InNovaSilva

InNovaSilva is a partner with emphasis on silviculture and restoration practice within the eco2adapt consortium, and we will provide portfolios of tree species and management options for the future forests in the living labs. 

We can of course only do it in collaboration with the coordinators, research-colleges, and local stakeholders of the Living Labs. Silviculture is only meaningful when the future expected objectives and restrictions of forest management and restoration are lined up. 

Silviculture is done for a reason!

When these reasons become clear we suggest portfolios of silvicultural solutions for the future forests directed by specified management objectives. This may involve new species or altered use of species. Some of today's most common tree species may be used less in future - if for example increased risks are foreseen that climate change or new diseases or pests may weaken or kill them. Other species - not yet present there or perhaps less common - may become more relevant in the future or they may be wanted to spread the risk and increase resilience. This of course depending on what the people in the Living Labs - forest owners, managers, and stakeholders - want their forests to provide them in the future.

To make it relevant and interesting in practice for people in the Living Labs, we fly selected parts of the forests (stands or areas) with our drone borne LiDAR to create digital 3D models of these forests. 

The purpose is to develop models and visualizations of the future starting with forests that in fact exist on the ground today. We will use them as starting points for possible conversions models towards the different solutions for the future forests. 

We emphasize the provision of several solutions and not just one or two solutions for each Living Lab because of the significant uncertainty of what will be the challenges and risks for the future forests' health and stability. The increased risk calls for a spread of risk through implementation of multiple management practices and species, if possible, to avoid large scale failures. 

In the following we show some examples from our training with our LiDAR drone in Denmark to demonstrate some of what we can provide, limited by forest types, we have practiced on so far. 

These examples range from positioning of newly planted or 3-year-old (Fig. 1) and 15-year-old (Figs. 2 and 3) trees in afforestation projects on farmland as well as a 21-year-old nurse crop of poplar with a directly sown beech understory (Fig. 4) of same age.   

Fig. 1. The red dots show an accurate position of the single small trees. Height down to 10-20 cm tall seedlings can be provided.

Fig. 2. Individual trees show by their individual crowns contribute to the stand canopy and with the height of the individual trees shown for each tree in this young 15-year-old afforestation project.

Fig. 3. Another design used to visualize individual trees - here shown by species or species group (color), crown diameter (diameter of circle), position, and their height in numbers.

Fig. 4. A transect of a specified width (here 5 m) shown with a 21-year-old poplar nurse crop (30 m tall) with also 21-year-old sown beech providing an understory. On such transects you can measure height and potentially also diameter of individual trees accurately.

Additionally, we can accurately monitor tree position, stock density, tree height, and estimate standing volume and carbon stock. With repeated monitoring (flights) over the years, we can estimate growth and carbon sequestration. We do also develop measurements and describing stand structure, heterogeneity, and regeneration. In addition to describe forest structures in a silvicultural context we thereby pursue indices to monitor habitat quality.