Silviculture of Mixed Forests: A European Overview of Current Practices and Challenges

Currently, about 70% of the forest land in Europe is covered by stands composed of two or more tree species. The similar situation can be found outside Europe too. While forest management of monocultures is well described multispecies forests still need a better understanding to develop appropriate forest practice. Managing mixed forests can be more complex than managing monocultures because of the need to optimize the provision of multiple benefits according to the societal demands including sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning