Non-Native Tree Species: Impacts and Management

Non-native tree species are important components of forests and agroforestry systems worldwide. Their cover and contribution strongly varies between continents, countries and regions, thus generating a complex of various landscapes with different ecological and management conditions. 

Indeed, non-native trees are well known for the provisioning of goods and ecosystems services but also for their possible detrimental impacts and disservices. They have been, and are still, widely used in afforestation of degraded soils, landscaping, as well as in productive plantations and forests. Forest planning, management, and silviculture are crucial for their valuation but also to prevent, contrast, and mitigate their effects on native ecosystems and biotic communities. Although much progress has been made in the understanding of impacts, both positive and negative, and on their management, still much research is needed to address the changes non-native trees bring and, in particular, in light of the future uncertainty due to climate change, forest dynamics, and social and economic drivers in forest management.

The objective of this Research Topic is to collate novel cross-disciplinary research regarding non-native trees and addressing the complex synergies, trade‐offs and context dependencies of their economic, social and environmental benefits and costs. We aim to address three main issues:

(i) mechanisms, processes, dynamics, and magnitude of change in ecosystems and native communities due to non-native trees’ presence;
(ii) social and economic drivers, opportunities and outcomes arising from non-native trees’ presence or cultivation; and
(iii) management, planning and silvicultural actions and approaches to improve non-native trees-related benefits while avoiding, reducing, and mitigating negative impacts and disservices.