Targets and Tools for the Meintenance of Forest Biodiversity

Oxford

2004

510 S.

Bandaufführung

14-05-11774-5

13814

127224

Maintaining forst biodiversity by combining protection, management and restoration of forest and woodland landscapes is a central component of sustainable development in northern countries. Suceeding with this can even be viewed as an acid test of sustainability as such. This issue of the Ecological Bulletins is an independent further development of the previous issue entitled "Biodiversity evaluation tools for European forests" (Vol. 50), and focuses on biodiversity maintenance in northern forests at the scale of actual landscapes. The forests dealt with in this volume represent reasonably wellstudied systems, a fact that we hope will inspire others to explore ways in which targets and tools for the management of biodiversity in actual landscapes of other ecoregions can be developed. The readers whom we aim at include not only scientists, but also various actors in the forest sector ranging from the policy level to those dealing with the different elements of forest biodiversity by managing actual landscapes in forests and woodlands globally. To mirror this diversity, the different papers composing this book have been written by a large variety of authors from a range of stakeholder groups. thus the style varies considerably among the papers, ranging from presentation of original data and reviews synthesising many studies to presentation of ideas and even pleas for transdisciplinary and international collaboration. The papers in this book are divided into five main sections, each starting with an introducing article. We begin with the views of policy-makers, businesses and managers who all pose questions about the balance between use of renewalbe forest resources and conservation of biodiversity. Second, the human footprint on northern forests is illustrated. Third, a wide range of animal species are used to test the hypothesis that there are limits to how large the anthropogenic footprint can be without species disappearing locally, regionally or ultimately going extinct. Fourth, different tools for monitoring of the elements of biodiversity within a landscape are presented. Fifth, examples are presented on how biodiversity assessments can be made at multiple spatial scales by combining quantitative targets and measurements of habitat elements. Finally, a concluding paper proposes how the critical knowledge gaps identified throughout the book could be filled through macroecological research and international co-operation.