Evaluating the effectiveness of retention forestry to enhance biodiversity in production forests of Central Europe using an interdisciplinary, multi-scale approach

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Ilse Storch
  • Johannes Penner
  • Thomas Asbeck
  • Marco Basile
  • Jürgen Bauhus
  • Veronika Braunisch
  • Carsten F. Dormann
  • Julian Frey
  • Stefanie Gärtner
  • Marc Hanewinkel
  • Barbara Koch
  • Alexandra Maria Klein
  • Thomas Kuss
  • Michael Pregernig
  • Patrick Pyttel
  • Albert Reif
  • Michael Scherer-Lorenzen
  • Gernot Segelbacher
  • Ulrich Schraml
  • Georg Winkel
  • Rasoul Yousefpour

Retention forestry, which retains a portion of the original stand at the time of harvesting to maintain continuity of structural and compositional diversity, has been originally developed to mitigate the impacts of clear-cutting. Retention of habitat trees and deadwood has since become common practice also in continuous-cover forests of Central Europe. While the use of retention in these forests is plausible, the evidence base for its application is lacking, trade-offs have not been quantified, it is not clear what support it receives from forest owners and other stakeholders and how it is best integrated into forest management practices. The Research Training Group ConFoBi (Conservation of Forest Biodiversity in Multiple-use Landscapes of Central Europe) focusses on the effectiveness of retention forestry, combining ecological studies on forest biodiversity with social and economic studies of biodiversity conservation across multiple spatial scales. The aim of ConFoBi is to assess whether and how structural retention measures are appropriate for the conservation of forest biodiversity in uneven-aged and selectively harvested continuous-cover forests of temperate Europe. The study design is based on a pool of 135 plots (1 ha) distributed along gradients of forest connectivity and structure. The main objectives are (a) to investigate the effects of structural elements and landscape context on multiple taxa, including different trophic and functional groups, to evaluate the effectiveness of retention practices for biodiversity conservation; (b) to analyze how forest biodiversity conservation is perceived and practiced, and what costs and benefits it creates; and (c) to identify how biodiversity conservation can be effectively integrated in multi-functional forest management. ConFoBi will quantify retention levels required across the landscape, as well as the socio-economic prerequisites for their implementation by forest owners and managers. ConFoBi's research results will provide an evidence base for integrating biodiversity conservation into forest management in temperate forests.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEcology and Evolution
Volume10
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)1489-1509
Number of pages21
ISSN2045-7758
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.02.2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

    Research areas

  • Black Forest, ConFoBi, deadwood, forest ownership, habitat tree, landscape, translational research
  • Biology
  • Ecosystems Research

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Ensuring the Long-Term Provision of Heathland Ecosystem Services—The Importance of a Functional Perspective in Management Decision Frameworks
  2. Advancing understanding of natural resource governance
  3. University-linked programmes for sustainable entrepreneurship and regional development
  4. The role of spatial ability when fostering mental animation in multimedia learning
  5. A common European asylum system? How variation in Member States’ administrative capacity undermines EU asylum harmonisation
  6. Reconstructing Diversity Management and Communication from a Constitutive-Polyphonic Perspective
  7. Linking trait similarity to interspecific spatial associations in a moist tropical forest
  8. Computer-based Adaptive Speed Tests
  9. Transformation products in the water cycle and the unsolved problem of their proactive assessment
  10. DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATIVE LOGISTICS MODEL FOR LINKING PLANNING AND CONTROL TASKS WITH LOGISTICAL VARIABLES ALONG THE COMPANY'S INTERNAL SUPPLY CHAIN.
  11. Cross-hedging minimum return guarantees
  12. Maschinenbelegungsplanung mit evolutionären Algorithmen
  13. Paradoxe Dynamik
  14. Global assessment of the non-equilibrium theory of rangelands
  15. Control of geometry deviation by stiffness variation in polymer deep drawing tools
  16. Multimodality
  17. Use
  18. Carbocyclic cis-[1.1.1]-tris-σ-homobenzenes - Syntheses by triple epoxide → cyclopropane conversions, structural data, [σ2s+σ2s+σ2s] cycloreversions
  19. Introduction
  20. Validity claims in context
  21. The Sociolinguistics of language use in Ireland
  22. Lernbegleitung durch Unterrichtsbesprechungen im Langzeitpraktikum
  23. Religious Loyality and Acceptance of Corruption.
  24. Researching Interrelations of formal and informal Learning in early Adolescence form a Critical Race Perspective
  25. Performance Saga: Interview 03
  26. Marine biodiversity change impacts relational values
  27. ShortPathQA
  28. Determination of rutin in green tea infusions using square-wave voltammetry with a rigid carbon-polyurethane composite electrode
  29. Timing and fragmentation of daily working hours arrangements and income inequality
  30. Signal, Material, Sampling
  31. Economic Evaluation of an Internet-Based Stress Management Intervention Alongside a Randomized Controlled Trial
  32. Infiltrating Artifacts
  33. Fragmented Landscape, Fragmented Knowledge
  34. Gender-Specific Effects at Work
  35. The Diffusion of Values among Democracies and Autocracies
  36. Musical Interface Agendas. Musical Appropriation via Technological Pre-configuration
  37. Alpen
  38. Herbivore and pathogen effects on tree growth are additive, but mediated by tree diversity and plant traits
  39. When Birds of Different Feather Flock Together