Forest Ecosystem Management: A New Paradigm for Preserving Forest Biodiversity

Forest ecologists have developed a more complete understanding of the ecological impacts of traditional forest management practices and the need to integrate knowledge of structure-biodiversity linkage into modern management techniques. This has led to the development of forest ecosystem management (FEM), which has been adapted by various public and private land managers, in hopes to improve the ecological conditions of the world's forests. This module provides a review of the history of forest management and silviculture systems leading to the developing of FEM. In addition, the process of adapting and developing FEM is explored through a case study based on northern hardwood forests in eastern North America.