Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variety among all living organisms of all origins – diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.
In practical terms, biodiversity means that we have a landscape with many different habitat types and species. This includes everything from wild plants and animals to cultivated plants and farm animals and their habitats, on land and in water.
The forest industry endeavours to manage the forest in a way that promotes the survival of all species in the forest landscape. Working as a forester also involves actively working with nature conservation.
In forestry, general consideration is always given to natural, cultural, and social values. To preserve biodiversity, for example, dead wood is left in the forest after thinning or regeneration felling. We have dead wood in our forests for many reasons – storms, fires, and insect and fungal attack are examples of processes that produce dead wood in the forest.
All forms of dead wood we find in the forest promote biodiversity, either as food or as a place for species to grow or live. Birds, insects and various types of mammals use dead wood for these purposes, and for many insects dead wood is essential for surviving the winter.[1]
Some species rely on broad-leaved trees and others on conifers, so a number of both types of trees are saved when felling. Nature conservation trees are also left standing. The trees that are left will be blown over one day, or will die and decompose where they stand and eventually become windthrows (fallen trees). At lakes and watercourses, screens of trees and bushes (protective zones) are left in place to protect water quality and aquatic plant and animal species.[2]