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IUFRO Spotlights

2017-09-05

IUFRO Spotlight #54: Variety could be the spice of life – for forests

New review studies relationships between tree diversity and stand resistance to natural disturbances and explores the ecological mechanisms behind the observed relationships.


Dr. Hervé Jactel of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research is one of the authors of a new review, Tree Diversity Drives Forest Stand Resistance to Natural Disturbances, and also the Coordinator of the IUFRO Task Force on the Contribution of Biodiversity to Ecosystem Services in Managed Forests, which supported this review.

Forest ecosystems are frequently exposed to natural disturbances such as fires, windstorms and pest outbreaks that shape forest structure and drive their dynamics. New forest management strategies that increase forest resistance to multiple risks are urgently needed both for socioeconomic and ecological reasons. As there is growing evidence that mixed forests could be beneficial for a broad range of ecosystem functions and services including greater forest resistance to multiple damaging agents, more efforts should be made to develop new mixed, planted forests.


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spotlight54-mixed-forests.pdf403 Ki