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Climate Change Adaptation and Young Researchers Highlighted During NordGen Forest’s Conference

Date: 2021.09.30

A large audience gathered online for NordGen Forest’s annual conference. Climate changes – and the major challenges in forestry – went like a red thread through the conference program. This year, a lot of space was also given to the young forest researchers.

About 90 people from the forest sector participated in the digital conference arranged by NordGen Forest. During the conference, 15 lecturers gave presentations over two days. The majority of the speakers came from the Nordic and Baltic countries, but the program also included Austrian Silvio Schüler, head of the Department of Forest Growth, Silviculture and Genetics at the Austrian Research Center for Forest. His presentation revolved around research on the concept of “assisted migration” as an opportunity to increase adaptation of forests to a changing climate. Assisted migration means that populations of species are helped to move to areas where they are expected to do better in the future.

Forest researcher Silvio Schüler. Photo: Austrian Research Center for Forest.

– In Central Europe and Austria, climate change is not a future problem, it is happening now. During the last five years, we have experienced major changes in our forests. In some regions, such as northern Austria, spruce has partially disappeared and we have also seen effects from climate change on pine and beech, said Silvio Schüler.

Thousands of Seed Samples

In the research project SUSTREE, Silvio Schüler and his colleagues have, among other things, built up a database with 587 provenance trials and thousands of seed samples from large parts of Europe. Based on this data, the researchers have made models showing which tree species from different regions would do best during different climate scenarios. One of the gloomier scenarios is called RCP 8.5 and involves a warming of four to five degrees Celsius during the years 2060 to 2080.

– During these conditions, our models for spruce show, that spruce from southern and western Poland, the Czech Republic and western Germany would do best over large parts of Europe, said Silvio Schüler.

Reports From Scandinavia

In the Nordic countries, developments in tree breeding have advanced during last years. Arne Steffenrem, leader of the breeding programs at Skogfrøverket in Norway, talked about the necessary developments to keep up with the pace of climate change and the societal needs for raw materials. This was supplemented, by information from Mats Berlin, researcher at Skogforsk in Sweden, on progress to develop Nordic deployment recommendations for Scots pine and Norway spruce.

Virtually all presentations touched on the impact of climate change for European silviculture. Palle Madsen, from the company InNovaSilva, talked about how the Danish forestry responds to the uncertainty that climate change brings. For example, in the case of forest species that have not existed in Danish forestry before.

– There is an increased interest in the use of new species and new hybrids in forestry. These species include walnut, black walnut, chestnut, Turkish hazel, wild service tree and hemlock, said Palle Madsen.

New Possibilities in Iceland

Around the year 900, 25 to 40 percent of Iceland area was covered by forest. Grazing and logging contributed to the forests disappearing with erosion and carbon dioxide emissions from the ground as a result. Planting trees in these areas would help reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but also to reduce emissions from the ground. Climate change can affect conditions for afforestation, for example by increasing possible afforestation areas.

Head of research, Edda Sigurdís Oddsdóttir. Photo: Icelandic Forest Service

– We have very large areas that are suitable for afforestation, which is now also an important part of Iceland’s climate strategy. This has led to increased state funding for afforestation and restoration of forests. There is also a great deal of interest among companies. The possibilities are almost endless at the moment, said Edda Sigurdís Oddsdóttir, head of research at Icelandic Forest Service.

Lectures by Young Researchers

During the conference’s theme “Science for the future”, eight young researchers had the opportunity to give shorter presentations of their respective research areas. The program included Ishita Ahuja from Norwegian NIBIO who talked about research on the microclimate of forest plantations and the advantage of planting seedlings near stumps.

Spruce seedling near a stump. Archive photo: Erling Fløistad, NIBIO.

Another young speaker was Austra Zuševica from the Latvian State Forest Research Institute. Her presentation was about the development of a new technology to extract fertilizer from biogas plants that can be used in forest planting. Mikko Tikkanen, in turn, from the Finnish Natural Resources Institute Luke, talked about the institute’s work with somatic embryogenesis (a method for vegetative propagation) on spruce. The conference also ended with a young researcher, Brynja Hrafnkelsdóttir, working at Icelandic Forestry Research. Her presentation was about the spread of the broom moth, an insect that has become a more common problem in Iceland.

– The average long-term warming in Iceland has been higher than the global average. Our research shows that climate change, and especially the high summer temperatures, have contributed to increasing the population of broom moth in Iceland, said Brynja Hrafnkelsdóttir.