The Biodiversity Benefits and Opportunity Costs of Plantation Forest Management: A Modelling Case Study of Pinus radiata in New Zealand

Nhung Nghiem,Hop Tran

doi:10.3390/f7120297

Abstract

This study modelled the potential biodiversity benefits and the opportunity costs of a patch-clear-cutting strategy over a clear-cutting strategy for Pinus radiata in New Zealand. Patch-clear cutting is a special case of clear cutting involving the removal of all the trees from strips or patches within a stand, leaving the remainder uncut or clear cutting a series of strips or patches. A forest-level optimisation model was extended to include uncertainty in timber growth, plant diversity, and cutting costs. Using a species-area relationship and economies of cutting scale, the net present value and optimal rotation age under alternative management strategies were calculated. Results suggested that the optimal rotation ages were similar (24 and 25 years) for the two cutting strategies. Patch-clear cutting provided higher biodiversity benefits (i.e., 59 vs. 11 understorey plant species) with an opportunity cost of 27 NZD (18 USD) per extra plant species or 1250 NZD (820 USD) ha−1. However, the true benefits of patch-clear cutting would be even greater if other benefits of stand retention are included. Our research can potentially inform local decision making and inform international systems of payment for environmental services, such as the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) program, to conserve biodiversity in developing countries with plantation forests.

Highlights

Forests are among the most important providers of ecosystem services [1]
Our study examined the relationship between timber production and associated plant diversity in order to estimate the opportunity cost of conserving biodiversity via a patch-clear-cutting strategy in plantation forests
The optimal rotation age in the clear-cutting strategy was 24 years, a year shorter than that in the patch-clear-cutting strategy (Table 2). It is four years shorter than the usual 28-year rotation commonly used in New Zealand [56]

Summary

Introduction

Forests are among the most important providers of ecosystem services [1]. Forests are home to more than half of the known terrestrial plant and animal species [2], and deforestation is the major cause of biodiversity loss [3,4]. Only accounting for 7% of total forest cover world-wide, plantation forests provide approximately. There is abundant evidence that plantation forests can provide habitat for a wide range of native forest plants, animals, and fungi. Exotic tree plantations can provide important conservation services to protected areas [7]. There is a range of to 135 indigenous and adventive vascular plant species per stand of Pinus radiata plantations in

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