Die Quantifizierung ökologischer Potentiale der Phytodiversität und Selbstorganisation der Wälder

2003

S. 18-27

30 Lit. Ang.

Unselbständiges Werk

200099267

"Ecological integrity" of forests comprises the sustainable protection and development of both self-organisation ability and biodiversity. The paper deals with the development and application of methods to measure ecological potentials of phytodiversity and self-organisation of forests as an essential cornerstone for land-use planning. The potential of self-organisation of forests is indicated by the coincidence between actual and natural tree species composition. The potential of phytodiversity is defined as Boltzmann-Shannon entropy derived from the plant cover estimates of a large set of sample-plot data. For each plant assembly, the potential of phytodiversity is constrained by the regionally available species pool and the resource requirements shared by the assembled plants. Both measures can be mapped area-covering from existing forest information systems. Natural forests do not develop maximal but "optimal" phytodiversity with respect to their ability to continue evolving and developing. Perturbation of naturally adapted tree-species composition by forestry may enhance phytodiversity potentials significantly. Actual phytodiversity in space and time is diminished compared to the potential of phytodiversity mainly by processes of random dispersal as migration and local extinction. Possibilities to use and develop the potentials of self-organisation and phytodiversity in forest management are discussed briefly.