Biodiversity, carbon storage and dynamics of old northern ... - BPAN.fi

2. Approach and methods
In this report we are primarily concerned with boreal and northern
temperate (or nemoral) forests in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
It follows that we have to a great extent drawn on studies performed
on such forests in these countries or in nearby areas in northern
Europe, northwest Russia or the Baltic states. However, we have also
included relevant studies from other boreal or temperate forest areas,
such as North America. Some wider studies, synthesizing information
from a range of forest types, have also been consulted to set the results
from boreal and temperate forests into perspective.
Our approach in this report on carbon storage and fluxes in boreal and
northern temperate forests is to review the results from existing published
studies. We have not conducted any representative literature
search. The relevant studies have been identified on the basis of the individual
expertise and knowledge of the literature among the consortium
members. Publications have mainly been drawn from the international
scientific literature, but relevant studies published in national reports and
other sources have also been included, particularly those from the countries
covered by this report. In addition, the consortium members have
drawn on their extensive experience on the topics covered. It has not been
the ambition of this project, nor the resources available, to conduct any
new analyses of data or modelling to extend or verify the results reported
by the various studies referred to in this report.
For the purpose of this report we may use the term the Nordic countries
as shorthand for Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden when we
refer to these countries collectively, although Greenland, Iceland, and the
Faroe Islands are not covered by this report. We may also use the term
Fennoscandia when we refer to Finland, Norway and Sweden as a collective
geographic entity.
Although the term forest is apparently readily understood by most
people, it may convey different meanings depending on tradition and
circumstances. Here we keep to the common operational definition of
forests as used internationally and nationally: A forest is a land area of at
least 0.5 ha, with a tree crown cover of more than 10%, where the trees
should be able to reach a height of at least 5 m at maturity (Box 1). We
otherwise do not distinguish in concept between the terms forest and
woodland. In Fennoscandia, forest land is often subdivided into productive
and unproductive forests.
In this report we will refer to the concepts of natural forest and old or
old-growth forest, more or less linked to concepts of virgin or pristine for-
Biodiversity, carbon storage and dynamics old northern forests 21