Impact of Forest Management on Wood Production under Climate Change in the Bonis Catchment

Abstract

The concept of integrated forest management offers a framework for understanding how forest ecosystem services interact with efforts to conserve natural resources. Forests face various disturbances stemming from human activities, management approaches, and shifts in climate patterns. This study aims to explore how forested watersheds respond to diverse silvicultural practices amidst changing climate conditions. The research is centered in the Bonis catchment, situated in the mountainous region of Sila Greca (latitude 39°25′15″ N, longitude 16°12′38″ W) within Southern Italy’s Calabria region. Nearly 93% of the catchment area is cloaked in a forest dominated by approximately 50-year-old Pinus laricio Poiret stands. To model the catchment’s response to various climate and management scenarios, the FEST-FOREST eco-hydrological model, which is distributed and based on physical principles, has been employed. This model accounts for the dynamic interactions between vegetation and the watershed’s hydrological processes. The monitoring of the basin has been ongoing since 1986, with runoff measurements collected at the catchment outlet using dedicated gauging structures. These data have been utilized to calibrate and validate the model, ensuring its accuracy in simulating future scenarios. These simulation results offer stakeholders some qualitative and scientifically based recommendations for the sustainable management of the catchment. In fact, thinning intensity affects hydrological processes, with a 50% stand density reduction identified as a threshold for significant impact on processes like rainfall partitioning and evapotranspiration. Under heavy thinning scenarios, runoff can change by over 60%, and the impact decreases with larger thinning intervals. Furthermore, different climate scenarios influence stem yield levels, with higher production under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 compared to the base climate scenario. In particular, the RCP 8.5 scenario produces the highest yield due to better forest growth under different climate scenarios. This implies the idea that in regions with a Mediterranean climate and coniferous forests, amidst climate change, meticulous forest management involving precisely calibrated thinning schedules and intensities, tailored to unique biotic and abiotic factors, could potentially enhance carbon sequestration while positively influencing runoff rates.