EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - UNESCO World Heritage

management of forest resources, capable of adapting to site conditions where it is applied and
to new conditions yet to be experienced. This shall provide a major advance in this field,
which is bedeviled by the dispersion and scarcity of primeval forests remnants and differences
in data collection modes and methodology, making direct comparisons among studies, useful
modeling and the transfer of knowledge into forest management difficult or impossible.
Conceptual foundations
Brang (2005) reviewed the concept of virgin forests as a knowledge source for central
European silviculture. Small-scale regeneration methods, such as progressive felling by small
groups and single tree or group selection systems correspond best to the natural regeneration
processes in undisturbed beech forests. But a number of other patterns occurring in primeval
forests can potentially be used in forest management after further research of the opening
opportunities, for instance the substitution of tending and thinning by natural regeneration,
suppression and released of target trees by auxiliary trees; growing of mosaic forests
composed of small patches covered by bio-groups of different age, as devised from the
textural primeval forests patterns or the mimicking of the biometric parameters of oak crowns
able to sustain the maximum stem diameter increment while maintaining its quality in oak
primeval forests. The natural growth and increment rhythm, as well as the production of
higher quality and larger dimensions can be supported by an according initial suppression of
certain species, such as fir and spruce. The response of other species, such as oak and beech
must further be studied, similar to the question how much trees necromass should be retained
in managed forests in order to provide habitats for stenoec organisms, microclimatesmoothing
within forest stands, and contribute to carbon accumulation in the surface humus
and ultimately in mineral soils.
Thus, there is a widely recognized need to consolidate and extend the network of studied
primeval forests to achieve necessary replications and thus overcome the site dependency,
which currently presents the barrier to knowledge transfer. Also, no major breakthrough has
yet been made in the synthesis of silviculture, hydrology, soil physics, ecology and
biogeochemistry in particular, which is urgently needed in order to assess the impact of
primeval forests patterns and processes on the environmental functions, including carbon
sequestration, slope stability, runoff quantity and quality and erosion controls.
Objectives:
a) To develop a comprehensive understanding of the causes for the variation in
ecological patterns and processes within temperate primeval forests: Some of the results
from primeval forest research could have been generalized, such as the developmental
independence of small forest segments in beech primeval forests on mesotrophic sites. Further
and more complex research covering the entire spectrum of site conditions will yield
exceptional data and provide ESR with a unique training opportunity in field methods.
b) To resolve the introduction and maintenance of natural forests patterns in managed
forests: The opportunities for a cost-effective and ecologically sound approach, based on the
introduction of selected processes and patterns of the primeval forests ecosystems into the
forest management toolbox, depend on the site conditions, its past use, previous forest
management and its current and future goals. Further research shall therefore focus on what
other forest structures are most suitable to benefit from self-regulating processes and how
these structures can be achieved.
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