Forest bioenergy harvesting changes carbon balance and risks biodiversity in boreal forest landscapes
Year of publication
2020
Authors
Repo, Anna; Eyvindson, Kyle J.; Halme, Panu; Mönkkönen, Mikko
Abstract
Climate solutions relying on forest bioenergy may be in conflict with carbon sequestration and storage by forests as well as conservation of biodiversity. We quantified effects of forest residue harvesting for bioenergy on both forest carbon balance and biodiversity in a boreal forest landscape. Through a modeling framework we simulated forest development in four real watersheds with three scenarios: i) with and ii) without forest residue harvesting, and iii) set aside to study the conservation potential of these landscapes in the future without management. We simulated changes in the forest carbon stocks, and in the quality and the quantity of deadwood resources for 100 years and combined this information with the information on species habitat associations based on expert judgements. In this study current practices of slash and stump harvesting reduced forest carbon stocks and deadwood volumes at the landscape scale, and consequently halved the emissions savings that can be obtained with bioenergy. In addition, logging residue harvesting reduced 15-21% the combined species conservation capacity of the landscape for red-listed, saproxylic species compared to forest management without bioenergy harvesting. Furthermore, the results indicated a potential conflict between areas of high bioenergy potential and high conservation potential.
Show moreOrganizations and authors
Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Journal
Article type
Original article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A1 Journal article (refereed), original researchPublication channel information
Publisher
Volume
50
Issue
11
Pages
1184-1193
ISSN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
3
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
No
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Environmental sciences; Ecology, evolutionary biology; Forestry
Keywords
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Publication country
Canada
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
No
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.1139/cjfr-2019-0284
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes