Abstract

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 73:3-6 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01482 INTRODUCTION Enhancing the resilience capacity of sensitive mountain forest ecosystems under environmental change (SENSFOR) F. E. Wielgolaski1,*, K. Laine2, J. Inkeröinen2, O. Skre3 1Department of Bioscience, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066 Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway 2Thule Institute, University of Oulu, PO Box 7300, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland 3Skre Nature and Environment, Fanaflaten 4, 5244 Fana, Norway *Corresponding author: f.e.wielgolaski@ibv.uio.no ABSTRACT: The treeline ecotone and all treeline ecosystems (i.e. mountain forests) are important indicators of environmental change. They are heavily affected by environmental drivers, in particular by changes in climate and in land use (the latter change often being land abandonment, resulting in natural reforestation). The Europe COST Action ES1203 (Enhancing the resilience capacity of SENSitive mountain FORest ecosystems under environmental change; SENSFOR) initiative focused on treeline ecosystems in relation to such changes. SENSFOR evaluated drivers and the extent of contemporary and future environmental changes in European mountain forests, and developed methods for estimating forest resilience and defining the consequences for society. The outcome of the SENSFOR initiative provides a scientific basis on which management strategies can be developed and adjusted in cooperation with regional and local stakeholders. In addition, SENSFOR provides recommendations for policy makers at European and national levels. Through application of the DPSIR (Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, Response) framework, the findings of the SENSFOR network (consisting of 24 countries) contribute to strategy development for ecosystem service preservation and biodiversity conservation in sensitive European treeline areas. KEY WORDS: Treeline · Climate change · Land use · Resilience · DPSIR framework Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Wielgolaski FE, Laine K, Inkeröinen J, Skre O (2017) Enhancing the resilience capacity of sensitive mountain forest ecosystems under environmental change (SENSFOR). Clim Res 73:3-6. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01482 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 73, No. 1-2. Online publication date: August 21, 2017 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.

Highlights

  • OPEN ACCESSEnhancing the resilience capacity of sensitive mountain forest ecosystems under environmental change (SENSFOR)F

  • The treeline ecotone and all treeline ecosystems are important indicators of environmental change. They are heavily affected by environmental drivers, in particular by changes in climate and in land use

  • The Europe COST Action ES1203 (Enhancing the resilience capacity of SENSitive mountain FORest ecosystems under environmental change; sensitive mountain forest ecosystems under environmental change’ (SENSFOR)) initiative focused on treeline ecosystems in relation to such changes

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Summary

Current challenges for mountain forest ecosystems

Mountain forests (i.e. treeline ecosystems) range from the area close to the upper timber line, through the treeline ecotone with a more sparse tree cover and generally lower trees, to the tree species line and low alpine areas above (Wielgolaski et al 2017, this Special). Treeline ecosystems are used as a reference for the efficacy of climate change mitigation policies (Skre et al 2017, this Special). Land-use-induced challenges to treeline ecosystems include marginalization of agricultural and timber production, water conflicts, changes in the protection status of forests and landscape degradation due to intensification of land use or land abandonment, frequently leading to changes in biodiversity (cf Sarkki et al 2015, 2017a, Wielgolaski et al 2017). The development of policy guidelines for stakeholders of treeline ecosystems should result in a more sustainable and socially fair use of mountain forest ESs. The portfolio of ESs in treeline ecosystems may, vary considerably, depending on factors such as biogeographical region, elevation, relief, site conditions, population density and land use. There is a clear need to map ESs — along with the challenges related to these ESs — in different European treeline ecosystems, in order to enhance local governance

The SENSFOR initiative
LITERATURE CITED

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