Managing Forests as Complex Adaptive Systems: Building Resilience to the Challenge of Global Change

This book links the emerging concepts of complexity, complex adaptive system (CAS) and resilience to forest ecology and management. It explores how these concepts can be applied in various forest biomes of the world with their different ecological, economic and social settings, and history. Individual chapters stress different elements of these concepts based on the specific setting and expertise of the authors. Regions and authors have been selected to cover a diversity of viewpoints and emphases, from silviculture and natural forests to forest restoration, and from boreal to tropical forests.

The chapters show that there is no single generally applicable approach to forest management that applies to all settings. The first set of chapters provides a global overview of how complexity, CAS and resilience theory can benefit researchers who study forest ecosystems. A second set of chapters provides guidance for managers in understanding how these concepts can help them to facilitate forest ecosystem change and renewal (adapt or self-organize) in the face of global change while still delivering the goods and services desired by humans. The book takes a broad approach by covering a variety of forest biomes and the full range of management goals from timber production to forest restoration to promote the maintenance of biodiversity, quality of water, or carbon storage.

Christian Messier is Scientific Director of the Institute of Temperate Forest Sciences (ISFORT), Université du Québec en Outaouais, Québec, Canada. His research interests are broad, ranging from the life cycle of trees to developing decision-making tools to better manage large forest holdings. His research has brought him to study various biomes across the world. He holds a research chair on tree growth, and has published more than 150 referee journal papers and book chapters. 

Klaus J. Puettmann is Edmund Hayes Professor in Silviculture Alternatives in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, USA. He has been working on numerous projects related to regeneration and stand density management, with a special focus on utilizing a better understanding of ecological relationships in developing new silvicultural approaches. He works in cooperation with scientists from Europe and North America, and has published more than 60 referee journal articles in North American and European forestry and ecology journals. 

K. David Coates is a senior Research Silviculturist with the Ministry of Natural Resource Operations in Smithers, Canada. He has 30 years of experience in research and silvicultural application in northern British Columbia including at least 50 scientific and technical publications.