Forests, Carbon Pool, and Timber Production

A Holistic View of Soils in Delivering Ecosystem Services in Forests: A Case Study in South Korea

“…According to Kim [48], the biomass production might be higher in scenarios increasing the tree species diversity. Second, a mixture of tree species can exploit the nutrient and soil moisture pool of soil profiles more diversely than a mono-species tree stand can [33], thus minimizing the risk of nutrient and water depletion (Figure 1). Therefore, the increase in soil biodiversity leads to a better responsiveness to extreme phenomena resulting from climate change that can worsen their degradation, thus improving the resilience of the ecosystem [74] and contributing to a lower risk of landslides, droughts, or soil erosion.…”

“…Note that the maximum water supply would be achieved with an intermediate tree density [63]. Finally, the establishment of mixed-species forests affects the adaptation to climate change positively, since it implies that different species are occupying different ecological niches [33] and the risks from climate change are consequently distributed over different species having a wide variety of vulnerabilities, thus ensuring soil protection against future disturbances [75][76][77]. However, the increase in tree species diversity should be carried out carefully, since the relation between diversity and ecosystem processes is not always linearly positive (i.e., the species are singular and each species contributes in a unique way to the ecosystem processes).…”

“…Following this definition, in order to include soil preservation in forest management, to incentivize sustainable management in forests, and to ensure the resilience of the forest ecosystem, financial and policy instruments should be considered. It is important to note that such policy formation is not a static process, but it must be continuously reviewed in an iterative process where the "adaptive management" [81] allows reviewing and modifying decisions and processes and developing options for stakeholders and policymakers, leading management practices to develop as it proceeds [33]. In the following section, we discuss potential approaches.…”

“…However, the study of C sequestration in forests rarely considers the soil C pool, which together with the C in the biomass exceeds the amount of C in the atmosphere [32]. This might be due to the fact that forests are the only vegetation type where biomass is a similar size C pool when compared to soil [33] and, on the other hand, due to the complexity of the plant-soil relationships, which are very difficult to include in models assessing the C cycle. One example of a plant-soil relationship is rhizodeposition, defined as the release of rhizodeposits by living roots into the soil, which is one of these complex mechanisms [34,35].…”

Carbon Sequestration in Central European Forest Ecosystems

“…In globally transported woody packaging material and in transported organic material such as soils, plants and fruits that are vectors of diseases are inadvertently carried to new ecosystems. A recent example of the introduction of new pests is the infestation of trees in northern Austria with the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) and the longhorned citrus beetle (Anoplophora chinensis) [65,66]. These species are native to Asia and have been introduced into Europe mainly with packaging wood material and ornamental plants from China or other Asian countries.…”