Structural characteristics mediate forest mitigation potential against climate change and biodiversity loss

Abstract European forests play an important role for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. As they have been shaped by silviculture for centuries, it is important to understand how management practices affect forest structure and in turn influence the role of forests in achieving both goals. We analyzed data on a wide range of temperate European forests encompassing the most widespread management regimes to understand the interplay of forest structure, aboveground carbon stocks, and the richness of several taxonomic groups. Using structural equation modeling, we identified the forest structural characteristics that are positively correlated with both carbon stocks and species richness. We found that stand age and tree species richness are related to other forest structural characteristics, which had positive links to carbon stocks in deadwood. Increasing stand age was associated with an increase in deadwood carbon stocks. There were no direct negative relationships between stand age or tree species richness and the richness of different taxonomic groups. An increasing richness of deadwood types had positive links with the species richness of birds, saproxylic beetles, and saproxylic fungi, as with deadwood carbon stocks. However, increases in the species richness of birds and understory vascular plants were negatively related to increasing carbon stocks in living wood, while beetle species richness was positively related to this carbon stock. Birds' species richness was directly and positively associated with increasing mean tree diameter. Conversely, a higher richness of tree species was indirectly linked to lower carbon stocks in living wood. Additionally, an increase in mean tree diameter was indirectly correlated with a decrease in bird and vascular plant species richness. Our findings highlight potential trade‐offs between carbon stocks in living wood and the species richness of several taxonomic groups in European forests, while the species richness of some taxonomic groups was positively correlated to deadwood carbon stocks. Policies focused on increasing living biomass may not target both the climate and biodiversity crises. Instead, the diversity of deadwood emerges as a key factor in explaining the relationship between carbon storage and biodiversity, and should hence play a prominent role in forest management strategies and related policies.