Abstract

The excessive simplification of forest structure associated with clear cutting can carry risks for biodiversity. Tree retention is an alternative practice that maintains greater structural diversity, but its effects on climate change impacts relative to conventional harvesting are largely unexplored. By integrating field measurements from 12 forest stands with modelling approaches, we investigated the post-harvest effects on radiative forcing of tree retention in a Swedish boreal pine forest. In the near-term, impacts from carbon fluxes and surface albedo were of the same order of magnitude but with opposite sign (warming for carbon and cooling for albedo), with a net warming effect. In the long-term, the net effect turns to cooling, as the forest becomes a strong carbon sink. Retention had a significant effect on climate in the near-term, where differences between the various retention levels are more evident. At increasing tree retention, warming impacts from carbon fluxes tend to decrease, but cooling contributions from surface albedo are less pronounced. Balancing these effects, we find a net climate warming that increases with tree retention.

Keywords

Forest management; climate impacts; biodiversity; tree retention; biodiversity

Published in

Journal of Land Use Science
2018, Volume: 13, number: 3, pages: 301-318

SLU Authors

• Santaniello, Francesca

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Forestry Research Institute of Sweden, Skogforsk

• Ranius, Thomas

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts


UKÄ Subject classification

Climate Research
Forest Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2018.1529831

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/97858