Ecosystem Service Provision by Secondary Forests in Shifting Cultivation Areas Remains Poorly Understood

Mertz, Ole; Bruun, Thilde Bech; Jepsen, Martin Rudbeck; Ryan, Casey M.; Zaehringer, Julie G.; Hinrup, Jeannette S.; Heinimann, Andreas (2021). Ecosystem Service Provision by Secondary Forests in Shifting Cultivation Areas Remains Poorly Understood. Human Ecology, 49(3), pp. 271-283. Springer Science+Business Media S.A. 10.1007/s10745-021-00236-x

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It is often asserted that secondary forests (SF) provide inferior forest-based ecosystem services (ES), but there is limited research to generalize this claim. Here, we review comparisons between ES provision in SFs and other land uses in shifting cultivation landscapes. We searched the peer-reviewed literature and selected only studies that compare ES from SF with ES from other land uses. In total, 212 ES and 347 comparisons of different land use systems were recorded. Comparisons were mainly made for carbon storage, biodiversity, and soil variables. Very few provisioning ES were compared in the literature and no cultural services were recorded. SF were in most cases inferior to old-growth forest in terms of carbon storage and biodiversity, whereas soil quality comparisons varied. ES provision in SF was superior to agricultural systems, whereas comparisons with plantation crops varied. We conclude that the narrow focus on specific ES categories strongly limits understanding of SF in shifting cultivation areas and that it is more relevant to compare SFs with other agricultural systems rather than with old-growth forests.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Geographies of Sustainability > Unit Land Systems and Sustainable Land Management (LS-SLM)
10 Strategic Research Centers > Wyss Academy for Nature
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Geographies of Sustainability
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography
10 Strategic Research Centers > Centre for Development and Environment (CDE)

UniBE Contributor:

Zähringer, Julie Gwendolin, Heinimann, Andreas

ISSN:

0300-7839

Publisher:

Springer Science+Business Media S.A.

Projects:

[803] Cluster: Land Resources
[1047] Managing Telecoupled Landscapes for Sustainable Provision of Ecosystem Services and Poeverty Alleviation

Language:

English

Submitter:

Melchior Peter Nussbaumer

Date Deposited:

28 Jul 2021 11:45

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:52

Publisher DOI:

10.1007/s10745-021-00236-x

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/157762

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/157762

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