FAIR-CT96-1447 Silviculture and Biodiversity of Scots pine Forests

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FAIR Area 4.3 - Diversification : Forestry : Wood (Lignocellulose)

	Contract No:	FAIR-CT96-1447
	Date Prepared:	February 1999
	Source:	Project Leaflet

Introduction
Under the Statement of Forest Principles adopted at the 1992 'Earth Summit" in Rio all EU countries agreed to take action to maintain and enhance forest biodiversity. This obligation was developed further in the text of the 1993 Helsinki General Guidelines for Sustainable Management of European forests and for the Conservation of their biodiversity. This second set of guidelines involves the following commitments:

• The conservation and appropriate enhancement of biodiversity should be an essential operational element in sustainable forest management .
• The conservation and appropriate enhancement of biodiversity in forests should be based both on specific, practical, cost-effective and efficient biodiversity appraisal systems, and on methods for evaluating the impact on biodiversity of chosen forest development and management techniques.
• Where possible, the size and degree of utilisation of forest compartments and other basic management units should take account of the scale of variation of the site, in order to better conserve and manage the diversity of habitats. Management should aim at increasing the diversity of forest habitats.
• Where possible, the establishment of taxa which are naturally associated with those that occur most frequently in the forest should be encouraged and a variety of structure within stands should be favoured where the natural dynamics of such associations permit.

The principles embodied in these guidelines have been applied in British forestry policy through documents such as, 'Sustainable Forestry: The UK Programme' (1994); 'The UK Forestry Standard: The Government's Approach to Sustainable Forestry' (1998); and the forthcoming Audit Protocol for British forests.

Why Scots pine?
Silviculture can be defined as the manipulation of forest stands to meet management objectives. For at least 200 years a range of 'silvicultural systems' has been described which can produce a variety of stand structures with different spatial patterns depending upon species, site and objectives. For much of this century, the prime emphasis has been upon cost-effective timber production, and, as a consequence, the structure of many European forest stands is regular and lacking in species and spatial diversity. The introduction of alternative silvicultural systems is often proposed as a way of increasing diversity, but without reliable indicators it is difficult to determine which system is most suitable in a given situation or to provide managers with methods to assess the impact of any changes that they introduce.

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is the most widespread pine species in Europe - and in the world - with a European distribution stretching from Scotland to the Ural mountains and from Spain to Scandinavia. The species has been widely planted outside its natural range e.g. on heathland soils in Germany, Belgium, and England. The total area of Scots pine dominated forests within the EU exceeds 25 million hectares and so represents at least 20 per cent of the forest area of the Community. In certain European countries e.g. Sweden, Finland, Spain, the timber production from these forests is of considerable importance in both local and national economies.

The wide tolerance of Scots pine to site and climatic conditions has meant that stands of this species have been managed using a range of silvicultural practices. Since Scots pine is a light-demanding species, the forests tend to have comparatively simple and regular stand structures. Because of the importance of the species in various European countries, at a national level there is appreciable knowledge about the effect of silvicultural regimes, the amount of genetic variation in different populations, and about characteristic flora and fauna of the pinewood ecosystem. However, this knowledge has yet to be integrated at a Community level.

Within the United Kingdom, Scots pine is one of our three native conifer species. While the species has been widely planted throughout Britain, the natural distribution is confined to the Highlands of Scotland where the relict Caledonian pinewoods cover an area of about 16,000 hectares. This endangered habitat is of considerable ecological and cultural significance and is recognised as a priority habitat under the EU Habitats Directive. There is a specific UK Habitat Action Plan which focuses upon the restoration and expansion of the Caledonian pinewoods, envisaging a doubling of the area of native pinewood in Scotland by the middle of the next decade. Achieving these targets and modifying management of existing plantations in other parts of Britain could be helped by gaining information from experts in other European countries.

Aims, structure and timetable of the Concerted Action

The overall aim of the partnership is to bring together a group of scientists involved in research on Scots pine ecosystems in different countries in Europe to ascertain the impact of management practices upon biodiversity while bearing in mind the need to provide sustainable timber yields. The Concerted Action involves 20 scientists drawn from 10 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom) plus an associated scientist from Hungary. The team is divided into 3 broad groupings (forest ecologists, forest geneticists, silviculturists) according to expertise.

Specific objectives

• To agree common protocols for describing silvicultural systems and stand structure in Scots pine forests in Europe.
• To consider invertebrate indicators as indices of biodiversity in European Scots pine forests.
• To summarise knowledge of genetic diversity in European Scots pine forests.
• To integrate existing knowledge on the impact of silvicultural practices upon biodiversity in Scots pine forests.
• To review models that may serve to integrate silviculture and stand level biodiversity.
• To propose an appropriate set of biodiversity indicators that could be tested in a future project.
• To produce a publication on 'Silviculture and Biodiversity of Scots pine forests in Europe' which synthesises the work of this group.

Results

After 18 months results available at then time of writing are as follows:

• All the member states involved have research programmes which are investigating some aspect(s) of the management of Scots pine ecosystems. However, particularly in the silvicultural and ecological fields, there was limited awareness of similar research being carried out in neighbouring countries.
• There are clear differences in approach between those member states where Scots pine stands are seen as the preliminary stage in the restoration of a more diverse (generally mixed conifer-broadleaved species) forest ecosystem and those where Scots pine is considered as a major and continuing component of the forest.
• These differences are broadly similar to those found in profitability of Scots pine management between member states i.e. those countries where there is an emphasis upon 'transforming' Scots pine stands tend to have forests with negative returns whereas those where Scots pine is seen as an important species generally show a more positive cash-flow.
• The emphasis upon 'transformation' tended to be greatest in central European states where Scots pine had been planted upon richer soils as part of a restoration process.
• The silvicultural systems used in Scots pine forests are predominantly those (clear-felling, seed-tree, shelterwood) which produce regular stand structures which lack both species and structural diversity.
• The stand developmental stage that is generally lacking in these forests is the mature 'old-growth' phase. As a consequence there is often a shortage of the large standing dead trees ('standing deadwood') that are associated with this phase.
• There appear to be reasonable prospects for identifying groups of invertebrates which could be tested as indicators of biodiversity in Scots pine forests and linking their occurrence to particular stand phases e.g. saproxylic beetles as indicators of satisfactory deadwood habitat. By contrast, there seems to be less potential for developing vegetational indicators of biodiversity.
• While there is reasonable knowledge of genetic markers within and between Scots pine populations, there is a lack of knowledge of genetic variation in adaptive traits.
• Effects of management practices upon genetic diversity appear to have been little studied with the exception of isolated populations where genetic conservation has been of importance.
• Successful control of browsing pressures from deer, moose, and other herbivores is of major importance in promoting greater species and structural diversity within Scots pine forests.
• Fire is an important disturbance mechanism within boreal Scots pine forests and it may have been of greater importance in Britain and other countries in the past.

Discussion

There is clearly considerable knowledge concerning Scots pine ecosystems available in the various member states but this is often confined to a particular country or even a region within a country. Integration of this knowledge through the activity of the CA should benefit the implementation of national initiatives e.g. the expansion of native pinewoods in Scotland. A list of key topics has been prepared (see below) which will form the focus of the future work of the CA and these topics will be summarised in the publication on 'Silviculture and Biodiversity of Scots pine in Europe'.

• Silviculture and stand dynamics in Scots pine forests; case studies from 5 different European states
• Models of stand development in Scots pine forests that could be used to link silviculture and biodiversity
• Assessing the opportunities and risks associated with measures intended to enhance wildlife value in Scots pine forests
• Which niches are provided for generalist and specialist invertebrates in the different forest successional stages?
• Characteristic vegetation communities of Scots pine forests and their potential value as indicators
• The use of genetic markers as tools in the characterisation of Scots pine populations
• Can new approaches to the study of provenance trials be developed which emphasise genetic diversity and adaptability?
• Can genetic diversity of cultivated stands of Scots pine be compared with natural populations and be linked to silviculture?
• Could some useful measures of within population variability in adaptive traits be devised?
• What techniques can be proposed for measuring structural diversity in Scots pine stands?
• What effect has leaving a few large Scots pine trees to biological maturity upon profitability, productivity, genetic diversity and biodiversity?
• What effect will current forest policies have upon the future status of Scots pine forests within the EU?

Contacts

Coordinator

• Bill MASON / Forestry Commission Research Agency Northern Research Station / UNITED KINGDOM