A recent surge of interest in ‘nature-based’ climate solutions has propelled large-scale commitments to reforest and afforest land across the globe. Many projects propose tree planting at ambitious scales. Yet a diverse spectrum of alternative management techniques can promote forest regrowth, from rewilding to assisted regeneration to passive approaches that allow natural succession to take place.
Debates about how best to encourage forest regeneration highlight a pressing knowledge gap: how does the method of forest re-establishment shape the trade-offs and synergies among the ecosystem services it provides? Management practices established early in a forest’s development may have long-term consequences for its ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, support biodiversity, buffer human settlements from climate extremes, and provide timber, food, and fuel. The manner of forest establishment might also affect whether people and communities stay engaged in the long term as active stewards of the forest.
Linking the earliest stages of a forest’s restoration to its long-term ecological trajectory is inherently challenging, because forests and their ecosystem processes develop over timescales that are generally too long for direct observation. There is also an important socio-ecological dimension to consider, as the human pressures that drive forest conservation (or clearing) may change as a forest matures. Grappling with these issues requires bridging multiple fields, including traditional forestry, ecosystem and landscape ecology, restoration ecology, vegetation modelling, and ecosystem services valuation. By bringing together experts across these fields, this Research Topic will address the following questions:
1) How can we rigorously determine which sites require intensive intervention to enable/accelerate forest regeneration and the recovery of ecosystem function?
2) How does the method of a forest’s establishment impact its ability to provide ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration, water regulation, etc.) over the long term?
3) How do biodiversity and functional diversity change across different levels of management intervention?
4) How can we best predict and assess the ecosystem services provided by planted and naturally established forests?
5) What factors motivate and enable people to engage in different types of restoration, from active tree planting to passive regeneration, at local to (international) scales?
This Research Topic will accept primary data manuscripts, literature reviews, and meta-analyses. Studies may take a comparative approach to assessing ecosystem processes in planted vs. 'natural' forests, but we will also consider contributions that examine a range of management intensities within one type of forest, or examine ecological dynamics of a stand over time. We welcome contributions from the following fields:
● Anthropology
● Biogeochemistry
● Community, ecosystem, and landscape ecology
● Conservation science
● Ecophysiology
● Environmental economics
● Forestry
A recent surge of interest in ‘nature-based’ climate solutions has propelled large-scale commitments to reforest and afforest land across the globe. Many projects propose tree planting at ambitious scales. Yet a diverse spectrum of alternative management techniques can promote forest regrowth, from rewilding to assisted regeneration to passive approaches that allow natural succession to take place.
Debates about how best to encourage forest regeneration highlight a pressing knowledge gap: how does the method of forest re-establishment shape the trade-offs and synergies among the ecosystem services it provides? Management practices established early in a forest’s development may have long-term consequences for its ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, support biodiversity, buffer human settlements from climate extremes, and provide timber, food, and fuel. The manner of forest establishment might also affect whether people and communities stay engaged in the long term as active stewards of the forest.
Linking the earliest stages of a forest’s restoration to its long-term ecological trajectory is inherently challenging, because forests and their ecosystem processes develop over timescales that are generally too long for direct observation. There is also an important socio-ecological dimension to consider, as the human pressures that drive forest conservation (or clearing) may change as a forest matures. Grappling with these issues requires bridging multiple fields, including traditional forestry, ecosystem and landscape ecology, restoration ecology, vegetation modelling, and ecosystem services valuation. By bringing together experts across these fields, this Research Topic will address the following questions:
1) How can we rigorously determine which sites require intensive intervention to enable/accelerate forest regeneration and the recovery of ecosystem function?
2) How does the method of a forest’s establishment impact its ability to provide ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration, water regulation, etc.) over the long term?
3) How do biodiversity and functional diversity change across different levels of management intervention?
4) How can we best predict and assess the ecosystem services provided by planted and naturally established forests?
5) What factors motivate and enable people to engage in different types of restoration, from active tree planting to passive regeneration, at local to (international) scales?
This Research Topic will accept primary data manuscripts, literature reviews, and meta-analyses. Studies may take a comparative approach to assessing ecosystem processes in planted vs. 'natural' forests, but we will also consider contributions that examine a range of management intensities within one type of forest, or examine ecological dynamics of a stand over time. We welcome contributions from the following fields:
● Anthropology
● Biogeochemistry
● Community, ecosystem, and landscape ecology
● Conservation science
● Ecophysiology
● Environmental economics
● Forestry