Abstract
One of the main objectives of forestry in Germany is the conversion of anthropogenic into multifunctional and more natural forests. The study investigated the question how different silvicultural development objectives influence the biological diversity of future forests, using the example of the 'Solling' in NW Germany. The forestry programme of L ower Saxony "LÖWE (langfristige ökologische Waldentwicklung)", currently being implemented, was used as an example for a real development type. It has been compared with the hypothetical ideal types "increase of the percentage of coniferous trees", "potential natural vegetation (pnv)", "protection of ecological processes", and "natural forest" (without any further forestry impact). The status-quo of the forests on the Solling mountain served as reference. In order to assess changes of biodiversity the fol lowing criteria were taken into consideration: species numbers (e.g. total species numbers, species density, Red-List species), stand structure (horizontal and vertical), and landscape diversity (number of stand or vegetation types per landscape unit). On the basis of a broad literature survey a qualitative and quantitative assessment of biodiversity changes was carried out, referring to the different development objectives. Based on these results the study recommends a forest development strategy, on the one hand taking natural ecological forest development processes into account, and on the other hand maintaining or promoting biodiversity by applying specific silvicultural measures. Additionally, the artificially introduced coniferous tree species should, to a certain degree, also be part of the future forests.