Speaker
Description
Mixed species forests have been increasingly recognized as an important pillar of sustainability driven ecosystem management under uncertain and more frequent extreme environmental and social conditions. Although knowledge about the resilience of mixed stands has remained somewhat fragmented, the growing frequency of climate related risks has indicated that the importance of mixed stands is increasing and that the long term resilience of mixed forests is generally higher than that of pure stands. This review synthesized available scientific research on the diversity of benefits when replacing pure stands with mixed forest stands, especially focusing on stand productivity, resilience, and product diversity in mixed stands compared with pure stands, integrating findings from different forest ecosystems. The review concluded that mixed stands generally achieved higher stand level productivity through more diverse and complementary resource use, sometimes resulting in increased growth efficiency. Furthermore, the review found that mixed stands expanded the range of available forest products, improving timber assortment diversity, supporting higher biodiversity (including fauna), and increasing the diversity of non timber products such as fruits and other edible, medicinal, and bio based materials. By combining international research with regionally relevant insights, the review added value for forest management, where the improved resilience associated with species mixing has been acknowledged but insufficiently examined in relation to forest value chains and long term ecological and economic stability. The synthesis also contextualized the important role of replacing pure stands with mixed stands for strengthening forest ecosystem services, enduring climate related stressors, and supporting a more diversified and resilient forest based silviculture.
| Keywords | Silviculture; Diversified forest management |
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