Ecological Silvicultural Systems

Unleash the natural power and adaptability of forests with this cutting-edge guide

For generations, silvicultural systems have focused largely on models whose primary objective is the production of timber, leading to drastically simplified forests with reduced ecological richness, diversity, and complexity. Ecological silviculture, by contrast, focuses on producing and maintaining forests with “all their parts”―, that is, with the diversity and flexibility to respond and adapt to global changes. Ecological silviculture seeks to emulate natural development models and sustain healthy forests serving multiple values and goals.

Ecological Silvicultural Systems provides a comprehensive introduction to these approaches and their benefits tailored to diverse types of forests, designed for forest management professionals. It provides a series of exemplary models for ecological silviculture and surveys the resulting forest ecosystems. The result is a text that meets the needs of professionals in forestry and natural resource management with an eye towards sustaining healthy forest ecosystems, adapting them to climate change, protecting them from invasive species, and responding to changing market forces.

Ecological Silvicultural Systems readers will also find:

• Detailed treatment of forest ecosystems in North America, Europe, South America, and Australia
• A broad field of contributors with decades of combined expertise on multiple continents
• Discussion of pine woodlands; temperate hardwood forests, boreal forests, temperate rainforests, and more

Ecological Silvicultural Systems is a useful reference for professional foresters, wildlife habitat managers, restoration ecologists, and undergraduate and graduate students in any of these fields.

Brian J. Palik, PhD, is a research ecologist with the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Grand Rapids, MN, USA. He has published widely on the ecological sustainability of managed forests and related fields.

Anthony W. D’Amato, PhD, is Professor of Silviculture and Applied Forest Ecology and Director of the Forestry Program at the University of Vermont, USA. He has researched and published extensively on long-term forest dynamics and silvicultural strategies to foster adaptive forests.