Carbon stocks and timber yield in two boreal forest ecosystems under current and changing climatic conditions subjected to varying management regimes

A process-based ecosystem model was used to identify how thinning and climate change affected carbon sequestration in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and silver birch (Betula pendula) stands in the southern and northern boreal conditions in Finland. Current climate data and two climate change scenarios together with eight management scenarios were used in the simulations. The trees occupying the sites were subjected to varying thinning regimes over a 100-year simulation period. The thinning regimes differed from each other in the sense that mean stocking in the stand over the rotation varied significantly compared to that currently applied. This allowed the identification of how sensitive carbon stocks and timber yield are to thinning and climate change. The simulations indicated that thinning regimes which increased the stocking of the tree population increased the mean carbon stock in the forest and the timber yield, compared to the current thinning guidelines, regardless of tree species and climate scenario. The climate change in itself enhanced stocks more in the north than in the south. The simulations demonstrated that carbon sequestration in the ecosystem may be enhanced with no loss in timber production even under the current climate with the different management regimes.