Regeneration of the Austrian forests and browsing impact – Insights from the latest National Forest Inventory

Abstract

The initial development stage of forests forms the basis for the future tree generation. Various driving and interacting factors determine the regeneration process at small and large scale. Based on the latest Austrian National Forest Inventory 2016–2021 the regeneration assessments and estimation methods were collated. Analyses were conducted to estimate the forest area regarding regeneration necessity and occurrence, the causes of regeneration deficits, the origin from natural and artificial regeneration, tree species occurrence as well as browsing impact.

Keywords

• climate change
• natural regeneration
• regeneration deficits
• sample plot
• tree species composition
• ungulates