首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
     检索      


Changes in biodiversity indicators in managed and unmanaged forests in NE Spain
Authors:Olga Torras  Assu Gil-Tena  Santiago Saura
Institution:(1) Department d’Enginyeria Agroforestal, ETSEA, Universitat de Lleida, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain;(2) ?rea de Biodiversitat, Grup d’Ecologia del Paisatge, Centre Tecnol?gic Forestal de Catalunya, Ctra. de St. Lloren? de Morunys, km 2, 25280 Solsona, Spain;(3) Departamento de Econom?a y Gesti?n Forestal, ETSI Montes, Universidad Polit?cnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n., 28040 Madrid, Spain;
Abstract:Major changes in Mediterranean forests have occurred in recent decades, mainly as a result of the abandonment of traditional activities and population decline in rural areas. In this study, we analyzed the short-term (11-year) evolution of forests in the region of Catalonia (NE Spain) and the role of management, by comparing seven biodiversity indicators estimated from 7,664 plots from the Second and Third Spanish National Forest Inventory. We evaluated the changes in unmanaged and managed stands with different silvicultural treatments, and considered the effect of stand density and land ownership on these dynamics. We found a general naturalization and maturation of forests and an increase in all of the biodiversity indicators investigated during the study period, with the increments being greater in unmanaged than in managed plots. Some types of silvicultural treatments, such as selection cutting or thinning, were shown to be compatible with an increase in the analyzed indicators, and thus were more adequate for a multifunctional management that considers forest production together with the maintenance or improvement of the diversity of forest communities. The increases in shrub species richness and in the number of large-diameter trees after silvicultural treatments were more prominent in dense stands. Private lands presented greater short-term increases than public forests in all biodiversity indicators, except for large-diameter trees. From these results, we concluded that the application of silvicultural treatments can be a key tool to shape and maintain diverse and healthy forest structures in the context of socioeconomic and environmental changes in the Mediterranean region, which may induce potentially excessive densification and homogenization of some forest stands and landscapes.
Keywords:
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录!
设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号