The last european old-growth (“subnatural”) fir-BEech forests: a loNg-term and global stuDy for their better understandIng, conServation and management – BENDYS

The project is organised in 3 main interconnected WP. It is based on the multidisciplinary analysis of 6 workshop sites, 3 in France, 3 in Romania (5 plots 1ha/site), as well as on approaches at the landscape and regional scales. It integrates an epistemological and conceptual reflection on how to manage old-growth forests, based on the disciplines of sociology and anthropology. The first WP focuses on the legacies of the past natural and anthropogenic forces that have influenced forest dynamics over the last 7000 years. It relies on the multiproxy analysis of sedimentary archives to reconstruct regional land cover dynamics, as well as on the combined analysis of written sources and archaeological remains, the dendroarchaeological study of timber in local vernacular buildings, and the study of charcoal preserved in archaeological sites and natural soils to reconstruct forest trajectories (and the history of disturbances) at a very high spatiotemporal resolution. The second WP aims to characterise in detail the current biological and cultural diversity of old-growth forests, with a particular focus on soils and dead wood. It is based on the observation of current stands (IBP, dendromicrohabitats), on dendrochronological analysis of living trees (age, influence of climate and disturbances on tree growth), on LiDAR technology to characterise stand structure (vertical distribution and organisation of open environments), on ecological monitoring of soils combining XRF analyses and the TEAComposition protocol, and on an analysis of the diversity of fungi, insects and eukaryotes using Metabarcoding. On the other hand, this WP integrates cultural diversity by studying the practices and perceptions of local communities via social surveys. The third work package, which is totally transversal to the two previous ones, consists in studying the production of data on old-growth forests (using the scoping review method and the ethnographic survey) for several decades in Europe and within the BENDYS project itself. It explores the relationships between multidisciplinary scientific knowledge production and management/conservation practices from the local to the European scale. It questions the role of scientific knowledge in forest management and how science shapes the forests of tomorrow.

The first results confirm the high biodiversity hosting capacity of old-growth forests, but also confirm that they have co-evolved with human societies in a direct (various resource withdrawals, agrosylvopastoral practices) and/or indirect (historical fragmentation of the forest cover at the landscape scale) manner. The disturbance regimes detected in tree rings as well as from palaeo-remains preserved in soils and sedimentary archives indicate a plurality of Holocene trajectories where natural and anthropogenic forcings interact alternatively or jointly with more or less force. The results obtained in the mining valleys of Poiana and Baiu? (Romanian Carpathians) show two major historical phases of disturbance (fires) -the Iron Age and the medieval period- (as in Bialowieza) that suggest an intensification of anthropogenic practices in environments that have nevertheless remained predominantly forested until the present day. The analysis of tree-ring sequences from living trees shows that these stands, despite the presence of very old trees, have not completed their entire sylvigenetic cycle. The combined analysis of trees and their rings, dead wood, and historical and ethnographic sources show historical practices and wood harvesting in old-growth as in managed forests. These first results are being published in a first interdisciplinary article (Scientific Reports). In parallel with the production of new data on workshop sites, an analysis of the scientific literature produced on old-growth forests over the last few decades shows that they are studied and apprehended by performative, compartmentalised research, following two spatio-temporalities (timescapes) - temporal continuity (age) and natural dynamics (maturity) - which condition the management and/or conservation strategies implemented. Taking into account the long time span of forest cycles, which is becoming more and more prevalent, but disconnected from multi-millennial human practices, leads to the conceptualisation of 'non-management' or 'non-intervention', linked to the movement of rewilding aimed at reconstituting an idealised primary ecosystem.

Globally, the project offers the opportunity to refine traditional concepts of “primeval” or “subnatural” forest. Building on our interdisciplinary experience and results acquired in both mountains, it will be possible to propose a new definition closer to the reality. From an operative perspective, the project develops a new interdisciplinary methodology to better characterise ancientness, maturity, biological and cultural diversity of the last old forest in European mountain areas that could be also applied and adapted across the world. Results valorisation could be used by OGFs stakeholders as well as by forest and natural parks managers. This methodology could constitute a toolbox used by policy makers to assess both cultural and biological interest of forests and to support conservation planning. It could be also useful to quickly take action to avoid the destruction of OGFs under threats. Thanks to its social and cultural component, the project aims not only to participate to OGFs preservation but also the conservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and diversity that led to current state. It promotes a reconciliation of natural and cultural heritage though the use of the concept of biocultural heritage. From a prospective perspective, expected results would provide also crucial information about fir-beech OGFs resilience capacity in response to global warming and anthropogenic pressures. The references chronologies constructed in the project for fir and beech are highly anticipated by managers from Maramure? and Pyrenees. Scientific results will be disseminated, firstly in workshop sites (main villages) through public presentations to local managers, political actors and inhabitants; secondly by presentations in regional and national symposium (France and Romania) applied to decision-makers but also researchers and resource persons involved in national and international organisations as ONG or within other decision-making spheres, thirdly in international symposium gathering worldwide researchers about biodiversity conservation, primeval or ancient forest issues but also specific ones discussed within different tasks, and fourthly in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters primarily within multi-disciplinary supports and then in specialist ones. Dissemination phase will be achieved with the organisation of an international event of restitution of our main results with the entire team and full representation of participating countries, forest managers and decision-makers from France and Romania.

REVUES A COMITE DE LECTURE

[1] PY-SARAGAGLIA ET AL., 2020. KNOWLEDGE AND CONSERVATION OF OLD-GROWTH FORESTS: A KEY ISSUE TO FACE GLOBAL CHANGES. THE CASE STUDY OF STRÂMBU-BAIU? - MARAMURES (EASTERN CARPATHIANS, ROMANIA), IN: PANETTA, A., PESCINI, V., PY-SARAGAGLIA, V. (EDS), DISASSEMBING LANDSCAPE. APPLIED ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORICAL ECOLOGY, QUADERNI STORICI, 2020, N°2, AGOSTO, IL MULINO, 369-404. HTTPS://HAL.ARCHIVES-OUVERTES.FR/HAL-03049790

[2] SAULNIER ET AL., IN PROGRESS (2022). DOES PAST HUMAN PRESSURE INTERACT OR NOT WITH THE CURRENT PHYSIOGNOMY OF EASTERN CARPATHIAN FORESTS (ROMANIA). SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, IN PROGRESS

[3] FISHER ET AL., IN PROGRESS (2022). THE CHANGING TIMESCAPES OF OLD EUROPEAN FORESTS. IN PROGRESS

[4] LARRIEU ET AL., IN PROGRESS (2022). ARE THE REMNANTS OF BOTH ANCIENT AND MATURE FOREST RELEVANT TO INSPIRE CLOSE-TO-NATURE FOREST MANAGEMENT AND EFFICIENT BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION? THE CASE OF THE NORTHERN SLOPE OF THE PYRENEES. FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, IN PROGRESS.

COMMUNICATIONS, CONFERENCES

[5] SAULNIER ET AL., 2020. THE BENDYS PROJECT. IRN FORETS FROIDES, NOVEMBER 2-4 2020.

[6] SAULNIER ET AL., 2021. HISTORY AND DYNAMICS OF OLD-GROWTH FORESTS IN THE MARAMURES CBPW, OCTOBER 6-7, 2021.

[7] PY-SARAGAGLIA ET AL., 2021. ABOUT THE BENDYS PROJECT ON THE LAST OLD-GROWTH FOREST IN THE FRENCH PYRENEES AND ROMANIAN CARPATHIANS. CBPW, OCTOBER 6-7, 2021.

[8] FISHER, 2021. OLD-GROWTH FOREST TIMES. A SOCIO-HISTORICAREADING OF THE ECOLOGICAL LITERATURE. CBPW, OCTOBER 6-7, 2021.

[9] FISHER ET AL., SOUMIS. THE CHANGING TIMESCAPES OF OLD EUROPEAN FORESTS. EASST 2022, MADRID 6-9 JUILLET.

BENDYS is focusing on the last European old-growth fir-beech forests that are today threatened by global warming, unsustainable uses and a lack of global conservation plans. The major issue for their better understanding and conservation is to accurately define their reference state. To tackle this issue, we must study long-term legacies and ongoing impacts of anthropogenic and natural drivers on the structure, functioning and biodiversity of current forest ecosystems. We propose to perform a comparative study on the Eastern Romanian Carpathians, where there are secular forests just classified by UNESCO, and the Northern central Pyrenees, which present the highest density of old-growth forests in Western Europe. To reconstruct their long-term trajectories and characterise the tolerable ones for biodiversity, we propose to combine palaeoecological, ecological, historical and sociological approaches into a multiscalar and systemic research in a retrospective and prospective perspective.