In recent years, increasing biodiversity in forest ecosystems has been gaining an increasing role among the various goods and services provided by forests. It is now recognized that fostering multi-taxonomic biodiversity through silvicultural management is a way to make forests more resilient and to provide for other directly related ecosystem services. However, reconciling these aspects and at the same time adapting our forests to climate change is not simple work. This colloquium focuses on possible approaches to integrate biodiversity conservation into forest management and planning. An overview of the legislative and research situation at the European level will be given, and then some insights and avenues for solutions for forests in the Alps and South Tyrol will be provided. The results of our recent studies on the relationship between forest variables and biodiversity for South Tyrolean forests will also be presented, as well as on the use of simulation models as a tool to study the impact of climate change on forest dynamics and to provide useful recommendations for forest management.
Marco Mina, a forest ecologist and researcher at Eurac Research’s Institute for the Alpine Environment, specializes in simulation modelling approaches to forest dynamics and works to understand how to better manage our forests in a future characterized by global change.
The event can also be followed online on the Museum’s YouTube channel.
