0000000000411830
AUTHOR
Ilkka Vanha-majamaa
Rehabilitating boreal forest structure and species composition in Finland through logging, dead wood creation and fire: The EVO experiment
This paper reviews an ongoing, large-scale multidisciplinary experiment designed to study the possibilities of rehabilitating forest structure and species composition through logging, dead wood creation and fire in managed Norway spruce (Picea abies) forests in southern Finland. These forests have been utilized for several centuries with intensive management and clear-cut harvesting, which has been the dominant practice in Finland since World War II. During this era, the forest structure has become relatively even-aged, and the amount of dead wood has been reduced considerably. Simultaneously, due to an effective fire suppression policy, the role of fire in Finnish nature has been almost co…
Challenges of ecological restoration: Lessons from forests in northern Europe
The alarming rate of ecosystem degradation has raised the need for ecological restoration throughout different biomes and continents. North European forests may appear as one of the least vulnerable ecosystems from a global perspective, since forest cover is not rapidly decreasing and many ecosystem services remain at high level. However, extensive areas of northern forests are heavily exploited and have lost a major part of their biodiversity value. There is a strong requirement to restore these areas towards a more natural condition in order to meet the targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Several northern countries are now taking up this challenge by restoring forest biodiv…