Manfred J. Lexer, Karl Hönninger, Helfried Scheifinger, Christoph Matulla, Nikolaus Groll, Helga Kromp-Kolb. (2000). The sensitivity of central European mountain forests to scenarios of climatic change: methodological frame for a large-scale risk assessment. Silva Fennica vol. 34 no. 2 article id 635. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.635

Keywords: climate change; potential natural vegetation; alpine forests; risk assessment; patch model; multi-attribute decision making

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The methodological framework of a large-scale risk assessment for Austrian forests under scenarios of climatic change is presented. A recently developed 3D-patch model is initialized with ground-true soil and vegetation data from sample plots of the Austrian Forest Inventory (AFI). Temperature and precipitation data of the current climate are interpolated from a network of more than 600 weather stations to the sample plots of the AFI. Vegetation development is simulated under current climate (‘control run’) and under climate change scenarios starting from today's forest composition and structure. Similarity of species composition and accumulated biomass between these two runs at various points in time were used as assessment criteria. An additive preference function which is based on Saaty’s AHP is employed to synthesize these criteria to an overall index of the adaptation potential of current forests to a changing climate. The presented methodology is demonstrated for a small sample from the Austrian Forest Inventory. The forest model successfully simulated equilibrium species composition under current climatic conditions spatially explicit in a heterogenous landscape based on ground-true data. At none of the simulated sites an abrupt forest dieback did occur due to climate change impacts. However, substantial changes occured with regard to species composition of the potential natural vegetation (PNV).

Lexer, Institute of Silviculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Peter-Jordanstrasse 70, A-1190 Vienna, Austria E-mail: lexer@edv1.boku.ac.at
Hönninger, Institute of Silviculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, Peter-Jordanstrasse 70, A-1190 Vienna, Austria E-mail: kh@nn.at
Scheifinger, Institute of Meteorology and Physics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Türkenschanzstrasse 18, A-1180 Vienna, Austria E-mail: hs@nn.at
Matulla, Institute of Meteorology and Physics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Türkenschanzstrasse 18, A-1180 Vienna, Austria E-mail: cm@nn.at
Groll, Institute of Meteorology and Physics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Türkenschanzstrasse 18, A-1180 Vienna, Austria E-mail: ng@nn.at
Kromp-Kolb, Institute of Meteorology and Physics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Türkenschanzstrasse 18, A-1180 Vienna, Austria E-mail: hkk@nn.at

Category : Review article

article id 73, category Review article

Timo Kuuluvainen, Tuomas Aakala. (2011). Natural forest dynamics in boreal Fennoscandia: a review and classification. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 5 article id 73. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.73

Keywords: disturbance; age structure; stand replacement; cohort; gap; patch; natural disturbance emulation

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The aim here was to review and summarize the findings of scientific studies concerning the types of forest dynamics which occur in natural forests (i.e. forests with negligible human impact) of boreal Fennoscandia. We conducted a systematic search for relevant studies from selected reference databases, using search terms describing the location, structure and processes, and degree of naturalness of the forest. The studies resulting from these searches were supplemented with other known works that were not indexed in the databases. This procedure yielded a total of 43 studies. The studies were grouped into four types of forest dynamics according to the information presented on the characteristics of the native disturbance-succession cycle: 1) even-aged stand dynamics driven by stand-replacing disturbances, 2) cohort dynamics driven by partial disturbances, 3) patch dynamics driven by tree mortality at intermediate scales (> 200 m²) and 4) gap dynamics driven by tree mortality at fine scales (< 200 m²). All four dynamic types were reported from both spruce and pine dominated forests, but their commonness differed. Gap dynamics was most commonly reported in spruce forests, and cohort dynamics in pine forests. The studies reviewed provide the best obtainable overall picture of scientific findings concerning the characteristics and variability of the unmanaged boreal forest dynamics in Fennoscandia. The results demonstrate that the unmanaged Fennoscandian forests are characterized by more diverse and complex dynamics than has traditionally been acknowledged.

Kuuluvainen, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: timo.kuuluvainen@helsinki.fi
Aakala, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: ta@nn.fi

Category : Discussion article

article id 570, category Discussion article

Anke Jentsch, Carl Beierkuhnlein, Peter S. White. (2002). Scale, the dynamic stability of forest ecosystems, and the persistence of biodiversity. Silva Fennica vol. 36 no. 1 article id 570. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.570

Keywords: biodiversity; disturbance; multi-patch scale; pattern emergence; resilience; qualitative equilibrium

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Jentsch, Conservation Biology and Ecological Modelling, UFZ – Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, D-04301 Leipzig, Germany E-mail: jentsch@pro.ufz.de
Beierkuhnlein, Department of Landscape Ecology, University of Rostock, Justus-Liebig-Weg 6, D-18051 Rostock, Germany E-mail: cb@nn.de
White, Department of Biology, Campus Box 3280, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280, USA E-mail: psw@nn.us

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