Modeling the influence of alternative forest management scenarios on wood production in the Mediterranean region. The MIMOSE approach

Ecosystem services (ES) are defined as the benefits that human obtains from ecosystems. Forest ecosystems provide many essential goods and services, such as flood and landslide control, erosion prevention and maintenance of soil fertility, water and air quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, recreational space and aesthetic appreciation of natural landscapes, wood for fuel, construction and fibre, biomass for energy, and non-timber forest products. The quality and quantity of these goods and services are influenced by forest management, especially in the Mediterranean area where forests has been exploited for a long time. In this study, we propose a method (MiMoSe - Multiscale Mapping of ecoSystem services) based on the integration of remotely sensed images and field observation to produce a wall-to-wall geodatabase of forest parcels containing various information useful as a basis for trade-off analysis of different ES. Here, we present the application of the MiMoSe approach to assess the effects of three forest management scenarios on wood production in Molise Region in Central Italy (4,438 km2). The procedure is based on a vector forest parcels map created by multidimensional image segmentation that was populated with information on forest types, silvicultural systems (coppices and high forests), forest age, growing stock, slope and protected areas. Forest management scenario A was designed based on local forest regulations in order to reflect current business-as-usual conditions. Two alternative scenarios were defined to reflect management strategies more oriented to nature conservation (scenario B) or wood production (scenario C) compared to scenario A. These scenarios were applied for a time interval of 20 years. Preliminary results are the basis for a future implementation of ES modeling. We developed our approach with specific reference to ES in the Mediterranean region, but the procedure can be transferred to any ecological region across the globe.