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Forest Ecosystems 2018, 5(4): 26 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40663-018-0142-2
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Young and old forest in the boreal: critical stages of ecosystem dynamics and management under global change

Show Author's Information Timo Kuuluvainen1 ( ),  Sylvie Gauthier2
Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Latokartanonkaari 7, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Laurentian Forestry Center, 1055 rue du P.E.P.S., C.P. 10380, succ. Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Québec G1V 4C7, Canada
Keywords:
Climate change, Resilience, Biodiversity, Ecosystem services, Forest management, Boreal forest, Forest dynamics, Adaptive capacity, Forestry
Cite this article:
Kuuluvainen T, Gauthier S. Young and old forest in the boreal: critical stages of ecosystem dynamics and management under global change. Forest Ecosystems, 2018, 5(4): 26. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40663-018-0142-2
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Abstract Full text About this article

The circumboreal forest encompasses diverse landscape structures, dynamics and forest age distributions determined by their physical setting, and historical and current disturbance regimes. However, due to intensifying forest utilisation, and in certain areas due to increasing natural disturbances, boreal forest age-class structures have changed rapidly, so that the proportion of old forest has substantially declined, while that of young post-harvest and post-natural-disturbance forest proportions have increased. In the future, with a warming climate in certain boreal regions, this trend may further be enhanced due to an increase in natural disturbances and large-scale use of forest biomass to replace fossil-based fuels and products.

The major drivers of change of forest age class distributions and structures include the use of clearcut short-rotation harvesting, more frequent and severe natural disturbances due to climate warming in certain regions. The decline in old forest area, and increase in managed young forest lacking natural post-disturbance structural legacies, represent a major transformation in the ecological conditions of the boreal forest beyond historical limits of variability. This may introduce a threat to biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and long-term adaptive capacity of the forest ecosystem.

To safeguard boreal forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and to maintain the multiple services provided to societies by this forest biome, it is pivotal to maintain an adequate share and the ecological qualities of young post-disturbance stages, along with mature forest stages with old-growth characteristics. This requires management for natural post-disturbance legacy structures, and innovative use of diverse uneven-aged and continuous cover management approaches to maintain critical late-successional forest structures in landscapes.


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About this article

Young and old forest in the boreal: critical stages of ecosystem dynamics and management under global change

Show Author's information Timo Kuuluvainen1 ( ), Sylvie Gauthier2
Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Latokartanonkaari 7, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Laurentian Forestry Center, 1055 rue du P.E.P.S., C.P. 10380, succ. Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Québec G1V 4C7, Canada

Abstract

The circumboreal forest encompasses diverse landscape structures, dynamics and forest age distributions determined by their physical setting, and historical and current disturbance regimes. However, due to intensifying forest utilisation, and in certain areas due to increasing natural disturbances, boreal forest age-class structures have changed rapidly, so that the proportion of old forest has substantially declined, while that of young post-harvest and post-natural-disturbance forest proportions have increased. In the future, with a warming climate in certain boreal regions, this trend may further be enhanced due to an increase in natural disturbances and large-scale use of forest biomass to replace fossil-based fuels and products.

The major drivers of change of forest age class distributions and structures include the use of clearcut short-rotation harvesting, more frequent and severe natural disturbances due to climate warming in certain regions. The decline in old forest area, and increase in managed young forest lacking natural post-disturbance structural legacies, represent a major transformation in the ecological conditions of the boreal forest beyond historical limits of variability. This may introduce a threat to biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and long-term adaptive capacity of the forest ecosystem.

To safeguard boreal forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and to maintain the multiple services provided to societies by this forest biome, it is pivotal to maintain an adequate share and the ecological qualities of young post-disturbance stages, along with mature forest stages with old-growth characteristics. This requires management for natural post-disturbance legacy structures, and innovative use of diverse uneven-aged and continuous cover management approaches to maintain critical late-successional forest structures in landscapes.

Keywords: Climate change, Resilience, Biodiversity, Ecosystem services, Forest management, Boreal forest, Forest dynamics, Adaptive capacity, Forestry

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Acknowledgements
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Publication history

Received: 16 January 2018
Accepted: 24 May 2018
Published: 13 June 2018
Issue date: December 2018

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2018.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We thank Dominique Boucher and David Gervais for help in data collection and Stella Thompson for revision of the English language. This work was carried out in the framework of the EBOR-project funded by the 597 Academy of Finland (proj. no. 276255).

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