Carbon Sequestration in Central European Forest Ecosystems

2014

26 S.

Artikel aus einer ZeitschriftUnselbständiges Werk

200183063

The forests of Central Europe play an important role in the retention of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Carbon sequestration is rarely the main objective of forest management and is often an underappreciated by-effect of practical forest management, whereas timber production and protection against natural hazards in mountain regions are the main forest functions. Climate change is expected to alter practical forest management profoundly, by causing changes in productivity in two directions: some regions will be increasingly affected by prolonged drought periods and the growth rate of forests is expected to decline; in mountain regions the growth rate of forests will often increase because climate change will manifest itself by the prolongation of the growing season. Many forests will be affected by an increasing pressure from pests and pathogens, both due to the expansion of the natural habitat, and due to the inadvertent introduction of pathogens in an increasingly globalized market. In the long run climate change will have implications for the tree species distribution. The presently successful Norway spruce will be found in a smaller area because parts of the present habitat will not fulfill the site requirements of this tree species in the future. Such tendencies have far-reaching consequences for the timber industry, so concepts for adaptive forest management need to be formulated. Besides increasing efforts for monitoring forest conditions, development of the opportunities offered by the genetic variability of tree species is an example of pro-active planning. In order to base recommendations for adaptive forest management on a sound basis, climate manipulation experiments are conducted. A network of such experiments enables researchers to make educated guesses on the expected climate change impact on forests. Nevertheless, due to manifold uncertainties with respect to the extent of climate change, its regional realization, the future expectations of society towards forest ecosystems and other imponderabilities, the predictions remain uncertain.