Abstract

We examine how levels of multiple ecosystem services (ESs) change with succession in forests with different tree species composition. More specifically we ask how ecosystem age interacts with environmental conditions to regulate ES delivery. Using the nationwide Swedish forest inventory, comprising boreal and temperate regions, we investigated how levels of six provisioning, regulating, recreational, and/or cultural forest ESs changed with forest age (10-185 years) in stands of different tree species composition. We also tested whether the number of ESs delivered (i.e. multifunctionality) changed substantially with stand age, using different threshold levels for ES delivery. Accounting for environmental conditions and stand properties, we found that levels of single ESs changed with stand age. Tree biomass production usually peaked in young to medium aged stands. In contrast, production of berries and game, and services related to biodiversity, were typically highest in old stands (120-185 years). Consistent with this strong temporal tradeoff, multifunctionality at lower threshold levels increased with stand age in most monocultures and mixtures, with the highest multifunctionality being reached somewhere between 100 and 185 years, depending on tree species composition. This was not evident for the highest threshold ES level (the top-20%), however. Moreover, multifunctionality usually decreased with warmer climatic conditions, with the exception of spruce-pine-birch mixtures. Taken together, our results show that a reduced forest age, e.g. due to forestry targeting early harvest of stands, most likely would limit the delivery of several ESs valued by society and result in less multifunctional forests. To maintain the capacity of forests to deliver high levels of multiple ESs, the role of stand age and tree species composition should be considered in decisions on how to manage future forests.

Keywords

berry production; biodiversity; carbon storage; dead wood; game production; tree production; understory richness

Published in

Environmental Research Letters
2020, Volume: 15, number: 9, article number: 0940a8
Publisher: IOP PUBLISHING LTD

SLU Authors

• Bengtsson, Jan

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Snäll, Tord

  • SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss


UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abaf1c

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/108121