As in many parts of the Swiss Central Plateau, vast coppices with standards have grown in the region of Diessenhofen for centuries. While in other parts of the first decades of the 20th century the forests were converted to areas of forest regeneration species, the foresters of the Diessenhofen region altered numerous pillaged coppices with standards to a stratified continuous forest. The advantages of this form of management such as species and structure diversity and lower costs in comparison with the forest stratified by age are being presented. Each of the four foresters in the region has formed different stand images through his personal intervention intensity. There are different ways possible for achieving a continuous forest, in order to prove this, differences of managing a selection forest system are carried out by the four regional foresters. After decades of experience in tending stands established out of former coppices with standards, the approach of converting plenter forests from existing forests stratified by age to stratified continuous forests is experienced. The successes also encouraged the foresters of the neighbouring district Steckborn to do the same. This creative task is being accompanied scientifically by the WSL (Federal Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland), which has established permanent observation areas. The steps in the previously intuitive procedure can, therefore, now be traced.
The extent of functional redundancy changes as species’ roles shift in different environments
