Reconciling climate change resilience and biodiversity objectives in a Mediterranean beech forest landscape: alternative management simulation modelling and trade-off assessment
1
Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo, della Pianta e degli Alimenti (Di.S.S.P.A.), Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Giovanni Amendola, 165/a, Bari, BA - 70126, Italia
2
Department of Geoecology, Institute of Botany, Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Zámek 1, Průhonice, - 252 43, Cechia
3
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences - Production, Territory, Agroenergy (DISAA), University of Milan, Via Giovanni Celoria, 2, Milano, MI - 20133, Italia
The European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) plays a crucial role in European forests, supporting high levels of biodiversity and delivering key ecosystem services. However, beech forests are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly at the southern edge of their distribution (i.e. the Mediterranean region), where climate change threatens their structure and functions. In this context, the evaluation of forest management strategies becomes essential to promote biodiversity conservation and enhance ecosystem resilience. Simulation models represent powerful tools to assess the long-term effects of alternative management scenarios under changing climatic conditions.
We used the LANDIS-II forest landscape model to evaluate the impacts of forest management strategies (even-aged vs. uneven-aged vs. no-intervention) on forest biodiversity (using tree species diversity as a proxy) and carbon pools, under two climate change scenarios (SSP 126 and SSP 370). The studied beech forest is located in the Gargano National Park (southern Italy) and consists of the Natura 2000 Habitat 9210*. Landscape structure (composition and configuration) analyses were performed at the scale of both individual management units and the whole management area to capture local dynamics as well as broader spatial patterns relevant to conservation planning and adaptive forest management objectives.
Our results show that uneven-aged management determines fine landscape textures in terms of the spatial distribution of above ground wood biomass (standing stock) at both spatial scales, while even-aged management determines fine and coarse landscape textures at the management area scale and management unit scale respectively.
Regarding biodiversity, tree species diversity declines under both no-intervention and even-aged scenarios but shows a positive trend under uneven-aged management. In contrast, carbon stocks increase more significantly under even-aged management, highlighting a trade-off between biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration.
Ecologia del Paesaggio ed analisi spaziale degli ecosistemi
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