JollyForest - Fighting forest damage with forest biodiversity
KIVAMETSÄ
Climate change has already resulted in range shifts among various pests and pathogens of forests. Simultaneosly, the occurred extreme weather events such as droughts weaken the forests against the damage agents - many of which, in turn, benefit from e.g. the extreme heat. This issue raises the need to understand the extents to which the structure and diversity of a forest can make it more resilient against disturbances by pests and pathogens.
The resilience of a forest against any disturbance is a complex question. Abiotic events such as wind or snow damage can hit any forest regardless of its structure, but most often pests and pathogens are specialized against certain tree species at certain age. In addition, these damage agents have their own competitors and enemies whose numbers, in turn, can control their damage potential. The more diverse the forest, the more likely it contains these species that are useful in controlling the damage agents. Equally, a forest absent from any structural or species-wise diversity, is more likely to be less resilient against pests and pathogens. This project studies the relationship between the diversity of a forest and its susceptibility to disturbances by pests and pathogens.
The studied damage agents are bark beetles and severe fungal pathogens such as Heterobasidion root rot, Armillaria sp., Cronartium flaccidum, Peridermium pini and Gremmenniella abietina. The occurence of a relatively new fungal pathogen, Diplodia sapinea is mapped as well. Diversity of the forests is assessed via their structural complexity, tree species composition, occurrance of visible polypores and the amount of dead wood and the structure of the dead wood. The project will be carried out within the district of Central Finland. The studied forests will be located in both managed and protected areas. The research will be done by Natural Resources Institute Finland and the responsible group includes experts from the fields of forest entomology, forest pathology as well as forest biodiversity. The project is funded by Regional Council of Central Finland.
