A Critique of Silviculture: Managing for Complexity - Softcover

Messier, Christian C.; Puettmann, Klaus J.; Coates, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1597261467 ISBN 13: 9781597261463

Verlag: Island Press, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

The discipline of silviculture is at a crossroads. Silviculturists are under increasing pressure to develop practices that sustain the full function and dynamics of forested ecosystems and maintain ecosystem diversity and resilience while still providing needed wood products. A Critique of Silviculture offers a penetrating look at the current state of the field and provides suggestions for its future development. The book includes an overview of the historical developments of silvicultural techniques and describes how these developments are best understood in their contemporary philosophical, social, and ecological contexts. It also explains how the traditional strengths of silviculture are becoming limitations as society demands a varied set of benefits from forests and as we learn more about the importance of diversity on ecosystem functions and processes. The authors go on to explain how other fields, specifically ecology and complexity science, have developed in attempts to understand the diversity of nature and the variability and heterogeneity of ecosystems. The authors suggest that ideas and approaches from these fields could offer a road map to a new philosophical and practical approach that endorses managing forests as complex adaptive systems. A Critique of Silviculture bridges a gap between silviculture and ecology that has long hindered the adoption of new ideas. It breaks the mold of disciplinary thinking by directly linking new ideas and findings in ecology and complexity science to the field of silviculture. This is a critically important book that is essential reading for anyone involved with forest ecology, forestry, silviculture, or the management of forested ecosystems.

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Klaus J. Puettmann, K. David Coates, and Christian Messier

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A Critique of Silviculture

Managing for Complexity

By Klaus J. Puettmann, K. David Coates, Christian Messier

ISLAND PRESS

Copyright © 2009 Island Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-59726-146-3

Contents

About Island Press, 
Title Page, 
Copyright Page, 
Preface, 
Acknowledgments, 
Introduction, 
1 - Historical Context of Silviculture, 
2 - Silviculture, 
3 - Ecology, 
4 - Silviculture and Ecology, 
5 - Managing Forests as Complex Adaptive Systems, 
Glossary, 
References, 
Index, 
About the Authors, 
Island Press Board of Directors, 

CHAPTER 1

Historical Context of Silviculture

Scientific exploration and natural resource management occur in direct response to human need. Forest science and management are no exception. In this chapter, we review the history of human interaction with forests. In examining how social, economic, and ecological circumstances influence silviculture, we offer numerous examples in support of Cotta's observation: "There would be ... no forest science without deficiency in wood supplies. This science is only a child of necessity or need" (Cotta 1816, 27). We show how the development and application of silvicultural concepts and practices involving the manipulation of forest vegetation to accomplish a specified set of objectives has been closely tied to natural resource issues pertinent to specific localities at specific points in time. Our focus is central Europe, where silviculture first developed (du Monceau 1766; Hartig 1791), and North America, which has adopted many European practices (Hawley 1921), because we are most familiar with these regions and their silvicultural literature. Despite the historic, cultural, and linguistic differences that influence specific silvicultural practices, our main arguments also apply to other regions.

Management approaches and silvicultural practices must be viewed within the context of contemporaneous economic, societal, and cultural developments (Weetman 1996). The general history of human relationships with forests has been extensively reviewed (Smith 1972; Mustian 1976; Thirgood 1981; Hausrath 1982; Mantel 1990; Kimmins 1992; Schama 1995; Weetman 1996; Botkin 2002). The variety of silvicultural practices is attributed to practices developing independently in multiple regions (Mayr 1984; Mantel 1990), indicating that small-scale, local conditions are important in understanding the historical context of silviculture. Just like any scientific development, the rate of change in silviculture has been neither linear, constant, nor even continuous (Kuhn 1962; Hausrath 1982; Mantel 1990; Bengtsson et al. 2000; Tomsons 2001). Instead, the progress of silviculture directly followed trends in societal developments. During periods of fairly constant social and environmental conditions, such as during the 1950s through the 1970s, forest management changed little. On the other hand, times of societal upheaval or transformation quickly resulted in fairly drastic changes in forest practices. Our definition of "societal development" includes changes in basic demands for commodities from the forest, improvements in scientific understanding of forest ecosystems, and changes in philosophical, cultural, and spiritual attitudes toward forests.

This chapter provides an overview of the history of forest management and silviculture because it is important to understand how silviculturists arrived at their current set of practices. Possibly even more important is the need to understand how the historical development of silviculture has affected the cultural attitudes of silviculturists and the way they think and address problems. It is the combination of historical convention and current scientific understanding that provides the basis for choices that so profoundly affect the management of forests. A basic understanding of silvicultural history provides useful and necessary context to the contemporary debate about the future role of silviculture in managing forests. We present a brief history of the external factors that were most influential on forestry and describe how human needs and external conditions led to the development of silvicultural practices and the subsequent combining of individual practices into silvicultural systems to meet management objectives. We highlight the importance of context, especially the need to consider time and place when evaluating practices, and discuss issues associated with "adoption without adaptation" by presenting examples of where silvicultural practices successful in one region were transplanted to other conditions or regions.

Major External Factors Influencing Development of Forestry and Silviculture

External factors are factors outside forestry that had a large influence on the field of forestry and the discipline of silviculture and originated from a variety of economic and social conditions. The main factors discussed in this chapter include population pressures, shifts in economic philosophy, development of industries, and scientific and technical advancements. The most important factor driving changes in forest management in central Europe during the last 2,000 years is the ever-increasing pressure of human populations on the natural resources. This pressure is determined through a combination of human population levels (fig. 1.1) and changes in the standard of living with an associated increase in the demand for forest products. For a brief perspective, during Roman times, the human population in central Europe was estimated to be less than 34 million. Settlements were separated by large tracts of forest, although they were not necessarily culturally or economically isolated (Schama 1995). Major trade routes existed, but larger population movements were quite limited, resulting in fairly stable population levels (McEvedy and Jones 1978).

For the last 2,000 years, the human population has increased at an ever-faster rate, with notable exceptions. Several famines (e.g., Great Famine of 1315–1317), disease pandemics (e.g., typhoid in 1309–1317, bubonic plague in 1348), and periods of intense warfare (e.g., Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648) not only slowed rates of population growth in Europe, but also were responsible for major population declines in many regions. Other societal developments, such as the emergence of new farming techniques, the appearance of potatoes as a human and animal food source, and improved medical knowledge, increased the rate of population growth. Emigration, especially the emigration wave to the Americas during the nineteenth century, slowed population growth in Europe. More recently, the population in central Europe is decreasing (mainly due to low birth rates) but the impact of the declining population on the forest resource may be offset by an increased standard of living.

Major shifts in the economy of Europe in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century strongly influenced the philosophical and cultural factors in the development of silviculture (fig. 1.1). During that time, economies in many parts of central Europe shifted from an agricultural base to an industrial base. The development of iron, salt, and glass industries in the sixteenth century caused a rapid increase in the demand for wood (Mantel 1990). The demand for energy wood, however, decreased somewhat in the eighteenth century as coal and oil replaced wood as an energy source in many factories. Other uses, such as the use of wood to support mine shafts and in the building...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Island Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1597261467
• ISBN 13: 9781597261463
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 208
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland