Contrasting forest management strategies: Impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services under changing climate and disturbance regimes

Abstract

Natural disturbances may compromise the past and ongoing efforts to increase carbon sequestration and halt biodiversity loss in boreal forests. Measures to minimize the effects of forest disturbances i.e., adaptive management, offer solutions to secure future timber yields. However, the consequences of adaptive management on biodiversity, the climate change mitigation potential of forests, and other ecosystem services are not well understood. In addition, the impact of climate change and disturbances on future forest-based mitigation potential is not well known. We compared the effects of forest management options emphasizing climate change mitigation or adaptation on boreal forests in changing climate and disturbance regimes in southern Finland. We used the process-based forest landscape and disturbance model iLand to dynamically model interactions between climate change and disturbances together with forest management and protection options, and examined the consequent effects on forest carbon storage, berry yields, recreation, and structural attributes important for biodiversity. Mitigation managements resulted in up to one-fifth higher carbon stocks, even after accounting for disturbances by wind and bark beetles, but halved annual harvests over the 80-year simulation period. Adaptive managements reduced bark beetle disturbances, but in some cases the disturbed volumes were even higher than under business-as-usual management due to increased wind damage. The effects of proactive risk management depended on the time horizon considered, the adaptive management option chosen and the climate change scenario. In general, the mitigation managements had positive effects on the biodiversity indicators studied, while the effects of adaptive management were mixed. Our results highlight the complex interactions between disturbance risk prevention, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, and other ecosystem services. The results guide forest managers and policymakers to plan mitigation and adaptation strategies optimizing multiple benefits, and strengthening forest resilience in a changing climate.

Keywords: Bark beetle; Forest protection; Natural disturbances; Windthrow.