FEM-30306 Advanced Forest Ecology and Forest Management

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

BIS-10306 Biodiversity of The Netherlands; FEM-22306 Forest Resources and Sustainable Management Systems; FEM-20909 Forest and Nature Conservation II - Management Planning and Tools.

Continuation courses:

Thesis Forest ecology and forest management.

Contents:

The main objective of this course is to provide an overview of the state of the art in the fields of forest ecology and forest management, and how we can integrate the two fields as a basis for sustainable forest management. Sustainable forest management requires a sound knowledge of the ecological functioning and environmental interactions of the forest. Active management by means of silvicultural treatments can be viewed as intervening in the natural dynamics of the forest in order to guide the forest into a certain, predefined, direction (management goal). In the course we will use examples from temperate and tropical forests.
The course consists of four elements: lectures on forest ecology; lectures on forest management, field trips, and a practical.
The course starts with lectures on forest ecology. We first discuss important aspects of the forest environment such as soil type and resource availability (light, water and nutrients), and how these abiotic factors vary in space and time. We then evaluate the causes and mechanisms of forest succession by focusing on: 1) disturbances that determine the availability of open sites, 2) differential availability of species, and 3) differential performance of species. This provides an ideal framework to understand how management interventions can affect forest regeneration and dynamics and steer succession. The lectures on forest management will increase your understanding and knowledge about the effects of a variety of management treatments, such as thinning, pruning, and seedling enrichment, on forest ecological processes. A close link will be made with forest ecology discussed earlier. Additionally, we will explain the underlying mechanisms and processes of some of the major silvicultural systems in the world. Several trips will be made to Dutch forest sites to clarify and illustrate ecological concepts in the field. The course will be completed with a practical in which you do a forest inventory and design a silvicultural system for a Dutch forest based on specific objectives and using the ecological knowledge obtained during the course.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- discuss the state of the art of the ecology and management of temperate and tropical forests and discuss the strengths and limitations of the current paradigms;
- summarize the causes and mechanisms of natural succession (disturbances, availability of open sites, differential species availability and performance);
- appraise how silvicultural interventions can be applied to mimic natural disturbances and steer forest regeneration, -development, and -succession;
- evaluate different forest management systems in temperate and tropical forest in relation to their underlying ecological and silvicultural mechanisms;
- recognize forest ecological processes and management interventions in the field, and interpret them in the context of forest development processes;
- apply different forest inventory techniques to evaluate forest structure and composition, and to evaluate the pro's and con's of the different techniques;
- design a sustainable silvicultural system for a specific forest to meet the management objectives while taking the environmental conditions, species ecology, and ecological processes into account.

Activities:

- attendance of lectures on the ecology and management of forests;
- participate in field excursions to several forest management systems in the Netherlands;
- do a forest inventory and analyze data;
- design a specific silvicultural system for a Dutch forest.
You are required to attend all elements of the course.

Examination:

- two written examinations (25% and 45%);
- practical work and presentation (30%).

Literature:

The course reader can be obtained at cost price at the WUR Shop.