Climate change and mixed forests: how do altered survival probabilities impact economically desirable species proportions of Norway spruce and European beech?
Economic consequences of altered survival probabilities under climate change should be considered for regeneration planning in Southeast Germany. Findings suggest that species compositions of mixed stands obtained from continuous optimization may buffer but not completely mitigate economic consequences. Mixed stands of Norway spruce ( Picea abies L. Karst . ) and European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) (considering biophysical interactions between tree species) were found to be more robust, against both perturbations in survival probabilities and economic input variables, compared to block mixtures (excluding biophysical interactions).
Context Climate change is expected to increase natural hazards in European forests. Uncertainty in expected tree mortality and resulting potential economic consequences complicate regeneration decisions.
Aims This study aims to analyze the economic consequences of altered survival probabilities for mixing Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) under different climate change scenarios. We investigate whether management strategies such as species selection and type of mixture (mixed stands vs. block mixture) could mitigate adverse financial effects of climate change.
Methods The bio-economic modelling approach combines a parametric survival model with modern portfolio theory. We estimate the economically optimal species mix under climate change, accounting for the biophysical and economic effects of tree mixtures. The approach is demonstrated using an example from Southeast Germany.
Results The optimal tree species mixtures under simulated climate change effects could buffer but not completely mitigate undesirable economic consequences. Even under optimally mixed forest stands, the risk-adjusted economic value decreased by 28%. Mixed stands economically outperform block mixtures for all climate scenarios.
Conclusion Our results underline the importance of mixed stands to mitigate the economic consequences of climate change. Mechanistic bio-economic models help to understand consequences of uncertain input variables and to design purposeful adaptation strategies.
Keywords
Survival analysis, Value at risk, Climate change, Species mixture, Forest restoration, Portfolio theory
Publication
Paul, C., Brandl, S., Friedrich, S. et al. Annals of Forest Science (2019) 76: 14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-018-0793-8
For the read-only version of the full text: https://rdcu.be/box4R
Data availability
All biophysical and economic input coefficients to reproduce and further apply our bio-economic model are provided in the Electronic Supplementary Material. The original tree mortality data used for parametrization of the statistical model is available from the International Co-operative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (www.icp-forest.net), and climate data is freely available from the WorldClim database (www.worldclim.org). Model codes are available from the authors upon request.
