LESSONS FROM NATURAL FORESTS AS KEYS FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF NATURALNESS IN MANAGED BROADLEAVED FORESTS

An appreciation of the natural processes in forests is essential in or der to propose rules for both conservation of wildlife and sustainable management. This paper proposes the use of the word 'naturalness' or 'authenticity' (i.e. the vegetation owns its features strictly to natu ral factors and not to the action of people) rather than biodiversity, in the senses published in Peterken (1996) and Bucking (1997). The st udy analyses a concrete case in an intensively managed landscape of lo w altitude (300 m), in the Vosges, eastern France. Regeneration, struc ture and natural cycles are described from small unmanaged stands of t he region. In spite of human impact on the reserves, significant resul ts were obtained for an assessment of the level of naturalness in the present landscape, for a model of succession of the pre-settlement for ests of the region, for an estimation of the minimum area in future st rict reserves, and for proposals for more sustainable management, whic h would ensure enhancement of stability and conservation of authentic biodiversity in the managed ecosystem. These results are compared with observations made in Romania, in a pure old-growth Beech forest of th e natural reserve of Nera, Banat mountains. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.