Mathias Mayer: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2023 |
| Name | Dr. Mathias Mayer |
| Address | WSL Zürcherstrasse 111 8903 Birmensdorf ZH SWITZERLAND |
| mathias.mayer@usys.ethz.ch | |
| Department | Environmental Systems Science |
| Relationship | Lecturer |
| Number | Title | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 701-1635-00L | Multifunctional Forest Management  | 5 credits | 2G | M. Lévesque, M. Mayer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | Forests provide a variety of ecosystem goods and services. Multifunctional forest management attempts to control natural processes in a sustainable and near-natural way so that various requirements from the society can be met. Adaptivity to changing conditions (global changes), handling of conflicting goals and the development of alternative management strategies are of central importance. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | At the end of this course participants will be able: - To describe forest management and silvicultural measures for enhancing forest resilience to climate change, increased disturbances, and invasive species, and evaluate their feasibility and effectiveness in various situations; - To concisely describe silvicultural options for the management of multifunctional forests and critically evaluate their feasibility and suitability; - To explain the various social expectations towards forest ecosystem services and their implications for multifunctional forest management and critically analyse conflicts and synergies resulting from different forest ecosystem services; - To carry out research on a given topic, identify relevant literature and present the results in a structured presentation and discuss the implications for forest management. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | The course will cover important topics for the sustainable management of multifunctional forests and present silvicultural strategies to fulfil a variety of forest ecosystem goods and services. Current and future challenges of forest management will be presented. The course is structured into the following sub-topics: 1) Forest management under climate change and increasing disturbances. 2) Invasive alien species: Implications for forest management. 3) Non-native tree species: Risks, opportunities and management options. 4) Silvicultural and management options in multifunctional forests. 5) Challenges and silvicultural strategies for wood production. 6) Forest management and biodiversity in temperate forests. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lecture notes | No class notes or text books Lecture presentations are available for download | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | Literature will be provided for the group presentations. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites / Notice | Course language is English. Prerequisites: Sufficient English language skills In addition to the lectures, students need to attend 4 all-day field excursions. Excursion topics: Forest management and climate change, Nature-based silvicultural concepts; Soil protection and forest management; Continuous cover forestry. Participation at all 4 full-day excursions is a prerequisite for the credits. Excursions are held in English, German and French (some German and French knowledge is good to have). Additional field excursions focusing on silvicultural systems and multifunctional forest management will be offered during the spring semester in the optional course "Selected Topics of Multifunctional Forest Management". 9 all-day field trips will provide the possibility to consolidate theoretical knowledge, to apply it to real examples in the field, to discuss with forest practitioners and further consolidate what has been taught in this course. The additional course is an important part of the formation of the Major in Forest and Landscape and is highly recommended. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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