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The study, conducted by researchers from Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), utilized forest growth simulations to create alternative future scenarios for a forest landscape in Finland. In the scenarios, the landscape was managed for maximal timber production, for a combination of several ecosystem services including timber production, or first maximal timber production and then a combination of ecosystem services (multifunctionality).

"By changing the focus of management from timber production to prioritize a combination of ecosystem services, we were able to examine the vulnerability of non-timber benefits to timber-focused management and the permanence of its effects", says Tähti Pohjanmies.

The study found that timber-focused forest management is especially harmful to forest biodiversity, bilberry yields, and carbon storage. When the management priorities were changed, these non-timber services also recovered slowly. Conversely, under management specifically targeting multifunctionality, comparatively high levels of all ecosystem services could be maintained simultaneously.

"Forest growth simulations combined with ecosystem service models are the only tools available to study long-term future changes in forest landscapes and ecosystem services and examine the consequences of decisions we make today", Pohjanmies says.

A need for resilience

Faced with future uncertainties such as those related to climate change, it is important for ecosystems to have resilience: the ability to resist and recover from disturbances. A cornerstone of ecosystem resilience is biodiversity, which can secure important ecosystem functions even when the system is under stress. In managed ecosystems like production forests, resilience depends also on the ability of management to respond to changing environmental conditions as well as changing human demands.

"Diversity in forest management is needed to promote resilience in the forest sector. Forest ecosystems develop over long time scales. Therefore, in forests in particular, single-mindedly following a uniform management paradigm can lead to a lock-in where it becomes increasingly difficult to respond to emerging challenges", says professor Jan Bengtsson from SLU.

According to the results of the study, multiple forest benefits are best secured by a combination of different harvesting regimes, including continuous cover forestry, and more extensive forest protection than what is currently done in Finland and Sweden.

"The main conclusion to draw from our findings is that to secure high levels of multiple forest ecosystem services in the future, they should be targeted in forest planning already now. Otherwise, the negative trajectories may take too long to reverse", says professor Mikko Mönkkönen from Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥.

Link to (January, 2021):

For further information:
Researcher Tähti Pohjanmies, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Finland, +358 29 5322077, tahti.pohjanmies@luke.fi
Professor Mikko Mönkkönen, Department of Biological and Environmental Science and JYU.Wisdom -network, Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥, Finland, +358 50 4413682, mikko.monkkonen@jyu.fi

The Faculty of Mathematics and Science
Communications Specialist Tanja Heikkinen, tanja.s.heikkinen@jyu.fi, +358 50 472 1162
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