Logotyp: till Uppsala universitets webbplats

The future management of forest ecosystems play a vital part in both mitigating climate change and the conservation of biodiversity. In Sweden, forestry holds an immense social, ecological and economical value, where the majority of the productive forest land is owned and managed by non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners. An important component in the boreal forests that dominate Sweden are Ectomycorrhizal Fungi (EMF), a symbiotic association between fungi with roots of trees and shrubs, which play an important role in ecosystem services and forest health. In this study, I explore the considerations of EMF among NIPF owners and if these are connected to their values, objectives and management regarding forestry, and what types of incentives would be required to take EMF more into consideration in their practices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain in-depth knowledge among owners of two management practices, Clear cut logging (CLC) and Continuous cover forestry (CCF). The results suggest that knowledge of EMF varied between forest owners of different management practices, where owners using CCF showed greater knowledge regarding EMF function and role in forest ecosystems. The considerations in regard to forest management could be related to ownership objectives and values, where owners using CLC showed more production-oriented objectives, and owners using CCF more nature-oriented objectives. The considerations of EMF in forestry differed between owners of different management practices, where owners using CCF showed greater consideration by the use of less intensive methods in their management. Practitioners of CCF had an overall greater conscious consideration of EMF by e.g. leaving trees. CLC owners may unconsciously consider EMF by following the recommendations of e.g. a forest certification. To improve EMF conservation, a carefully developed mixed approach regarding informational, economic and regulatory incentives is suggested to be used with regard to owner heterogeneity. Overall, this study contributes to an expanded knowledge of NIPFs owners' current and possible future consideration about EMF in forest ecosystems, and how these are related to their values, objectives and management practices. The results can be used to develop future conservation programs and advisory services for biodiversity protection aimed at various groups of forest owners.