Tree species diversity and forest productivity

Scientists and policy makers have looked at Mediterranean forest biodiversity mainly from a conservation point of view. But biodiversity is increasingly considered an important aspect of ecosystem functioning. In this presentation, we review more specifically diversity-productivity relationships in forests. But it’s not an easy task, because the problem is that forest condition and growth are determined by many interacting environmental and management factors. In this context, developing an international network of such experiments, including Mediterranean sites, would be very useful.