Laura Pikkarainen, Harri Strandman, Eerik Vento, Aaron Petty, Olli-Pekka Tikkanen, Antti Kilpeläinen, Heli Peltola. (2024). Effects of forest conservation and management on timber, ecosystem carbon, dead wood and habitat suitability area in a boreal forest under climate change. Silva Fennica vol. 58 no. 2 article id 23045. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.23045

Keywords: saproxylic species; simulation; carbon storage; forest fertilization; Fennoscandia; forest ecosystems services; improved regeneration material

Highlights: Increasing forest conservation areas increased all other ecosystem services except timber yield. Intensive forest management enhanced this increase; Increased conservation area decreased timber yield, but intensive forest management reduced this effect and even overcompensated it at the end of simulation period in the 10% conservation scenario with intensified forest management; Climate change increased all other ecosystem services, except carbon stocks.

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We used forest ecosystem model simulations to study how forest conservation and management intensity affected timber yield, ecosystem carbon stocks, amount of dead wood, and habitat suitability area in a middle boreal forest region of Finland under changing climate over a 90-year simulation period. We used the following forest conservation and management scenarios: baseline forest management (BM), BM with 10 or 20% increase of conservation area with or without intensified forest management (i.e. improved forest regeneration material and forest fertilization). The simulations were done under current climate (reference period of 1981–2010), and Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) climate change projections under the RCP2.6 and RCP4.5 forcing scenarios. Overall, increasing the forest conservation area decreased timber yield and increased the ecosystem carbon stock, the amount of dead wood and consequently the area of suitable habitat for saproxylic species. The use of intensified forest management reduced the loss of timber yield, increased ecosystem carbon stock, the amount of dead wood and area of suitable habitat for saproxylic species. At the end of simulation period, the use of intensified forest management even overcompensated (4–6% higher) the timber loss from 10% increase of conservation area. Under changing climate, timber yield, the amount of dead wood and the area of suitable habitats for saproxylic species increased. To conclude, with intensified forest management it is possible, in the short term, to decrease the loss of timber yield through increased forest conservation area and in the long term maintain or even increase it compared to baseline forest management.

Pikkarainen, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 7, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5301-3639 E-mail: laura.pikkarainen@uef.fi
Strandman, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 7, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9400-6424 E-mail: harri.strandman@uef.fi
Vento, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 7, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: eerik.vento@gmail.com
Petty, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 7, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6595-1386 E-mail: aaron.petty@uef.fi
Tikkanen, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 7, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3875-2772 E-mail: olli-pekka.tikkanen@uef.fi
Kilpeläinen, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 7, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4299-0578 E-mail: antti.kilpelainen@uef.fi
Peltola, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 7, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: heli.peltola@uef.fi

article id 455, category Research article

Seppo Kellomäki, Matti Maajärvi, Harri Strandman, Antti Kilpeläinen, Heli Peltola. (2010). Model computations on the climate change effects on snow cover, soil moisture and soil frost in the boreal conditions over Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 44 no. 2 article id 455. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.455

Keywords: climate change; soil frost; precipitation; temperature; A2 climate scenario; snow accumulation; soil carrying capacity; soil moisture

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This study considered how climate change affects the accumulation of snow, the soil moisture and soil frost at sites without tree cover in boreal conditions in Finland (60°–70°N). An increase of 4.5 °C in annual mean temperature and 20 % in annual precipitation were assumed for Finland by the year 2100 according to A2 emission scenario. Along with climate, the soil type of the permanent inventory plots of the Finnish National Forest Inventory was used. Soil and climate data were combined by using a process-based ecosystem model. Calculations were done for four periods: current climate (1971–2000), near future (2001–2020), mid-term future (2021–2050) and long-term future (2071–2100). According to our simulations, the average monthly duration and depth of snow decreased over the simulation period. However, the increasing precipitation may locally increase the snow depths in the mid-term calculations. In the autumn and winter, the average volumetric soil moisture content slightly increased in southern Finland during the near future, but decreased towards the end of the century, but still remained on a higher level than presently. In northern Finland, the soil moisture in the autumn and winter increased by the end of this century. In the summertime soil moisture decreased slightly regardless of the region. Throughout Finland, the length and the depth of soil frost decreased by the end of the century. In the south, the reduction in the depth was largest in the autumn and spring, while in the mid-winter it remained relatively deep in the middle of the century. In the north, the depth tended to increase during the first two calculation periods, in some areas, even during the third calculation period (2071–2100) due to reduced insulation effects of snow during cold spells. The wintertime increase in soil moisture and reduced soil frost may be reflected to reduced carrying capacity of soil for timber harvesting.

Kellomäki, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: seppo.kellomaki@uef.fi
Maajärvi, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: mm@nn.fi
Strandman, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: hs@nn.fi
Kilpeläinen, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: ak@nn.fi
Peltola, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: hp@nn.fi

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