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FUNDIVEUROPE
Seeing the wood for the trees
Professor Dr Michael Scherer-Lorenzen discusses efforts to improve understanding of the
functional significance of Europe’s forest biodiversity – work which will help forestry owners, policy
makers and conservationists to manage forests in more a sustainable manner in the near future
timber and pulp wood, but also as a source for
renewable bioenergy. Biodiversity is certainly
a key factor for the way ecosystems function,
hence loss or changes of diversity will also
affect the provision of these goods and services.
In the face of these pressures and changes we
have to find answers to a number of questions,
including whether forest biodiversity matters
for ecosystem functioning, whether diverse
forests provide multiple functions and services
more reliably than less diverse ones, and if
diverse forests are more stable in the face of
global climate changes.
The hypothesis that biodiversity may have
an effect on ecosystem functioning and
services is predominantly based on grassland
systems research. Is this applicable to other
ecosystems?
Can you detail the background and
objectives of the FunDivEUROPE project?
Europe harbours a large variety of different forest
types which cover long gradients of species,
structural and functional diversity. However,
human-induced disturbances, such as logging,
grazing, burning and forest clearance to produce
space for agriculture, has left an important
anthropogenic footprint in forests. As a result,
European forests are dominated by relatively
young even-aged stands of a few fast growing
species. Recent policies aim to convert this
trend by supporting conversion of productionorientated monocultures to multifunctional and
diverse forests. Ongoing climate change will also
affect forests and the organisms living there.
So it is clear that forest biodiversity is changing
and will continue to change in the near future.
At the same time, the forests of Europe provide
a broad range of goods and services that human
society depend on, such as production of timber,
provisioning for clear drinking water, or space for
recreation and tourism.
More recently, pressures to use forests have
again increased, not only for extraction of
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INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION
It is true that the relatively new field of
functional biodiversity research has largely
been conducted with fast growing model
systems, such as grasslands. In contrast, we
have much less information about the role
of biodiversity in forests. This is astonishing,
since the science of forestry in Europe,
with its long tradition, has produced an
encyclopedic knowledge of the ecology of
single tree species and of the dynamics of
managed forests, mainly focusing on evenaged pure stands of economically important
species. Nevertheless, some of the general
ideas and mechanisms about the effect of
biodiversity on ecosystem performance, such
as niche partitioning of co-existing species,
can well be applied to other ecosystems
including forests.
However, the longevity and complex structure
of forests do also pose new challenges for the
scientific approaches. Scientists involved in
FunDivEUROPE will therefore work on different
scientific ‘platforms’ – including tree diversity
experiments similar to those in grasslands,
networks of comparative study plots, databases
from forest inventories – to cope with this
complexity.
Could you describe how some of the tools
and technologies that you have employed
have been used to quantify the influence
of biodiversity on ecosystem functions and
services?
The basic philosophy of FunDivEUROPE, with
its focus on forest multi-functionality, is the ‘all
measurements on all plots’ approach. The high
number of plots required for statistical detection
of diversity effects necessarily puts constraints
on the type and the number of measurements
that can be carried out per plot. We therefore
focus on measurements that integrate processes
spatially and over longer time scales. Thus, we
have adopted a novel screening method to
assess ecosystem functioning, by doing various
fast proxy measurements characterising a wide
array of ecosystem properties, processes and
functions. These functions are, in turn, related
to ecosystem services and will therefore allow
quantification of the effects of tree diversity for
the delivery of those services.
Are you working closely with other tree
research projects?
The European dimension of the project,
together with the scientific challenges, has
guided the composition of our consortium.
We have partners from 15 countries that
cover the broad geographical scale, and from
24 top research institutions and universities
to combine expertise from a huge range of
disciplines. In short, a project on forest multifunctionality requires a multifunctional team.
Tight cooperation with other forest projects
exists, which will help to develop further our
scientific discourse, and to put our results in a
wider context. These projects include, among
others, the global network of tree diversity
experiment TreeDivNet and the EU-projects
BACCARA and MOTIVE.
FUNDIVEUROPE
Redefining our understanding
of forest biodiversity
A pan-European collaboration known as FunDivEUROPE, is investigating
how forest biodiversity impacts ecosystem services, with the goal of
learning if diverse forests are more stable in the face of climate change
diverse array of tree species richness, ranging from
different monocultures to highly varied mixtures
at each site. In addition, they are working with tree
diversity experiments that have created new forest
stands (a contiguous area that contains a number
of trees) by planting. In all cases, a wide range of
ecosystem processes that are related to growth
and productivity, carbon cycling, water cycling,
nutrient cycling and resistance to pests and
pathogens are quantified out in the field. SchererLorenzen says that whilst trees with their longevity
are presumably rather adaptive to climate change
– they usually experience warmer and colder as
well as dryer and wetter years during their lifetime
– some species will certainly be better adapted to
the new climatic situations than others: “Thus, we
will have winners and losers, and the composition
of the forest will change over time”. He notes that
foresters already plan to cope with climate change
by using different species and are attempting
The EU-funded project FunDivEUROPE is
to design the ‘climatically plastic’ forest; for
tackling this very topic by studying the functional
example, increased planting of the exotic Northsignificance of biodiversity in
American Douglas Fir is being
forests. The collaboration of
recommended in some countries
partners from 24 institutions
such as Germany. It is also widely
spread across 15 European
accepted that risk management
countries is being coordinated
for forests facing climate change
Diversification is
by Professor Dr Michael Schererinvolve the diversification of
Lorenzen, who explains that
assumed to improve tree species mixtures, both
the basic concept behind this
within stands, but also between
project is to identify gradients the overall stability of stands at the landscape level.
of forest biodiversity and
Scherer-Lorenzen adds: “Such
forests
to study the implications of
diversification is assumed to
the differences in diversity
improve the overall stability of
for ecosystem functioning and services. The
forests and to enhance the adaptive capacity”.
researchers are studying forests along a large
geographical and climatic gradient; from the
BUILDING ON TRIED
northern boreal forests of Finland to the southern
AND TESTED EXPERIMENTS
Mediterranean forests in Spain and Italy, and
Assessing the functional significance of
from central European forests in Germany to
biodiversity in European forests has presented
eastern European forests in Poland and Romania.
some very unique challenges for the
Each of these forest types is facing specific and
FunDivEUROPE collaboration to overcome. The
context-dependent threats, from management
longevity and complexity of forests are certainly
intensification, fragmentation and degradation,
the most important of these obstacles, and the
increased levels of nitrogen deposition,
team also have to work on a wide range of spatial
prolonged drought and extreme storms, and
and temporal scales. Tree diversity experiments
insect or pathogens calamities. By studying such
usually take several years to yield first results
an extensive range of forests, all of the major
beyond the initial establishment phase, taking
forests types and many important tree species of
leaf samples in mature forests needs specifically
Europe are covered by this work.
skilled tree climbers and, from a practical point
of view, comparing ecosystem performance
A STUDY OF SIX FOCAL
at several European locations simultaneously
FORESTRY REGIONS
needs a detailed planning among all researchers
Researchers have established a network of study
involved and a sophisticated infrastructure to be
sites across six focal regions, which covers a
in place. However, Scherer-Lorenzen notes that
AS THE WORLD’S changing climate presents
new and unique challenges for the environment,
ascertaining the adaptive capacity of different
ecosystem services is critical to understanding
how biodiversity losses and ecosystem
degradation will impact on society as a whole.
Forests are absolutely crucial for Europe’s climate
change response, as they constitute a significant
component of the continent’s greenhouse gas
balance. Trees store large amounts of carbon,
and any changes in growth and stand structure
directly impact carbon sequestration. Diversity
also affects biogeochemical cycles, water and
energy exchange in forests. An adaptive forest
management system that accounts for future
climate and pressures could potentially capitalise
on such biodiversity effects, which may help
to sustain the simultaneous delivery of various
ecosystem services.
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INTELLIGENCE
FunDivEurope
OBJECTIVES
To quantify the role of forest biodiversity for
ecosystem functioning and the delivery of
goods and services in major European forest
types.
PARTNERS
ALU-FR, DE • ALT, NL • BOKU, AT • CNRS,
FR • CSIC, ES • FVA, DE • INRA, FR • KUL,
BE • METLA, FI • MLU, DE • NAGREF, GR •
RHUL, UK • SLU, SE • UAH, ES • UBE, CH •
UCA, UK • UCPH, DK • UFI, IT • UFZ, DE •
UGE, BE • ULEI, DE • USV, RO • UWAR, PL •
UZH, CH
FUNDING
EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)
under project no. 265171
CONTACT
Professor Dr Michael Scherer-Lorenzen
Sandra Müller
Professorship Experimental Vegetation
Science
University of Freiburg
Faculty of Biology - Geobotany
Schaenzlestr. 1
D-79104
Freiburg
Germany
T +49 761 203 50 14
E fundiveurope@biologie.uni-freiburg.de
www.fundiveurope.eu
MICHAEL SCHERER-LORENZEN’S
scientific work focuses on the question
‘Does biodiversity matter for functioning
of ecosystems?’. Within this field, he
is especially interested in biological
mechanisms that drive biodiversity effects,
such as complementary resource use among
co-existing species. He coordinates the EU
FP VII project FunDivEUROPE, which studies
the functional significance of biodiversity in
forests.
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INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION
they have certainly benefited from the previous
studies into grassland biodiversity research and
the advances made in this field, including the
development of experimental designs, analytical
and statistical methodologies and, most
importantly, the tremendous advance in theories
and concepts on the effects of biodiversity on
ecosystem functioning.
This project has now been running for just
over a year and in this time has enjoyed some
significant developments. After the official start
in autumn 2010, Scherer-Lorenzen explains that
the collaboration started relatively quickly with
their first field measurements in the tree diversity
experiments that had been previously established
some years ago. As a result, the project has already
collected exhaustive dataset after only one
year. In parallel, they explored six focal regions
for suitable study locations and completed the
selection and marking of roughly 250 plots across
Europe. He says that this involved a tremendous
effort by the local management teams who did
a fantastic job. Additionally, the first datasets of
National Forest Inventories were screened and
harmonised so the team is now well on track to
start with the analysis as soon as possible.
EXPLOITING SOCIAL MEDIA
TOOLS TO ACCESS NEW AUDIENCES
Dissemination of the final results of the
FunDivEUROPE research is an important part of
sharing this new knowledge and understanding
with the forestry sector. As is the case with other
large-scale projects, this collaboration aims to
communicate their results via a diverse variety
of channels, targeted for different end-users. A
few examples of the dissemination materials
and methods proposed include: scientific papers
to inform the research community; flyers, a
dedicated webpage and videos will be used
to reach the broader public; workshops with
stakeholders and policy makers; and written
policy briefs will highlight the policy-relevant
aspects. At the centre of these communication
activities is a novel web-based Knowledge
Transfer Tool. Scherer-Lorenzen says that one
of their more innovative methods is to directly
involve their students in these dissemination
activities and these students will be trained by
a mass media and communications professional
to use new mass media tools, such as blogs,
to approach other societal groups that do not
usually have access to scientific information.
The results will certainly be of high relevance
for international forest policy, such as the
UN Conventions on Biodiversity (UNCBD)
or UN Conventions on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) and policy-advising processes
such as the Intergovernmental Platform on
Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC). Similarly, they will also actively
inform European initiatives in the forest and
biodiversity sectors. Scherer-Lorenzen observes
that at a higher political level, there seems to
be a general agreement that forests should be
protected and managed in a sustainable way,
but local forest companies still often favour
monoculture plantations of fast growing exotic
species planted over thousands of hectares:
“We therefore hope that our results will lead to
further development of management strategies
that actively use forest biodiversity to achieve
multiple purposes and reduce risks of failure in
face of environmental changes”. It is the hope
of the FunDivEUROPE collaboration that the
new knowledge will inform European policy and
lead to a greater protection for European forest
ecosystems in the future.