Enhancing economic multifunctionality without compromising multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality via forest...

Area of Science:

• Forestry science
• Ecology
• Forest management

Background:

• Multipurpose forest management strategies often involve enriching species-poor forests with economically valuable trees.
• Limited empirical data exists on the ecological and economic impacts of enriching mature forests, especially with non-native species.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test a framework integrating economic multifunctionality (timber production, disturbance resistance) with multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality.
• To evaluate the effects of enriching European beech forests with conifers on these integrated functions.

Main Methods:

• Developed and applied a framework to assess economic, multidiversity, and ecosystem multifunctionality.
• Studied ~80-year-old European beech forest stands, comparing pure stands with those enriched with conifers (e.g., Douglas-fir).

Main Results:

• Enriched beech forest stands demonstrated high economic multifunctionality without compromising multidiversity or ecosystem multifunctionality.
• Stands enriched with Douglas-fir achieved simultaneous high levels across all three dimensions (economic, multidiversity, ecosystem multifunctionality).

Conclusions:

• Forest enrichment with economically valuable species, like Douglas-fir in beech stands, can achieve synergistic benefits for economic and ecological objectives.
• Provides empirical support for integrating biodiversity, ecosystem services, and economic returns in sustainable forest management practices.