Globalization and its implications for forest health

Abstract

Consideration of forest health is central to the sustainable management of forests. While many definitions of forest health have been proposed, the most widely adopted concept refers to the sustained functioning of desired forest ecosystem processes (Kolb et al., 1994). Legitimate complaints have been raised about the human-centric usage of the term "Forest Health," particularly the inappropriate analogy to human health (Raffa et al., 2009) , but the concept is widely applied and provides a useful guide for management of forests around desired ecosystem functioning. The term also provides a useful expression for describing work on forest disturbance agents such as insects and pathogens (e.g. Castello and Teale, 2011). Certain forest disturbances caused by insects and pathogens play critical roles in ecosystem functioning. For example, recurrent bark beetle outbreaks often maintain regional equilibria of stand density and tree species composition (Amman, 1977). Forest defoliation caused by foliage-feeding insects often plays a crucial role in cycling nutrients within stands (Mattson and Addy, 1975). Guilds of insects and pathogens that play these important roles generally have existed in forest communities through much of their evolution. In contrast, the introduction of novel combinations of trees, insects and pathogens from different parts of the world can disrupt these ecosystem processes and thus impact very negatively on forest health.

Citation

Liebhold, Andrew; Wingfield, Michael. 2014. Globalization and its implications for forest health. In: Nikolakis, William; Innes, John, eds. Forests and Globalization. Challenges and opportunities for sustainable development. New York, NY: Routledge: 36-47.