and the potential drivers of context dependency of B-EF relations. Despite considerable variation in species richness effects across the continent, we found a tendency for stronger B-EF relations in drier climates as well as in areas with longer growing seasons and more functionally diverse tree species. The importance of water availability in driving context dependency suggests that as water limitation increases under climate change, biodiversity may become even more important to support high levels of functioning in European forests.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relations in European forests depend on environmental context

et al. 2017

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“…While particular ecosystem services may be provided to a higher degree in specific monocultures, mixtures are better suited to provide multiple ecosystem services, where each service may be provided at a somewhat reduced degree compared to monocultures specifically focussed on the respective ecosystem service; a phenomenon termed the "Jack-of-all-trades-effect" of mixtures (van der Plas et al 2016). This effect appears to be particularly important in contexts such as publicly owned forests managed on long rotations, where it is highly unpredictable which ecosystem services future generations may wish to obtain from forests and at what level (Bauhus et al 2017a). Mixtures may thus buffer forest management against changes in societal aspirations and consequently help maintain sustainable forest ecosystems.…”

Section: Mixed Forests and Plantations: Providing Insurance Against Gmentioning

confidence: 99%

The functional complex network approach to foster forest resilience to global changes

et al. 2019

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Human impacts on Earth's ecosystems have greatly intensified in the last decades. This is reflected in unexpected disturbance events, as well as new and increasing socio-economic demands, all of which are affecting the resilience of forest ecosystems worldwide and the provision of important ecosystem services. This Anthropocene era is forcing us to reconsider past and current forest management and silvicultural practices, and search for new ones that are more flexible and better at dealing with the increasing uncertainty brought about by these accelerating and cumulative global changes. Here, we briefly review the focus and limitations of past and current forest management and silvicultural practices mainly as developed in Europe and North America. We then discuss some recent promising concepts, such as managing forests as complex adaptive systems, and approaches based on resilience, functional diversity, assisted migration and multi-species plantations, to propose a novel approach to integrate the functionality of species-traits into a functional complex network approach as a flexible and multi-scale way to manage forests for the Anthropocene. This approach takes into consideration the high level of uncertainty associated with future environmental and societal changes. It relies on the quantification and dynamic monitoring of functional diversity and complex network indices to manage forests as a functional complex network. Using this novel approach, the most efficient forest management and silvicultural practices can be determined, as well as where, at what scale, and at what intensity landscape-scale resistance, resilience and adaptive capacity of forests to global changes can be improved.

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“…Another proposal is the 'close-to-nature' approach, which promotes diversity regarding species mixtures, age structure, spatial scales, and heterogeneous stand structures as opposed to even-aged intensive industrial plantations [204,215]. Such silvicultural developments are focused on diversity and heterogeneity, which are more likely to cope with new conditions when subject to unpredictable stress or disturbance, and thus have been proposed for dealing with global change [216]. They imply different stand level adaptation measurements regarding forest regeneration, thinning, or harvesting.…”

Section: A Paradigm Shiftmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactions between Climate and Nutrient Cycles on Forest Response to Global Change: The Role of Mixed Forests

Andrés

2019

Forests

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Forest ecosystems are undergoing unprecedented changes in environmental conditions due to global change impacts. Modification of global biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen, and the subsequent climate change are affecting forest functions at different scales, from physiology and growth of individual trees to cycling of nutrients. This review summarizes the present knowledge regarding the impact of global change on forest functioning not only with respect to climate change, which is the focus of most studies, but also the influence of altered nitrogen cycle and the interactions among them. The carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) fertilization effect on tree growth is expected to be constrained by nutrient imbalances resulting from high N deposition rates and the counteractive effect of increasing water deficit, which interact in a complex way. At the community level, responses to global change are modified by species interactions that may lead to competition for resources and/or relaxation due to facilitation and resource partitioning processes. Thus, some species mixtures can be more resistant to drought than their respective pure forests, albeit it depends on environmental conditions and species' functional traits. Climate change and nitrogen deposition have additional impacts on litterfall dynamics, and subsequent decomposition and nutrient mineralization processes. Elemental ratios (i.e., stoichiometry) are associated with important ecosystem traits, including trees' adaptability to stress or decomposition rates. As stoichiometry of different ecosystem components are also influenced by global change, nutrient cycling in forests will be altered too. Therefore, a re-assessment of traditional forest management is needed in order to cope with global change. Proposed silvicultural systems emphasize the key role of diversity to assure multiple ecosystem services, and special attention has been paid to mixed-species forests. Finally, a summary of the patterns and underlying mechanisms governing the relationships between diversity and different ecosystems functions, such as productivity and stability, is provided.Human appropriation of land and water for agriculture and other purposes; emission of extraneous compounds to the atmosphere and water, extraction of food, fuel, and fiber from natural ecosystems; and transport of species around the globe, have pervasively influenced Earth's climate, hydrology, biogeochemistry, land cover, and species diversity [6,7]. The Earth and its ecosystems are undergoing rapid global change, driven by natural and human-induced factors, that is expected to influence plant species' dominance and distribution, primary productivity, and nutrient cycles worldwide [5,8]. Demographic, economic, socio-political, cultural, scientific, and technological factors (i.e., indirect drivers) cause physical and biological changes (i.e., direct drivers) in ecosystems. Global change involves the simultaneous and rapid alteration of several key environmental parameters that control the dynamics of forests [9,1...

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Ecological Stability of Mixed-Species Forests

Cited by 101 publications

References 159 publications

Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relations in European forests depend on environmental context

Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relations in European forests depend on environmental context

The functional complex network approach to foster forest resilience to global changes

Interactions between Climate and Nutrient Cycles on Forest Response to Global Change: The Role of Mixed Forests

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