Experimental evaluation of herbicide use on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and timber production tradeoffs in forest plantations

The value of non-commodity ecosystem services provided by forests is widely recognized, but intensive forest management practices are increasing, with uncertain consequences for a multitude of these services. Quantitative relationships among biodiversity conservation, timber production, and other ecosystem services remain poorly understood, especially during the early successional period of intensively managed forestlands. 

We manipulated management intensity in regenerating forest plantations to test the prediction that treatments aimed at maximizing timber production decrease biodiversity conservation and non-timber services. We measured species richness of three taxonomic groups and thirteen proxies for provisioning, cultural, and regulating services within stands randomly-assigned to one of three herbicide application intensities or an untreated control. 

Herbicides increased allocation of net primary production to crop trees, increasing projected timber volume and revenues at...

森林所提供的非商品型生态系统服务（non-commodity ecosystem services）价值已得到广泛认可，但当前森林集约化经营实践正日益增多，其对诸多此类服务的影响仍存在不确定性。生物多样性保护、木材生产与其他生态系统服务之间的定量关系仍不甚明晰，尤其是在集约经营林地的早期演替阶段。

本研究通过调控更新造林人工林的经营强度，验证“以最大化木材生产为目标的经营措施会削弱生物多样性保护与非木材服务”这一假说。我们将林分随机分配至三种除草剂施用强度组或未处理对照组，在此基础上测定了3个分类群（taxonomic groups）的物种丰富度，以及13个代表供给服务（provisioning services）、文化服务（cultural services）与调节服务（regulating services）的替代指标。

除草剂可提升净初级生产力（net primary production）向目标林木的分配比例，进而提升预测材积与收益，且……