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Abstract:
This overview of relationships between biodiversity and management focuses on Central European
Fagus forests. Present management and conservation activities are embedded in the geographic and
historic background of Central European forest flora, including endangered, protected, and plant
species for which Germany has taken special responsibility to ensure their future survival. Managed
and unmanaged forests are compared with respect to plants and other organisms. Based on the
floristic background, management for climate change and consequences of conservation on a global
ecological footprint will be discussed.
The Central European tree flora contains only about 7% of the tree diversity of East Asia. Only a few
genera re-migrated to Central Europe after the Pleistocene, while others were lost during the
Pleistocene, e.g. the genus Pseudotsuga.
In this study the forest flora is characterized by specialized plant species that only grow in forests.
These forest specialists contribute only 10% of the plant species of the total German flora. This
fraction is even less (4 to 5%) for Romania which is generally regarded as a region with close to
“natural” forest conditions. Also, the forest flora of Germany and Romania contains fewer apomictic
and hybrid plant species than the non-forest flora. No forest plant species have gone extinct in
Germany in the past 250 years, which is the time since the first floristic documentation of a plant
species that was lost in Thuringia, despite intense forest use including changes in dominant tree
species.
With respect to the Natura 2000 goals of maintaining species diversity of Europe, the deciduous
forest, as managed by rotation forestry, contain more protected and endangered species, and
species for which Germany has taken responsibility than protected forest. Forests managed with
permanent forest cover (so-called “management close-to-nature”) contain fewer plant species than
age-class (rotation) forestry. The abundance of dead wood-fungi and of soil bacteria is higher in
rotation forest than in protected forests. For the initial phase of decay, a dead wood experiment
identified two important tree species, Carpinus betulus and Picea abies, as the most preferred tree
species for xylobionts. Carpinus has the most diverse fungal flora among all wood types and is a
typical species for managed forests.
The Natura 2000 habitat types were defined by plant species, but the assessment of ecosystem
health is based on bird species in Central Europe. A time series extending from 1927 until 2015
indicates that most non-migratory forest bird species show an increasing abundance since 1970.
Adding migrating and rare bird species populations resulted in constant average abundances since
1970. There is no evidence that sustainable forest management has led to decreased biodiversity in
Central Europe. In view of climate change and increasing presence of tree diseases, Europe should
avoid enlarging its ecological footprint by taking Central European forests out of management.
