Adaptation to climate change has often been discussed from the perspectives of social vulnerability and community vulnerability, recognising that characteristics at local level will influence the particular adaptations undertaken. However, the extent to which national-level systemic factors influence and shape measures defined as adaptations has seldom been recognised. Focusing on adaptation to climate change in forestry, this study uses the example of two countries in the northern hemisphere with different forest ownership structures, forestry industry and traditions: Sweden, with strong private, non-industrial ownership, dominant forest industry and long forestry traditions; and Scotland, with forest ownership dominated by large estates and investment forestry based on plantations of exotic conifer species. The study shows how adaptation to climate change is structurally embedded and conditioned, which has resulted in specific challenges and constraints for different groups of forest owners within these two different contexts. This produces a specific set of political spaces and policy tools by rendering climate change in relation to forestry manageable, negotiable and practical/logical in specific ways. It is recommended that the focus of future work on climate-related issues and development of adaptation measures and policy should not be primarily on climate-related factors, but on institutional analysis of structural factors and logics in target sectors, in order to critically explore concepts of agency and power within these processes.
Flow regulation affects bordering riparian plant communities worldwide, but how different plant life forms are affected by river regulation still needs further research. In northern Sweden, we selected 10 rivers ranging from free-flowing to low, moderately, and highly regulated ones. In 94 reaches across those rivers, we evaluated the relative abundance of woody and herbaceous (i.e., graminoids and forbs) life forms, their species richness, and their relative presence. We also explored which, and to what extent, hydrological variables drove species assembly within each life form. The relative abundance and species richness of each life form decreased across river categories with increasing levels of regulation. This was particularly apparent in herbaceous life forms, and the most drastic decreases were observed in all life forms in moderately or highly regulated reaches. Additionally, when river regulation increased, the relative presence of many species from all life forms decreased. Unlike woody species, only a few new herbaceous species appeared in regulated reaches. A canonical correspondence analyses (CCA) revealed that a wide range of hydrological variables explained the occurrence of woody species, while fewer variables explained variation in the graminoid and forb life forms. We conclude that flow regulation and its intensity result into clear shifts in the relative abundance of different life forms, as well as in changes of within-group species richness and composition. Consequently, the modification of certain flow attributes in flow regulation schemes, as well as the intensity of these modifications, may alter the ratio between herbaceous and woody species, ultimately impacting the functions and benefits derived from each life form.
Although forestry is not a regulated area in the European Union (EU), numerous decisions in other policy areas are related to forestry. However, its position outside of formal policy-making can result in the fact that actors, such as those within the forest industry, may have a larger role when compared to other policy sectors where the state system has an integrated role. This explorative study reviews the ways in which the forest industry in Sweden, one of the EU states with the most forest land, tries to protect and promote its interests on an EU-level. It concludes that a main way to influence decision-making in the EU is through lobbying, through its own organisations and through the transnational trade association, The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI). The study shows that collectively conducted lobbying is largely preferred which means that internal communication is important since lobbying at the EU-level is potentially limited by the diverging positions of trade association members as well as among the different trade associations themselves.
Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is one of the most economically important species to the Swedish forest industry, and cost-efficient planting methods are needed to ensure successful reestab-lishment after harvesting forest stands. While the majority of clear-cuts are replanted with pre-grown seedlings, direct seeding can be a viable option on poorer sites. Organic fertilizer has been shown to improve planted seedling establishment, but the effect on direct seeding is less well known. Therefore, at a scarified (disc trencher harrowed) clear-cut site in northern Sweden, we evaluated the effect of early, small-scale nitrogen addition on establishment and early recruitment of fungi from the disturbed soil community by site-planted Scots pine seeds. Individual seeds were planted using a moisture retaining germination matrix containing 10 mg nitrogen in the form of either arginine phosphate or ammonium nitrate. After one growing season, we collected seedlings and assessed the fungal community of seedling roots and the surrounding soil. Our results demonstrate that early, small-scale N addition increases seedling survival and needle carbon content, that there is rapid recruitment of ectomycorrhizal fungi to the roots and rhizosphere of the young seedlings and that this rapid recruitment was modified but not prevented by N addition.
Conifer genomes are characterized by their large size and high abundance of repetitive material, making large-scale genotyping in conifers complicated and expensive. One of the consequences of this is that it has been difficult to generate data on genome-wide levels of genetic variation. To date, researchers have mainly employed various complexity reduction techniques to assess genetic variation across the genome in different conifer species. These methods tend to capture variation in a relatively small subset of a typical conifer genome and it is currently not clear how representative such results are. Here we take advantage of data generated in the first large-scale re-sequencing effort in Norway spruce and assess how well two commonly used complexity reduction methods, targeted capture probes and genotyping by sequencing perform in capturing genome-wide variation in Norway spruce. Our results suggest that both methods perform reasonably well for assessing genetic diversity and population structure in Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.). Targeted capture probes were slightly more effective than GBS, likely due to them targeting known genomic regions whereas the GBS data contains a substantially greater fraction of repetitive regions, which sometimes can be problematic for assessing genetic diversity. In conclusion, both methods are useful for genotyping large numbers of samples and they greatly reduce the cost involved with genotyping a species with such a complex genome as Norway spruce.
Recreation activity preferences in forest settings were explored in a scene preference study. The importance of type of human intervention and the level of biodiversity for preference and intention to engage in recreation activities were examined in a sample of forestry and social science students in Sweden. Results showed that forestry students displayed an almost equally strong preference for natural-looking scenes as for scenes with traces of recreation (e.g., paths), whereas social science students preferred recreational scenes the most. Least preferred were scenes with traces of forest management. Different forest settings were furthermore preferred for different recreation activities. Recreational settings were favored for walking and going on outings, and natural-looking settings were more appreciated for picking berries or mushrooms. Respondents displayed a stronger intention to study plants and animals in high biodiversity settings and the intention to exercise was stronger in low biodiversity settings. Implications for future land use planning and forest management are discussed.
We propose a novel photogrammetric method for field plot inventory, designed for simplicity and time efficiency on-site. A prototype multi-camera rig was used to acquire images from field plot centers in multiple directions. The acquisition time on-site was less than two minutes. From each view, a point cloud was generated using a novel, rig-based matching of detected SIFT keypoints. Stems were detected in the merged point cloud, and their positions and diameters were estimated. The method was evaluated on 25 hemi-boreal forest plots of a 10-m radius. Due to difficult lighting conditions and faulty hardware, imagery from only six field plots was processed. The method performed best on three plots with clearly visible stems with a 76% detection rate and 0% commission. Dieameters could be estimated for 40% of the stems with an RMSE of 2.8-9.5 cm. The results are comparable to other camera-based methods evaluated in a similar manner. The results are inferior to TLS-based methods. However, our method is easily extended to multiple station image schemas, something that could significantly improve the results while retaining low commission errors and time on-site. Furthermore, with smaller hardware, we believe this could be a useful technique for measuring stem attributes in the forest.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is an ambitious piece of legislation designed to protect and improve water quality throughout Europe. However, forests are only mentioned once in the WFD, and forestry is not mentioned at all, despite its potential implications for streams, rivers and lakes. Here we present a transdisciplinary commentary on the WFD and its implications for forests and forestry in Sweden. This commentary has been prepared by forestry stakeholders, biophysical and social scientists. While we were cognizant of a large body of discipline-specific research, there are very few inter-or trans-disciplinary commentaries which link academic and stakeholder perspectives on the WFD. We had originally felt that there would be little commonality in our concerns. However, we found significant areas of agreement. Our key areas of concern about the implications of the WFD for forestry in Sweden included: (i) concerns about what is meant by good ecological status and how it is assessed; (ii) a perceived lack of clarity in the legal framework; (iii) an inadequate environmental impact assessment process; and (iv) uncertainties about appropriate programs of measures for improving water quality. We were also concerned that ecosystem services provided by forests and the positive effects of forestry on water quality are inadequately recognized in the WFD.
Dead standing trees (DSTs) generally decompose slower than wood in contact with the forest floor. In many regions, DSTs are being created at an increasing rate due to accelerating tree mortality caused by climate change. Therefore, factors determining DST fall are crucial for predicting dead wood turnover time but remain poorly constrained. Here, we conduct a re-analysis of published DST fall data to provide standardized information on the mean time to fall (MTF) of DSTs across biomes. We used multiple linear regression to test covariates considered important for DST fall, while controlling for mortality and management effects. DSTs of species killed by fire, insects and other causes stood on average for 48, 13 and 19 years, but MTF calculations were sensitive to how tree size was accounted for. Species’ MTFs differed significantly between DSTs killed by fire and other causes, between coniferous and broadleaved plant functional types (PFTs) and between managed and unmanaged sites, but management did not explain MTFs when we distinguished by mortality cause. Mean annual temperature (MAT) negatively affected MTFs, whereas larger tree size or being coniferous caused DSTs to stand longer. The most important explanatory variables were MAT and tree size, with minor contributions of management and plant functional type depending on mortality cause. Our results provide a basis to improve the representation of dead wood decomposition in carbon cycle assessments.
The theoretical concept of “climate-smart forestry” aims to integrate climate change mitigation and adaptation to maintain and enhance forests’ contributions to people and global agendas. We carried out two local transdisciplinary collaboration processes with the aim of developing local articulations of climate-smart forestry and to identify barriers, pathways and indicators to applying it in practice. During workshops in northern and southern Sweden, local stakeholders described how they would like forests to be managed, considering their past experiences, future visions and climate change. As a result, the stakeholders framed climate-smart forestry as active and diverse management towards multiple goals. They identified several conditions that could act both as barriers and pathways for its implementation in practice, such as value chains for forest products and services, local knowledge and experiences of different management alternatives, and the management of ungulates. Based on the workshop material, a total of 39 indicators for climate-smart forestry were identified, of which six were novel indicators adding to the existing literature. Our results emphasize the importance of understanding the local perspectives to promote climate-smart forestry practices across Europe. We also suggest how the concept of climate-smart forestry can be further developed, through the interplay between theory and practice.
The speed with which restoration will, or can, be accomplished depends on the initial state and location of the sites. However, many factors can undermine the process of choosing sites that are deemed the best ecological choice for restoration. Little attention has been paid to whether site selection follows ecological criteria and how this may affect restoration success. We used habitat inventory data to investigate whether ecological criteria for site selection and restoration have been followed, focusing on restoration for the white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos B.) in Sweden. In our study region, which is situated in an intensively managed forest landscape with dense and young stands dominated by two coniferous species, purely ecological criteria would entail that sites that are targeted for restoration would (1) initially be composed of older and more deciduous trees than the surrounding landscape, and (2) be at a scale relevant for the species. Furthermore, restoration should lead to sites becoming less dense and less dominated by coniferous trees after restoration, which we investigated as an assessment of restoration progress. To contextualize the results, we interviewed people involved in the restoration efforts on site. We show that although the first criterion for ecological site selection was largely met, the second was not. More research is needed to assess the motivations of actors taking part in restoration efforts, as well as how they interlink with public efforts. This would allow us to identify possible synergies that can benefit restoration efforts.
The boreal forest floor vegetation is critical for ecosystem functioning and an important part of forest biodiversity. Given the ongoing global change, knowledge on broad-scale changes in the composition and abundance of different plant species and species groups is hence important for both forest conservation and management. Here, we analyse permanent plot data from the National Forest Inventory (NFI) on changes in the vegetation over a 10-year period in four regions of Sweden. To limit the direct and relatively well-known effects of forest management and associated succession, we only included mature forest stands not influenced by forestry during the 10 years between inventories, and focused on vegetation change mainly related to other factors. Results show strong decrease among many species and species groups. This includes dominant species such as Vaccinimum myrtillus and Deschampsia flexuosa as well as several forest herbs. The only species increasing are some mosses in the southern regions. Our data do not allow for a causal interpretation of the observed patterns. However, the changes probably result from latent succession in combination with climate change and nitrogen deposition, and with time lags complicating the interpretation of their relative importance. Regardless of the cause, the observed changes are on a magnitude that suggest impacts on ecosystem functioning and hence highlight the need for more experimental work.
It is only relatively recently that national adaptation strategies have begun to develop measures by which forestry can adapt to climate change; often those measures opt to use a relatively general strategy for coping under conditions of disturbance. Particularly in states using intensive forest management, such as Sweden, this approach marks a departure from current strategies for achieving maximum yield. In other countries, however, where the economic output from forestry is less significant and interests such as biodiversity, local use and tourism, may figure more prominently, the conditions for developing risk-based forest management may be more manifest. This study reviews literature on adaptations in forest management, and analyzes country reports submitted as part of an EU27 project. The study concludes that the diverse prerequisites and policies of states have seldom been reflected in the design of adaptation management actions to date.
Adaptation to climate change in forestry has become a growing concern, in part due to the impact of storms and other events that have raised the awareness of such risks amongst forest owners. Sweden is one of Europe's most densely-forested countries, with this sector playing a major role economically. However adaptation has, to a large extent, been limited to the provision of recommendations to forest managers, most of which have only been partially implemented. This paper summarizes research with direct implications for adaptation to climate change within the forestry sector in Sweden. The focus is based in particular on providing examples of adaptations that illustrate the specific Swedish orientation to adaptation, in line with its relatively intensive forest management system. The paper thus illustrates a specific Swedish orientation to adaptation through active management, which can be contrasted with approaches to adaptation in other forestry systems, in particular those with limited management or management based on maintaining natural forests in particular.
Coping or adaptation following large-scale disturbance may depend on the political system and its preparedness and policy development in relation to risks. Adaptive or foresight planning is necessary in order to account and plan for potential risks that may increase or take place concurrently with climate change. Forests constitute relevant examples of large-scale renewable resource systems that have been directly affected by recent environmental and social changes, and where different levels of management may influence each other. This article views disturbances in the forest sectors of Sweden and Canada, two large forest nations with comparable forestry experiences, in order to elucidate the preparedness and existing responses to multiple potential stresses. The article concludes that the two countries are exposed to stresses that indicate the importance of the governing and institutional system particularly with regard to multi-level systems including federal and EU levels. While economic change largely results in privatization of risk onto individual companies and their economic resources (in Canada coupled with a contestation of institutional systems and equity in these), storm and pest outbreaks in particular challenge institutional capacities at administrative levels, within the context provided by governance and tenure systems.
In the mid-1960s, fertilization (with nitrogen) had a breakthrough as a promising forest management method in Swedish company owned forests. The activity grew and peaked during the 1970s but then lost ground and stabilized at a low level in the 1990s and early 2000s. Over the last five years, however, interest in fertilizing Swedish forests has increased again. In this article both the forestry industry’s, and the environmental movement’s, attitudes toward forest fertilization over time are investigated. Furthermore, conflicting persistent ideas about nature and future, i.e., “figures of thought”, within interest groups, representing forestry and the environmental movement respectively, are identified and analyzed in relation to the debate on fertilization. The analysis reveals mainly three figures of thought that have influenced this debate during the period, “the idea of progress”, “the idea of decay” and “the idea of the great chain of being”. The study thus sheds light on how the relationship between forestry and the environmental movement has evolved from the 1960s until today and uncovers thought patterns that have stood, and continue to stand, in opposition to one another.
Extraction of timber is expensive, energy intensive, and potentially damaging to the forest soil. Machine development aims to mitigate risks for environmental impact and decrease energy consumption while maintaining or increasing cost efficiency. Development of rubber-tracked forwarders have gained renewed interest, partly due to climate change leading to unreliable weather, and the urgency of reducing emissions. The increased cost of rubber-tracks compared to wheels are believed to be compensated by higher driving speeds and larger payloads. Thus, the aim of this study was to theoretically investigate how productivity and cost efficiency of rubber-tracked forwarders can exceed that of wheeled equivalents. The calculations were made with fixed parameters, to evaluate performance in different conditions, and with parameters from 2 500 final felling stands in central Sweden, to evaluate performance in varied working conditions. Scenarios were compared to a baseline corresponding to mid-sized wheeled forwarders. The results show higher productivity with the increased driving speed and load weight enabled by rubber-tracks at all extraction distances, with larger differences at long extraction distances. Assuming 15% higher machine price for the rubber-tracked forwarder, increased speed and load weight lead to 40% cost reduction for 400 meters extraction distance. Furthermore, a rubber-tracked forwarder is likely to give access to a larger part of the harvest areas during longer seasons. The year-round accessible volumes are estimated to increase from 9% to 92% with a rubber-tracked forwarder. With rubber-tracks, good accessibility can be combined with low soil impact in a favourable way for both industry and ecosystem.
Forests deliver multiple ecosystem services to society. Management of forests must be able to deal with trade-offs when the delivery of different ecosystem services comes in conflict with each other. The research program Future Forests (http://www.futureforests.se) attempts to form a scientific basis for managing such trade-offs between conflicting interests in northern boreal forests. Some key characteristics of the research program are interdisciplinary and participatory research and a clear communication agenda for stakeholders. This paper gives a brief overview of the underlying ideas behind the program, and an introduction to the papers published in this Special Issue.
The present study focused on how forests will be managed in the future in light of the increased emphasis being put by the public on the ecological and recreational values of forests, the trend towards an increased share of non-resident forest owners, and the increased female forest ownership. The value and belief basis of forest management attitudes was explored using a questionnaire sent to a sample of private forest owners ‘residing on’ (n = 995, return rate = 51.3%) and ‘not residing on’ the forest property (n = 997, return rate = 50%). The results showed that a share of private forest owners strongly value both the view that the forest should predominately be used for timber production and the view that preservation is most important. The proposed hierarchical structure of influence, in which the forest management attitude was influenced by values and beliefs, was supported in the study. The ecological, recreational, and production forest values primarily influenced the most closely related forest management attitude, even if some cross-sectional effects and some effects of socio-demographics were found, showing that the view a private forest owner has on different forms of management styles is shaped by the perceived multiple values of the forest.
Insect herbivory is one of the most important ecological processes affecting plant–soil feedbacks and overall forest ecosystem health. In this study, we assess how elevated carbon dioxide (eCO2) impacts (i) leaf level insect herbivory and (ii) the stand-level herbivore-mediated transfer of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) from the canopy to the ground in a natural mature oak temperate forest community in central England at the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research Free Air CO2 Enrichment (BIFoR FACE) site. Recently abscised leaves were collected every two weeks through the growing season in August to December from 2017–2019, with the identification of four dominant species: Quercus robur (pedunculate oak), Acer pseudoplatanus (sycamore), Crataegus monogyna (com-mon hawthorn) and Corylus avellana (hazel). The selected leaves were scanned and visually analyzed to quantify the leaf area loss from folivory monthly. Additionally, the herbivore-mediated transfer of C and N fluxes from the dominant tree species Q. robur was calculated from these leaf-level folivory estimates, the total foliar production and the foliar C and N contents. This study finds that the leaf-level herbivory at the BIFoR FACE has not changed significantly across the first 3 years of eCO2 treatment when assessed across all dominant tree species, although we detected significant changes under the eCO2 treatment for individual tree species and years. Despite the lack of any strong leaf-level herbivory response, the estimated stand-level foliar C and N transferred to the ground via herbivory was substantially higher under eCO2, mainly because there was a ~50% increase in the foliar production of Q. robur under eCO2. This result cautions against concluding much from either the presence or absence of leaf-level herbivory responses to any environmental effect, because their actual ecosystem effects are filtered through so many (usually unmeasured) factors.
Changing and competing land use, where we make use of a growing share of resources, potentially undermines the capacity of forests to provide multiple functions such as timber, biodiversity, recreation and pasture lands. The governance challenge is thus to manage trade-offs between human needs and, at the same time, maintain the capacities of forests to provide us with these needs. Sweden provides a clear example of this kind of challenge. Traditionally, timber has been the most apparent contribution of the forest to Swedish national interests. However, due to competing land use, the identification of the wider role of forests in terms of multifunctionality has been recognized. Today, a number of functions, such as water quality and biodiversity together with cultural and social activities related to forests, are increasingly included as potential demands on forests in competition with traditional functions such as timber production. The challenge is thus related to trade-offs between different functions. How to balance the relationship and guide trade-offs between different functions of forests is, to a large extent, a matter of policy choice and the design of appropriate governance institutions and pro-active management activities. Based on perceptions among stakeholders on future competing demands and a literature review, the paper explore the multifunctionality of the Swedish forests and how it is affected by competing demands for land use; how multifunctionality is currently governed; and concludes by suggesting promising decision support methods to manage trade-offs between different functions.
At the international policy level, there is a clear link between access to information about forests and the work towards sustainable land use. However, involving forests in planning for sustainable development (SuD) at the Swedish local level, by means of municipal comprehensive planning (MCP), is complicated by sector structure and legislation. Currently, there is a gap or hole in the MCP process when it comes to use and access to knowledge about forest conditions and forest land use. This hole limits the possibilities to formulate well-informed municipal visions and goals for sustainable forest land use as well as for overall SuD. Here we introduce an approach for compilation and presentation of geographic information to increase the preconditions for integrating forest information into Swedish MCP. We produce information about forest ownership patterns and forest conditions in terms of age and significant ecological and social values in forests for a case study municipality. We conclude that it is possible to effectively compile geographic and forest-related information to fill the hole in the municipal land use map. Through our approach, MCP could bestrengthened as a tool for overall land use planning and hence as a base in SuD planning.