Andreas Schuck

• MS
• Senior Researcher at European Forest Institute (EFI)

The most significant European forest-related strategies highlight the importance of multifunctional forests for human wellbeing, due to the provision of a wide range of goods and services. However, managing competing aims, such as timber production, economic drivers and biodiversity conservation is often difficult for practitioners. In order to ass...

Integrating nature conservation effectively in forests managed for timber production implies reconciling a trade-off between ecological and economic objectives. In continuous cover forest management, this culminates in decisions about tree harvesting (or retention) determining both the prevalence of tree-related microhabitats in the forest and the...

The maintenance, conservation, and appropriate enhancement of biodiversity remains an important goal for forest management in Europe. Biodiversity is generally considered valuable per se as well as being important for the adaptability and stability of forests. Forest management can support biodiversity through a range of practices – such as support...

The establishment of a new training site for Continuous Cover Forestry at Darnaway Forest in Scotland presents an opportunity for hands-on learning mirroring silviculture training initiatives already widespread across Europe.

Tree-related Microhabitats (TreMs) are of prime concern for biodiversity since they host thousands of taxa. TreMs are discrete habitat patches borne by trees and cover a wide range of lifespans, from days to decades to centuries. The taxa associated with such discrete and sometimes highly ephemeral habitat patches are likely to be sensitive to spat...

"There are no scientifically justified obstacles to protecting biodiversity in all its beauty and diversity. There are only six years left to achieve the biodiversity targets by 2030. We must work together now to get there in time." In the 10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science 2024, 64 scientists have further developed their well-founded and div...

Im Mai 2020 legte die EU-Kommission eine Biodiversitätsstrategie und anschliessend daran eine neue Waldstrategie vor. Deren Ziel ist es, die Resilienz von Wäldern in EU-Ländern zu erhöhen und damit langfristig die Multifunktionalität von Wäldern zu sichern. Ein übergeordnetes Konzept in der Waldstrategie bezüglich der Bewirtschaftung von Wäldern au...

Against a background of intensifying climate-induced disturbances, the need to enhance the resilience of forests and forest management is gaining urgency. In forest management, multiple trade-offs exist between different demands as well as across and within temporal and spatial scales. However, methods to assess resilience that consider these trade...

Tree to tree interactions are important structuring mechanisms for forest community dynamics. Forest management takes advantage of competition effects on tree growth by removing or retaining trees to achieve management goals. Both competition and silviculture have, thus, a strong effect on density and distribution of tree related microhabitats whic...

Tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) have been identified as key features for forest-dwelling taxa and are often employed as measures for biodiversity conservation in integrative forest management. However, managing forests to ensure an uninterrupted resource supply for TreM-dwelling taxa is challenging since TreMs are structures with a limited avail...

What is Closer to Nature Forest Management? Closer-to-Nature Forest Management is a new concept proposed in the EU Forest Strategy for 2030, which aims to improve the conservation values and climate resilience of multifunctional, managed forests in Europe. Building on the latest scientific evidence, this report attempts to define the concept based...

The retention of trees bearing tree‐related microhabitats (TreMs) has become an important means of conserving biodiversity in production forests. However, we lack estimates of TreM formation rates and evidence on factors driving TreM formation. Based on the observation of 80,099 living trees from 19 species groups in Europe and Iran, we estimated t...

Primary and old-growth forests in the EU are extremely rare and threatened, yet play an irreplaceable role in biodiversity conservation and the provision of other ecosystem services such as carbon storage. Recognising this, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 sets the target to strictly protect all remaining primary and old-growth forests. This t...

A Tree-related Microhabitat (TreM) is a distinct, well-delineated morphological singularity occurring on living or standing dead trees, which constitutes a crucial substrate or life site for various species. TreMs are widely recognized as key features for biodiversity. Current TreM typology identifies 47 TreM types according to their morphology and...

Criterion 2 considers and quantifies the exposure, risk, and impact on forest health posed by biotic and abiotic stressors. Environmental conditions, such as air and soil quality, influence the health and vitality of forest ecosystem and, subsequently, the provision of forest products and services. Appropriate management practices can improve the c...

Forests are important for preventing soil erosion, protecting water resources, and maintaining other protective functions. Forests also play a vital role in the protection of infrastructure or inhabited areas from natural hazards such as avalanches, rockfalls, noise, dust, heat, and wind. Countries apply specific policies and measures to maintain a...

Marteloscopes as training tools for the retention and conservation of habitat trees in forests Recently several initiatives on the political and practical level have aimed at promoting forest biodiversity and at halting the loss of species in forest ecosystems. Nevertheless numerous species are still threatened. The main reason for this phenomenon...

Das Tiefland der Lombardei (Italien) wäre ohne menschliches Zutun mit Eichen-Hainbuchenwäldern (Lebensraumtyp 9160 gemäss Fauna-Flora-Habitat-Richtlinie der Europäischen Union) bedeckt. Heute sind davon nur noch kleine Reste vorhanden. Ein solcher befindet sich im 236 ha grossen Schutzgebiet «BoscoFontana» nördlich von Mantua. Allerdings sind im Sc...

Marteloscopes are multifunctional training tools that can create a better understanding of forest management and have been developed as didactic tools for virtual tree selections. With this paper the authors provide explanatory information on the more than 40 Marteloscopes that were established in the course of the project Integrate+. It presents t...

Vorgestellt wird das Lehr-/Lernkonzept sog. „Marteloskope“. Zwei der bisher europaweit 40 Marteloskope befi nden sich im Stadtwald Freiburg. Diese werden im Rahmen der waldbaulichen Ausbildung an der Universität Freiburg eingesetzt. Veranschaulicht wird, was Marteloskope sind, wie sie funktionieren, welche Möglichkeiten sie in der forstlichen Aus-...

Assessing the trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and timber production within a Natura 2000 forest under 4 silvicutural scenarios.

‘Tree – tree’ interactions are important structuring mechanisms for forest community dynamics. Forest management takes advantage of competition effects on tree growth by removing or retaining trees to achieve management goals. Both competition and silviculture have thus a strong effect on density and distribution of Tree related Microhabitats (TreM...

Abstract This Outlook for the Development of European Forest Resources provides the methodologies, data, scenarios, and results of the outlook on the European forest resources from 2000 to 2040. The aim of this forest resource study was to analyse the impacts on the European forest resources under the level of fellings needed to fulfil the derived...

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Persian) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This so called "Policy Brief" summarizes the outcomes of the project "In-Tree (http://www.in-tree.org/)". In particular it compiles in a condensed format the key messages of the project's main output, the publication: "Introduced tree species in European forests - opportunities and challenges". Krumm F. and Vitková L. (Eds.). Series: "In Focus Mana...

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Danish) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Slovenian) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Spanish) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Italian) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in French) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

The capacity to identify and mitigate threats from invasive alien species (IAS) relies on accurate, updated and easily accessible information. This would help to synthesize risks and impacts of the most common and/or threatening IAS and to prevent and control of biological invasions into European forests. This paper presents insight to currently ex...

The smart phone application originates from the published report: Kraus, D., Bütler, R., Krumm, F., Lachat, T., Larrieu, L., Mergner, U., Paillet, Y., Rydkvist, T., Schuck, A., and Winter, S., 2016. Catalogue of tree microhabitats - field reference list. Integrate+ Technical Paper No. 13. 16 p. European Forest Institute (2016). Further credits go t...

Besondere Aufmerksamkeit sollte vorhandenen Habitatstrukturen am Einzelbaum gegeben werden, wenn es darum geht, ökonomische Zielsetzungen mit denen des Naturschutzes im Wirtschaftswald zu vereinbaren. Hierfür wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit Spezialisten aus verschiedenen europäischen Ländern ein detaillierter Katalog der Baummikrohabitate erstellt. In...

Forests are rich in biodiversity and valuable for recreation, water regulation and soil protection. As well as for providing timber and other non-wood forest products, forests are important for mitigating climate change and for the renewable energy sector. Forest ecosystems are exposed to a range of environmental, economic and social pressures that...

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Czech) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list). Velké množství mrtvého dřeva a vysoký počet starých stromů, na kterých se vyskytují mikrobiotopy, jsou charakteristickými prvky přirozených lesů a především pralesů. V hos...

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in German) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list). Naturwälder zeichnen sich unter anderem durch große Mengen an Totholz aus. Ebenso typisch ist eine hohe Diche von Altbäumen, die häufig sogenannte Mikrohabitate aufweisen....

Large quantities of deadwood and a high density of old microhabitat-bearing trees are characteristic elements of natural forests, especially of the old-growth phases. These are often absent or rare in managed forests, even in forests under close-to-nature management. Yet, an important share of forest biodiversity is strictly or primarily dependent...

This file contains the full report text of "State of Europe's Forest 2015". Due to size limitations, the annexes are presented in a separate file upload. Together the two files make up the entire 314 pages report.

The report provides an overview of the research activities of the overall COOL project. The research project was divided into three work packages. The goals and methodologies of the particular work packages are described in chapter 2. Chapter 3 summarises European policies for forest-based bioenergy and is based on a Technical Report (Ferranti, 201...

Indicator 4.1 Tree species composition Around 70% of the forests in Europe are dominated by 2 or more tree species. The remaining 30% are dominated by 1 tree species alone, mainly conifers. The area of forest covered by a single tree species decreased over the last 15 years at a rate of around 0.6% annually. This may be related to changes in forest...

The Summary for Policy Makers is a brief document based on information included in the “State of Europe’s Forests 2015”report. This document offers a comprehensive overview of European forests, their current status, trends and policy responses related to them, as well as an insight into sustainable forest management (SFM) in Europe. The State of E...

A main task in forest management is to decide where, when and what kind of forest interventions are applied. Key factors influencing silvicultural decisions that practitioners make are their understanding of forest dynamics and their level of experience. Further, the presence of a wide range of theoretical strategies and concepts in forestry result...

Marteloskope sind 1 Hektar große, rechteckige Waldflächen, innerhalb derer alle Bäume inventarisiert und auf einer Karte abgebildet werden. Im Zusammenspiel mit einer Auswertungs -und Simulationssoftware werden sie für waldbauliches Training genutzt.

Forest disturbance regimes have intensified during the last decades. So has the forest and societal vulnerability to such events. Policy and science have recognized the need to act towards mainstreaming forest disturbance risks as an integral part of sustainable forest management. Even though there is extensive knowledge and expertise available to...

All types of forest disturbances are on the rise in Europe and therefore it is justifiable that they gain political attention. Forest disturbance events cause considerable harm to Europe’s bio-economy and biodiversity, and ultimately they threaten the resilience and sustainability of the forest ecosystem. This is easily understood for large-scale d...

The technical report 'Towards a European Forest Risk Facility. Annex of the Strategy and Business Plan' is an accompanying document to the publication: SCHUCK, A., HELD, A., VAN BRUSSELEN, J., CASTELLNOU, M., (Eds.), 2015. Towards a European Forest Risk Facility. Strategy and Business Plan. Andreas Schuck, Alexander Held, Marc Castellnou (Eds.). FR...

Recently the research project Integrate carried out by EFICENT (Regional office of the European Forest Institute in Freiburg) was finalized. The main goals of the project were to assess the current state of knowledge of biodiversity in managed and unmanaged forests and to investigate how indicators can sufficiently describe biodiversity in multi-fu...

COOL project. More fodder for the oven? Dealing with forest related conflicts arising from the production and use of energy wood in europe: national stakeholder perspectives

German translation of the chapter: KRUMM, F., SCHUCK, A., KRAUS, D., 2013. Integrative management approaches: a synthesis. published in: IN FOCUS – Managing Forests in Europe: ‘Integrative approaches as an opportunity for the conservation of forest biodiversity’. Daniel Kraus, Frank Krumm (editors). European Forest Institute. 256 – 262. The transl...

French translation of the chapter: KRUMM, F., SCHUCK, A., KRAUS, D., 2013. Integrative management approaches: a synthesis. published in: IN FOCUS – Managing Forests in Europe: ‘Integrative approaches as an opportunity for the conservation of forest biodiversity’. Daniel Kraus, Frank Krumm (editors). European Forest Institute. 256 – 262. The transl...

Windstorms are a major disturbance factor for European forests. In the past six decades wind storms have damaged standing forest volume, which on a yearly average equals about the size of Poland's annual fellings. The evedence also indicates that the actual severity of storms in the wake of climatic changes may increase during next decades.Windstor...

Key findings by indicators 5.1 Protective forests – soil, water and other ecosystem functions About one-fifth of the forest and other wooded land area in Europe is reported to serve the protection of water supplies, the prevention of soil erosion and the provision of other important ecosystem services. When including the Russian Federation the area...