Discusses the ways in which we can continue to benefit from forests, while conserving their biodiversity.

While most efforts at biodiversity conservation have focused primarily on protected areas and reserves, the unprotected lands surrounding those area—the "matrix"—are equally important to preserving global biodiversity and maintaining forest health. In Conserving Forest Biodiversity, leading forest scientists David B. Lindenmayer and Jerry F. Franklin argue that the conservation of forest biodiversity requires a comprehensive and multiscaled approach that includes both reserve and nonreserve areas. They lay the foundations for such a strategy, bringing together the latest scientific information on landscape ecology, forestry, conservation biology, and related disciplines as they examine: the importance of the matrix in key areas of ecology such as metapopulation dynamics, habitat fragmentation, and landscape connectivity general principles for matrix management using natural disturbance regimes to guide human disturbance landscape-level and stand-level elements of matrix management the role of adaptive management and monitoring social dimensions and tensions in implementing matrix-based forest management In addition, they present five case studies that illustrate aspects and elements of applied matrix management in forests. The case studies cover a wide variety of conservation planning and management issues from North America, South America, and Australia, ranging from relatively intact forest ecosystems to an intensively managed plantation. Conserving Forest Biodiversity presents strategies for enhancing matrix management that can play a vital role in the development of more effective approaches to maintaining forest biodiversity. It examines the key issues and gives practical guidelines for sustained forest management, highlighting the critical role of the matrix for scientists, managers, decisionmakers, and other stakeholders involved in efforts to sustain biodiversity and ecosystem processes in forest landscapes.

One of the highest priorities for human societies in the 21st century, under the challenges of predicted great environmental changes, is to conserve all kinds of biodiversity across the planet. Among all the biota that exist on Earth, forest ecosystems demonstrate a high degree of biodiversity, being thought to comprise the most diverse ecosystems, as most of the terrestrial species in the world dwell in these ecosystems. Forest biodiversity is interlinked to a web of socio-economic factors, providing an array of goods and services that range from timber and non-timber forest resources to mitigating climate change and conservation of genetic resources; therefore, it is innately linked to ecosystems and human well-being. However, in recent decades, the decrease in forest biodiversity has been a crucial and ongoing environmental issue that needs special attention and adapted ecosystem management. This Special Issue book on forest biodiversity (FB) includes a selected number of research works from all over the world dealing with emerging issues, for understanding FB and its needs for conservation, ecological processes, disturbances, climate change and ecosystems resilience, structural complexity and ecosystem functions, ecological theories and silvicultural practices, and ecosystems stability. More specifically, it includes papers focused on the indicators and methods for assessing and monitoring forest biodiversity, evaluation of practices, planting and silvicultural treatments, and management and monitoring methods, with an overall goal to provide new insights on forest biodiversity conservation, conservation of forest biodiversity in protected areas, treatments of endangered or threatened forest habitats, and sustainable management of forest resources.

Maintaining forest biodiversity by combining protection, management and restoration of forest and woodland landscapes is a central component of sustainable development. Evidence that there are threshold levels for how much habitat loss may be tolerated for viable populations of specialised species to be maintained. Policy-makers, businesses and managers pose questions about how to balance use of renewable forest resources and conserve biodiversity. Examples are presented on how biodiversity assessments can be made. Proposes how the critical gaps in our knowledge identified throughout the book could be filled through macroecological research and international co-operation.

Forests being the lungs of planet Earth are the most important ecosystems. They act as carbon sinks and sustain a huge amount of carbon in them. They play an extremely important role for the survival of the living beings on this earth. From human beings to the flora and fauna of the earth’s ecosystem depend on the forests in some way or the other. Forests are the repositories of enormous biodiversity on this planet. They are an adobe to millions of species of animals including human beings, plants and microorganisms. They also give massive ecosystem services to mankind and to all the living beings thriving on this earth. They regulate climate, water cycles and carbon sequestering on this planet. They even provide a livelihood to human beings all over the world. They check global warming on this earth. The parameter of sustainable development is that forest and biodiversity is conserved for the coming generations also. Forests are the most important repositories of terrestrial biological diversity. The diversity of life amongst the living beings and their distinct habitats, the interactions between the various components of the biodiversity makes this planet a habitable place for various life forms. Forest conservation is extremely important for intergenerational equity and the principle of sustainable development paves the way. The forests especially in the domains of forestry and agriculture provide 40% of the world’s economy. This is due to the biological diversity in the forest ecosystems. 70% of the world’s poor populace who live in rural areas is directly dependent on biodiversity for their livelihood. A rough estimate of 60 million indigenous folks are somehow reliant on forests for their daily needs. The Supreme Court of India in Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra v. State of Uttar Pradesh elucidated the importance of ecosystem services as provided by the forests.