Rewilding beech-dominated temperate forest ecosystems: effects on carbon stocks and biodiversity indicators
Maximising carbon stock and habitat availability is a critical objective of contemporary forest management, with primary forests serving a crucial function due to their substantial carbon storage potential and biodiversity values. Given the limited extent and fragmentation of primary (mature and old...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF)
2025-02-01
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| Series: | iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://iforest.sisef.org/contents/?id=ifor4600-017 |
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| Summary: | Maximising carbon stock and habitat availability is a critical objective of contemporary forest management, with primary forests serving a crucial function due to their substantial carbon storage potential and biodiversity values. Given the limited extent and fragmentation of primary (mature and old-growth with minimal prior management) forests in Europe, there is a growing interest in understanding how rewilding (long-term management cessation) affects carbon stock and habitat provisioning. Further, little is known about the conditions required for secondary old-growth forests to achieve the carbon volumes and late-successional habitat features associated with primary forests if designated as rewilding areas. Rewilding of forest ecosystems in Europe is still a widely debated strategy, highlighting the importance of evidence-based examples. We compared some of the best-preserved primary old-growth forests with adjacent secondary old-growth forests which have been allowed to undergo self-development for an extended period of seven decades in the ecologically and socially important beech-dominated forests of the Carpathian Mountains. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences in carbon stock and structural biodiversity indicators between the two forest categories. Mean aboveground carbon stock was 207 Mg ha-1 in primary and 213 Mg ha-1 in secondary old-growth plots, which contrasts with values of 107 Mg ha-1 found in managed beech forest stands from the same region. The aboveground biomass carbon increment was 4.3 Mg ha-1 year-1 in primary and 4.5 Mg ha-1 year-1 in secondary plots, respectively. Notably, deadwood volume exhibited the most substantial variation among forest types along with tree microhabitat diversity. Our findings underscore the vital role of protecting and restoring old-growth forest ecosystems for effective carbon stock and biodiversity conservation. We emphasise that forest heterogeneity, encompassing factors such as tree age and diameter, canopy layer, species composition, and growth patterns, are important for enabling managed forests to reach peak carbon storage capacity. Although 70 years is insufficient for secondary old-growth forests to fully recover primary forest characteristics, our study demonstrates that similar structures and functions can develop within less than a century of protection in productive temperate regions of Europe. This study supports rewilding as an effective conservation strategy and Natural Climate Solution. |
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| ISSN: | 1971-7458 |