Research Challenges And Opportunities To Enhance Ecological Functions In Forested Wetlands

INTRODUCTION Protecting wetland values and functions are important goals fat forest managers. Value and fimction are easy terms to confuse, but they are not interchangeable. Societal values are directly and indirectly associated with ecological functions. For example, forested wetlands may suppress f looding downstream, which is a value. Floodplain forests store water, impede flows, and dampen flood peaks which are the underlying tinctions that create the condit ions (f lood suppression) that society values. The best way to enhance values in forested wetlands is to maintain or restore ecological functions. Although we have little quantitative understanding of ecosystem functions in forested wetlands, we can be certain that good management of existing forests, rehabilitation of degraded forests, and restoration of forests on cleared agricultural land are ways to enhance ecological functions in forested wetlands. In this paper, we will discuss current trends in research on forested wetlands, primarily from a southern perspective, within a context of sustainable forestry. We will then use a conceptual model, the self-renewal rehabilitation restorat ion cont inuum (Maini 1992), to discuss research needs in southern bot tomland hardwood forests .