Integrated landscape management for resilient mountain forests under global changes

Project Information

REINFORCE

Grant agreement ID: 891671

DOI

10.3030/891671

Project closed

EC signature date 4 March 2020

Start date 14 June 2021

End date 6 November 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 183 473,28

EU contribution

€ 183 473,28

Coordinated by

ACCADEMIA EUROPEA DI BOLZANO
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - REINFORCE (Integrated landscape management for resilient mountain forests under global changes)

Reporting period: 2021-06-14 to 2023-06-13

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Forests are key components of modern landscapes, providing essential ecosystem services to humans and sustaining biodiversity. However, forests are projected to undergo dramatic compositional and structural shifts prompted by global changes, such as intensifying natural disturbance regimes, land use and climate change. This uncertainty makes planning for forest management exceptionally difficult. Forest management needs to be urgently upscaled to an integrated landscape level considering future uncertainty coming not only from climate change but from increasing natural disturbances and ensuring that individual decisions are harmonized within a territorial approach. Combining the use of advanced models of forest dynamics with methods based on functional traits and network theory (i.e. the functional network approach) allow to determine where to intervene more efficiently in stands within the landscape to maximize ecological resilience to global changes.

The MSCA-IF project REINFORCE aimed at developing novel, multi-scale and integrated forest management strategies with the goal of building more resilient mountain forest ecosystems to global changes. In particular, REINFORCE pursued three research objectives:
1) Assessing – to evaluate future forest landscapes scenarios under uncertain global changes using an advanced model of forest dynamics.
2) Planning – design and test novel forest management plans to foster resilience to uncertain global changes using the functional complex network approach.
3) Reinforcing – propose integrated forest landscape management plans at regional level engaging stakeholders in ranking management alternatives.

The project delivered several conclusive outcomes that provided a step forward towards: 1) the application of models of forest dynamics in the Alpine region, 2) the assessment of future forest development under global change stressors, 3) the validation of the functional network approach in forest management and the quantification of ecological resilience in forested landscapes.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Within REINFORCE, I calibrated multi-scale models of forest dynamics in the Alps and in other case study areas. Such models (iLand, ForClim, LANDIS-II) were applied to evaluate future forest development under combination of scenarios considering climate change, natural disturbances, forest management, treeline expansion and land-use change. Results revealed a contrasting effect of climate change on mountain and subalpine forests in the Alps, highlighting the need of local-scale model applications in topographically complex territories. Additionally, under hypothetical land-use abandonment the treeline ecotone will likely shift quickly upwards in elevation affecting future tree species composition at landscape level in the Alps.

REINFORCE also contributed in validating, by means of modelling, the functional complex network approach as a potential methods to enhance forest ecological resilience to global change. Simulation experiments in forests of Eastern North America embedding climate change, biotic disturbances and multiple management alternatives demonstrated that adopting a landscape-scale perspective by planning interventions strategically in space and adopting a functional trait approach to diversify forests is promising for enhancing ecological resilience indicators under unexpected global change stressors. It also demonstrated how proactive forest management can drive the future dynamics and adaptability of Mediterranean forests under climate change. The project also engaged with regional stakeholders to rank research priorities that are needed at regional level to deliver practical recommendations in adapting forest management.

Results obtained have been published in four scientific articles, and further studies will be submitted to scientific journals soon. The data generated from the project were also made available in open-access datasets. Project results have been presented at six international and national conferences, six lectures at universities, five invited oral presentations and a number of communication activities (video interviews, lecture for school, online articles, blog posts) that contributed in spreading awareness on the addressed topics of the project. Additional information on REINFORCE and its ongoing/follow-up research activities is available on the project webpage and on social media.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The functional complex network approach has been conceptualized only recently as a combination of methods based on functional traits (i.e. the biological functions provided by each tree species) and network theory (i.e. spatial connectivity of forest stands in terms of capacity to disperse seeds and establish). Applying this approach to forest management implies to strategically prioritize areas in the landscape that contribute the most to landscape connectivity and requiring functional diversification, and targeting silvicultural interventions to maximize landscape resilience to global changes, quantified with multiple resilience indicators (functional diversity, redundancy, connectivity). This approach has been proposed but it was never tested in the field, nor with models of forest dynamics. The simulation studies presented in REINFORCE are a step forward towards the validation of such approach in forest management and for the quantification of ecological resilience in forested landscapes.
Additionally, REINFORCE set the stage for the application of models of forest dynamics in the Italian Alps, pivotal for eventually providing guidance to regional stakeholders and decision-makers for adapting forest management practices considering future stressors such as climate change and increasing natural disturbances. The research carried out under the project directly addressed issues related to climate change and the environment at multiple levels, contributing towards the European sustainable development goals of mitigating climate change and promoting a sustainable management of forests.

Schematic workflow of the REINFORCE project