The role of old growth forests in carbon sequestration – do we know enough for scenario modelling?

Abstract

Increasing the area of unmanaged forests and lengthening the rotation in managed forests has been suggested as a possible strategy to increase carbon sequestration and biodiversity in forests simultaneosly. However, since old growth forests are rare and usually not within commercial forestry, forest growth models have not been designed for such situations. The data available about forest growth and productivity is also focused in stands clearly below the age when stands are old in biological/ecological terms. Generally, there is the perception in forestry that growth declines in older stands, but the mechanisms and the time frame leading to this are unclear. Because of this, possible changes due to climate change also remain largely speculative. This presentation reviews (some of) the literature on the growth and carbon sequestration potential of old growth stands, aiming at prioritising research needs that allow us to include old stands more reliably in scenario analyses of the responses of forests to management actions and climate change.