Abstract
The aim of this project is to improve the scientific basis of implementing the ecosystem approach to birch forest management in northern Norway. First, forest management in northern Norway will be compared with case studies from Scandinavia, Scotland and USA to examine alternative institutional designs for implementing ecosystem management. Second, indicators which reflect key structural and functional changes in birch forest ecosystems due to spruce planting are investigated. These indicators will be used to develop alternative scenarios and assess thresholds for ecosystem change. Mobile organisms, such as birds, would most likely respond to habitat quality at stand level and to compositional changes at landscape and regional scales, whereas relatively immobile organisms such as snails and earthworms are used as indicators of fragmentation effects on landscape level. Four regions are sampled; each with four landscapes of increasing levels of spruce planting. Within these landscapes sampling is made according to three strata: spruce plantations, , poor and rich birch forests. Distance sampling is used to measure density of birds, whereas soil and litter samples are used to sample snails and earthworm biomass. The potential of different groups of organisms to monitor ecosystem change on different scales will be evaluated by using RLQ analyses. Alternative scenarios will be developed based on these indicators, and thresholds of ecosystem change will be identified.
Norway