As human populations increase so do demands for forest products and services. With the world’s natural forest shrinking or increasingly unavailable for timber production, planted forests are expected to fulfil more of these demands. Planted forests are often provide multiple ecosystem services such as biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, enhanced water supply, and reduced pressures on natural forests although these aims are often contested.
Therefore it is important to discuss - can multiple ecosystem services be provided by planted forests, and to what extent?
Please have at this useful ResearchGate link and PDF attachments.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256498522_Role_of_eucalypt_and_other_planted_forests_in_biodiversity_conservation_and_the_provision_of_biodiversity-related_ecosystem_services
Plantations can address these ecosystem services (and perhaps more):
Provisioning: Energy, fiber, food, water
Regulating: climate regulation, carbon sequestration, water purification, erosion control, pollination
Cultural: Recreation, reflection, aesthetics (all based on various human values)
Supporting: Soil formation, nutrient cycling, photosynthesis, water cycling
Hello,
in quite a number of cases I have noticed here in France that Fir (Picea) plantations can host red-listed species (like Accipiter gentilis, Buxbaumia viridis, Corralorhiza trifida, etc.) despite looking uniform and poor from biodiversity point of view.
Planted forest can provide a variety of ecosystem services, but can have impacts on water yield and biodiversity if trees are allowed to replace native forest though uncontrolled regeneration
You may go through these links
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfr/2012/295414/
https://www.cifor.org/library/5945/assessing-ecosystem-goods-and-services-from-community-managed-planted-forests-lessons-from-nepal/
https://www.fs.fed.us/research/publications/misc/72420_2014_BiodiversConserv_Thompson_etal.pdf
In general, forest systems offer multiple services, whatever their origin. So, I think the question would be: Why plantations can not provide multiples objectives?
Climate change mitigation, source of traditional and modern drugs, ritual value to certain society, reduce soil erosion, adds organic matter to soil, improve soil fertility, forests as lung of life on the earth, store energy and carbon, ......................
Thank you all for your responses and additional resources - very helpful.
Rüdiger Grote - you are partially right, the paper and associated blog - https://forestsnews.cifor.org/47752/green-deserts-or-functional-forests?fnl=en provide the answer, and intention was to get different opinion from the experts BUT CERTAINLY NOT to advertise ... :)
One of the main purposes of plantation is to produce wood and fibre. In addition, plantation forests provide several other ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, clean water production, regulation of the hydrological cycle, and improvement in the connectivity of landscape mosaics for biodiversity conservation and the alleviation of desertification.
Yes, planted trees can provide multiple ecosystem functions, but, care should be taken. Some tree species planted in Kenya have been invasive, killing indigenous vegetation with catastrophic effects. So, whereas our zeal is to plant as many tree species as possible for bio-diversity purposes, we must be cautious.
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