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Silviculture for Resilient and Multifunctional Forests
Last Updated: 2026-06-05 00:09:06
Abstract
Forests provide diverse ecosystem services. Silvicultural practices and forest management attempt to steer forest ecosystem processes in a sustainable and near-natural way so that forests can meet society's various requirements. Adaptivity to changing conditions (global changes), handling conflicting goals, and developing alternative management strategies are of central importance.
Objective
At the end of this course, participants will be able to: - Assess forest management and silvicultural measures to enhance forest resilience to global change and ensure the provisioning and continuity of ecosystem services, as well as evaluate their feasibility and effectiveness in various situations. - Critically evaluate silvicultural options for managing multifunctional forests and judge their feasibility and suitability, considering the various social expectations towards forest ecosystem services and potential conflicts and synergies among them. - Conduct research on an interdisciplinary topic, identify relevant literature, collect and summarize the information, present the results in a structured presentation, and discuss the implications for forest management.
Content
The course will cover important topics for the sustainable management of multifunctional forests and present silvicultural strategies to fulfil a variety of forest ecosystem goods and services. Current and future challenges of forest management and silviculture of European forests will be presented. The course is structured into the following sub-topics: 1) Adaptive silviculture in response to climate change and increasing disturbances. 2) Invasive alien species, implications for forest management and silviculture. 3) Non-native tree species: Risks, opportunities and silvicultural considerations. 4) Multifunctional forest management and wood production. 5) Multifunctional forest management and biodiversity conservation in European forests and silvicultural implications.
Resources
Lecture Notes
No class notes or text booksLecture presentations are available for download
Literature
Literature will be provided for the group presentations.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- session examination
- Mode
- oral 30 minutes
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise |
Silviculture for Resilient and Multifunctional Forests
In addition to the lecture, 4 full-day excursions are mandatory to obtain the credits.
During the fall semester 2026, the excursions will take place on the following days: Saturday September 26th, Friday October 16th, Saturday October 24th, and Saturday October 31st. Reserve day: Saturday November 7th.
|
No time listed | 2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Major in Forest and Landscape Management (Students who started the specialization in Forest and Landscape Management before HS25 can complete the specialization according to the study guide 2024/25 or according to this structure. Students who start the specialization in Forest and Landscape Management in HS25 or later study according to the 2013 regulations, edition 29.04.2025 - 8. The new structure of this specialization (Forests/Landscapes/Soils/Data), is also shown in the current VVZ.)
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Major in Forest and Landscape Management (from HS25 onwards) (Students who start the specialization in Forest and Landscape Management in HS25 or later study according to the 2013 regulations, edition 29.04.2025 - 8. The new structure of this specialization is shown in the current VVZ. Students who started the specialization in Forest and Landscape Management before HS25 can complete the specialization in accordance with the study guide 2024/25.)
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