Trade-offs or complementarity between biomass production and biodiversity in European forests: a review

Abstract

Forestry faces the challenge of balancing the increasing demand for timber, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity protection. Biodiversity plays a crucial role in the stability and adaptability of forest ecosystems, enabling them to withstand disturbances and recover from them. Preserving biodiversity is essential for long-term survival and well-being. Enhancing biodiversity in managed forests is important because they occupy a significant area of forests in Europe. Understanding the relationships between forest production and biodiversity from various perspectives is crucial for developing effective multi-taxa management concepts. Biodiversity loss due to management practices can result in habitat destruction, fragmentation, and species displacement. Biodiversity enhances ecosystem services linked to biomass production, such as pollination, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. This study reviews the relationships between biodiversity and production in Europen forests, emphasising the impacts of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning and production, as well as the effects of production indicators on biodiversity. The effects of biodiversity on productivity are often studied in the same population, most often in the tree layer. However, a lack of knowledge on how biomass production affects the diversity of other ecosystem components limits our understanding of the multifacet relationships. Forest management significantly impacts biodiversity and production, and different management systems have varying effects on forest ecosystems. Diverse ecosystems exhibit niche complementarity, resulting in increased biomass production. Sustainable practices, including land-use planning, habitat protection, agroforestry, and non-invasive species use, can mitigate the adverse effects of biomass production on biodiversity.

Keywords

• species richness
• productivity
• climate-smart forest management
• multi-taxonomic approaches
• biodiversity dynamics