Adaptive Forest Management to Climatic Change

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change will impact forest ecosystem goods and services such as timber yield, water availability, habitat for wildlife, or biodiversity. Present evidence shows how different forest types and structures are greatly affected, with forest dieback and tree mortality processes in the most extreme cases. Current forest management schemes may be considered suitable for adapting some forests, but new approaches are required for situations in which future ecological conditions will dramatically worsen. Adaptive forest management (AFM) is required to minimize the risks and impacts of climate change by reducing forest vulnerability. To address this challenge, quantitative information from several perspectives is needed. Silvicultural and ecophysiological field data, modelling studies, and remote sensing tools are crucial for AFM. In this Special Issue, we would like to cover a variety of situations in which the impact of adaptive forest management is assessed, with particular attention to regions where projected climatic conditions are expected to be more limiting such as those in dry areas (Mediterranean and tropical areas). We invite experimental studies which quantify adaptive forest management impacts (thinning, restoration, species selection, assistance migration, fertilization, no action, etc.) from the fields of silviculture, ecophysiology, forest hydrology, wildfire prevention, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and biodiversity. In addition, modelling approaches assessing relationships between AFM impacts with projected climate scenarios and other ecosystem characteristics are welcome. Articles in this Special Issue will contribute to the development of strategies to increase forest adaptation and resilience to climate change.

Dr. Rafael M Navarro Cerrillo
Dr. Antonio Del Campo
Dr. Antonio Molina
Dr. Francisco José Ruiz Gómez
Guest Editors

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