The role of coniferous mixed stands in integrated forest management in Bavaria

This project aims to evaluate and optimize the future structure of forests in Bavaria, when considering multiple ecosystem services, uncertainties and conifer- dominated mixed stands that include Silver fir and Douglas fir.

Image source: Stefan Schaffner

The private and public forest sectors are facing major challenges due to climate change and the increasing social demands for the provision of ecosystem services and the conservation of biodiversity. To compensate the declining share of instable spruce stands it is important to to consider not only hardwoods but also alternative conifer species such as Silver fir and Douglas fir for the future forest composition.

In general, it is not clear how coniferous, economically competitive forest stands, affect biodiversity conservation and other ecosystem services that are not (yet) marketable (e.g. carbon storage or groundwater recharge). Indicators can be used to consider multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity in forest planning, for example to derive conclusions about the desirable composition of tree species in future forestry. Such indicators can easily be accounted in multi-objective optimization.