About this Research Topic

Background

The new EU strategy for Europe's forests aims to preserve, protect, and increase the area of old-growth forests. Global changes created a need to set aside new areas and map and define management strategies for old-growth forests.
South-Eastern Europe is known for preserved old-growth beech (Fagus sylvatica L) forests and mixed beech, fir (Abies alba Mill.) and spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karsten) forests mainly in the area of the Dinarides. Forests with such a composition are also economically the most important. For the management of selective forests of economic importance, preserved old-growth forests represent a suitable model for comparison and learning.

These forests are significant for research related to habitat conditions, biodiversity, carbon storage, amount and structure of dead wood, dendrochronology, canopy structure, dynamics of development, productivity, health status and natural regeneration. Changes in forests due to various ecological disturbances cause differences between old forests and commercial forests in terms of plant diversity, natural forest regeneration, the composition of tree species, forest productivity, etc. Comparative research of old forests and commercial forests with selective management regimes would enable new knowledge for adaptive management and the development of forest ecosystems.

This Research Topic aims to highlight the results of comparative research in old-growth forests in South-Eastern Europe with the motivation to contribute to the development and application of close-to-nature and continuous cover forestry.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Structural characteristics of old-growth forests and mature forests of beech, fir and spruce as elements of sustainable forest management;
- Biodiversity of the flora of old beech forests and commercial forests of Southeast Europe;
- Dendrochronology of beech, fir and spruce in the old forests of Southeast Europe;
- Developmental stages (i.e. texture) of old beech, fir and spruce forests;
- Comparison of carbon sequestration in old and commercial beech, fir and spruce forests;
- Natural regeneration and vitality of old beech, fir and spruce trees as an indicator of close-to-nature cultivation of commercial forests;
- Productivity and habitat potential of old and commercial beech, fir and spruce forests of Southeast Europe;
- New areas of old beech forests and mixed forests of beech, fir and spruce: Characteristics, mapping and protection according to IUCN.

Keywords: Old-growth forests, forest management, Close to Nature silviculture, global change, silviculture, beech, fir, spruce

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