Multiple forest attributes underpin the supply of multiple ecosystem services

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 4839 - 11
• Main Authors: Felipe-Lucia, María R., Soliveres, Santiago, Penone, Caterina, Manning, Peter, van der Plas, Fons, Boch, Steffen, Prati, Daniel, Ammer, Christian, Schall, Peter, Gossner, Martin M., Bauhus, Jürgen, Buscot, Francois, Blaser, Stefan, Blüthgen, Nico, de Frutos, Angel, Ehbrecht, Martin, Frank, Kevin, Goldmann, Kezia, Hänsel, Falk, Jung, Kirsten, Kahl, Tiemo, Nauss, Thomas, Oelmann, Yvonne, Pena, Rodica, Polle, Andrea, Renner, Swen, Schloter, Michael, Schöning, Ingo, Schrumpf, Marion, Schulze, Ernst-Detlef, Solly, Emily, Sorkau, Elisabeth, Stempfhuber, Barbara, Tschapka, Marco, Weisser, Wolfgang W., Wubet, Tesfaye, Fischer, Markus, Allan, Eric
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 16-11-2018; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 101/58; 119/118; 45/22; 45/23; 45/77; 631/158/1145; 631/158/2445; 631/158/2454; 631/158/2458; 9/30; Canopies; Canopy gaps; Ecosystem services; Environmental factors; Forest ecosystems; Forest management; Forests; Heterogeneity; Humanities and Social Sciences; Landscape; multidisciplinary; Plant diversity; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Temperate forests; Terrestrial ecosystems; Tradeoffs
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07082-4

Trade-offs and synergies in the supply of forest ecosystem services are common but the drivers of these relationships are poorly understood. To guide management that seeks to promote multiple services, we investigated the relationships between 12 stand-level forest attributes, including structure, composition, heterogeneity and plant diversity, plus 4 environmental factors, and proxies for 14 ecosystem services in 150 temperate forest plots. Our results show that forest attributes are the best predictors of most ecosystem services and are also good predictors of several synergies and trade-offs between services. Environmental factors also play an important role, mostly in combination with forest attributes. Our study suggests that managing forests to increase structural heterogeneity, maintain large trees, and canopy gaps would promote the supply of multiple ecosystem services. These results highlight the potential for forest management to encourage multifunctional forests and suggest that a coordinated landscape-scale strategy could help to mitigate trade-offs in human-dominated landscapes.
Managing forests for the supply of multiple ecosystem services (ES) is key given potential trade-offs among services. Here, the authors analyse how forest stand attributes generate trade-offs among ES and the relative contribution of forest attributes and environmental factors to predict services.