Advances in understanding forest ecosystem services: conserving biodiversity
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
Advances in understanding forest ecosystem services: conserving biodiversity
About This Book
Forest biodiversity is fundamental to ecosystem functioning, facilitating processes such as nutrient cycling, pollination and seed dispersal. A healthy forest provides a range of economic, societal and cultural values and services beyond timber production, including recreation, carbon sequestration, ecotourism, landscape aesthetics and the intrinsic value of biodiversity to society. Despite this, forest biodiversity remains under increasing pressure from agricultural conversion and intensive, large-scale, yield-driven forest management approaches. In this chapter, the authors explore how these approaches alter forest biodiversity and, in particular, species of conservation concern. The authors outline how sustainable forest management can be used to maintain or enhance biodiversity. Two case studies are provided that illustrate these concepts in contrasting biomes: managing forest biodiversity in landscapes of low forest cover, a case study from temperate plantation forestry in Ireland; and, managing forest biodiversity by emulating natural ecosystem dynamics, a case study from boreal mixedwood forests in Canada.
Frequently asked questions
Information
Table of contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The impact of forest loss and fragmentation on biodiversity
- 3 Tree species diversity, tree species composition and conservation
- 4 The impact of clearcutting on biodiversity
- 5 The importance of deadwood to forest biodiversity
- 6 Case study: managing for plantation forest biodiversity in landscapes of low forest cover
- 7 Case study: managing for biodiversity in boreal mixedwood forests – emulating natural forest dynamics
- 8 Summary
- 9 Future trends
- 10 Where to look for further information
- 11 References