Harnessing landscape heterogeneity for managing future disturbance risks in forest ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: In order to prevent irreversible impacts of climate change on the biosphere it is imperative to phase out the use of fossil fuels. Consequently, the provisioning of renewable resources such as timber and biomass from forests is an ecosystem service of increasing importance. However, risk factors such as changing disturbance regimes are challenging the continuous provisioning of ecosystem services, and are thus a key concern in forest management. We here used simulation modeling to study different risk management strategies in the context of timber production under changing climate and disturbance regimes, focusing on a 8127 ha forest landscape in the Northern Front Range of the Alps in Austria. We show that under a continuation of historical management, disturbances from wind and bark beet

SUBMITTER: Seidl R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5873512 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature