Conservation Letters (Jan 2022)
For the sake of resilience and multifunctionality, let's diversify planted forests!
- Christian Messier,
- Jürgen Bauhus,
- Rita Sousa‐Silva,
- Harald Auge,
- Lander Baeten,
- Nadia Barsoum,
- Helge Bruelheide,
- Benjamin Caldwell,
- Jeannine Cavender‐Bares,
- Els Dhiedt,
- Nico Eisenhauer,
- Gislene Ganade,
- Dominique Gravel,
- Joannès Guillemot,
- Jefferson S. Hall,
- Andrew Hector,
- Bruno Hérault,
- Hervé Jactel,
- Julia Koricheva,
- Holger Kreft,
- Simone Mereu,
- Bart Muys,
- Charles A. Nock,
- Alain Paquette,
- John D. Parker,
- Michael P. Perring,
- Quentin Ponette,
- Catherine Potvin,
- Peter B. Reich,
- Michael Scherer‐Lorenzen,
- Florian Schnabel,
- Kris Verheyen,
- Martin Weih,
- Meike Wollni,
- Delphine Clara Zemp
Affiliations
- Christian Messier
- Institut des Sciences de la Forêt tempérée (ISFORT) Université du Québec en Outaouais Gatineau Quebec Canada
- Jürgen Bauhus
- Chair of Silviculture, Institute of Forest Sciences University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany
- Rita Sousa‐Silva
- Département des sciences biologiques Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal Quebec Canada
- Harald Auge
- Department of Community Ecology Helmholtz‐Centre for Environmental Research Saale Germany
- Lander Baeten
- Forest & Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering Ghent University Melle‐Gontrode Belgium
- Nadia Barsoum
- Centre for Ecosystems, Society and Biosecurity, Forest Research Alice Holt Lodge Farnham UK
- Helge Bruelheide
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Leipzig Germany
- Benjamin Caldwell
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Rome Italy
- Jeannine Cavender‐Bares
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior University of Minnesota Saint Paul Minnesota USA
- Els Dhiedt
- Forest & Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering Ghent University Melle‐Gontrode Belgium
- Nico Eisenhauer
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Leipzig Germany
- Gislene Ganade
- Departamento de Ecologia Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Natal RN Brazil
- Dominique Gravel
- Département de biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke Quebec Canada
- Joannès Guillemot
- Eco&Sols, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro IRD Montpellier France
- Jefferson S. Hall
- Smithsonian Institution Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Balboa Ancón Panama
- Andrew Hector
- Department of Plant Sciences University of Oxford Oxford UK
- Bruno Hérault
- Centre de Coopération Internationale en la Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), UMR Joint Research Unit Ecology of Guianan Forests (EcoFoG) AgroParisTech, CNRS, INRA Université des Antilles, Université de la Guyane Kourou French Guiana
- Hervé Jactel
- INRAE, University of Bordeaux BIOGECO Cestas France
- Julia Koricheva
- School of Biological Sciences Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK
- Holger Kreft
- Biodiversity, Macroecology & Biogeography University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany
- Simone Mereu
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per la Bioeconomia CNR‐IBE Sassari Italy
- Bart Muys
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences KU Leuven Leuven Belgium
- Charles A. Nock
- Department of Renewable Resources University of Alberta Edmonton Canada
- Alain Paquette
- Département des sciences biologiques Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal Quebec Canada
- John D. Parker
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Edgewater Maryland USA
- Michael P. Perring
- Forest & Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering Ghent University Melle‐Gontrode Belgium
- Quentin Ponette
- Earth and Life Institute Université Catholique de Louvain Louvain‐la‐Neuve Belgium
- Catherine Potvin
- Department of Biology McGill University Montréal Quebec Canada
- Peter B. Reich
- Department of Forest Resources University of Minnesota Saint Paul Minnesota USA
- Michael Scherer‐Lorenzen
- Faculty of Biology University of Freiburg, Geobotany Freiburg Germany
- Florian Schnabel
- Chair of Silviculture, Institute of Forest Sciences University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany
- Kris Verheyen
- Forest & Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering Ghent University Melle‐Gontrode Belgium
- Martin Weih
- Department of Crop Production Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
- Meike Wollni
- Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany
- Delphine Clara Zemp
- School of Biological Sciences Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12829
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 15,
no. 1
pp. n/a – n/a
Abstract
Abstract As of 2020, the world has an estimated 290 million ha of planted forests and this number is continuously increasing. Of these, 131 million ha are monospecific planted forests under intensive management. Although monospecific planted forests are important in providing timber, they harbor less biodiversity and are potentially more susceptible to disturbances than natural or diverse planted forests. Here, we point out the increasing scientific evidence for increased resilience and ecosystem service provision of functionally and species diverse planted forests (hereafter referred to as diverse planted forests) compared to monospecific ones. Furthermore, we propose five concrete steps to foster the adoption of diverse planted forests: (1) improve awareness of benefits and practical options of diverse planted forests among land‐owners, managers, and investors; (2) incentivize tree species diversity in public funding of afforestation and programs to diversify current maladapted planted forests of low diversity; (3) develop new wood‐based products that can be derived from many different tree species not yet in use; (4) invest in research to assess landscape benefits of diverse planted forests for functional connectivity and resilience to global‐change threats; and (5) improve the evidence base on diverse planted forests, in particular in currently under‐represented regions, where new options could be tested.
Keywords
- Biodiversity
- climate change mitigation
- ecosystem services
- forest functioning
- forest landscape restoration
- plantations