Silviculture and stand dynamics of Scots pine in Germany

Abstract

The current structure of forests in Germany and their related biological diversity is a result of the natural, cultural and economic development of the last 10,000 years. The species composition, their distribution and the forest-field land proportion probably began to change about 3,000 years ago. Modern forestry evolved between 1750 and 1850 in Germany. The over-exploited and degenerated forests of that time were changed into highly productive pure conifer plantations. Solely by this measure, the increased demands of the timber using industries were satisfied. The proportion of natural pine forest in the potential natural vegetation is less than 3 % whereas the proportion of Scots pine in the current forest area is 28 %. The centre of distribution of these forests is the northern lowland regions of Germany where predominantly pure pine plantations occur on sites of natural hardwood forests. The age class structure is dominated by young stands up to 60 years old. This age class distribution complicates a cost-effective pine forestry. Within the last decades, alternative silvicultural regimes have been developed to solve these problems and to increase the degree of naturalness in existing pine plantations. In general these models aim to decrease costs, produce large and high quality timber, increase the structural diversity, increase the proportion of broadleaved species and of continuous cover forest systems. Diversity does not apply as an ecological quality criterion. For the assessment of the actual biodiversity a comparison with the potential natural vegetation is necessary.