Conclusions and perspectives

Conclusions from the individual chapters are integrated into a synopsis, covering achievements and perspectives, and linking challenges for natural and social sciences, provisioning ecosystem services (ESs) under environmental change. The required research and policy making are facilitated by novel understanding of ecosystem functioning and internal factorial interactions with the atmosphere.

A basis is provided through methodological progress for establishing forest research ‘supersites’ within global research networks, possessing capacities for creating generic mechanistic knowledge of ecological relevance. On such grounds, provisioning versus regulating ESs must accommodate diversification in the joint production of agricultural and forestry goods, backed by integrative bioeconomic land-use modelling.

Advancement requires forest ecosystem-level unification of air pollution and climate change research while strengthening communication between experimentalists, monitoring experts, modellers, policy makers and stakeholders towards tool development for reliable risk assessment. A critical and appreciative view of forest functions and services is demanded in relation to the (post-)Kyoto debate..