Up to the end of the 19th century, many European forests suffered from devastation and soil deterioration, which caused fears of timber shortage. In order to counteract this possible shortage, many forest areas were reforested with coniferous tree species, especially Norway spruce (Picea abies L.] Karst). Consequently, coniferous forests (often Norway spruce forests), consisting of trees of the same age, were established on many sites naturally dominated by broadleaves. As a result, damages caused by storm, snow, ice, drought, insects, fungi and possibly soil degradation seemed to occur more...

The European Forest Institute (EFI) has five Research and Development priority ar eas: forest sustainability, forestry and possible climate change, structural changes in markets for forest products and services, policy analysis, and forest sector informa tion services and research methodology. In the area of forest sustainability our most important activity has been the project "Growth trends of European forests," the re sults of which are presented in this book. The project was started in August 1993 under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Heinrich Spiecker from the University of Freiburg,...