Current management strategies for European Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests are oriented towards the use of natural regeneration processes. They aim to maintain continuity of stand structure by preserving seed-producing and shelter trees at varying densities. Soil scarification techniques may be employed to support the natural regeneration of pine. Our study is based on data from seven study sites in the German lowlands, where the basal areas of the overstorey pine trees varied between 4 and 21 m²/ha. The soil scarification methods ranged from full surface ploughing by tractor or horse through small-scale scarification by cultivators to sites without soil scarification. Differences in the densities, spatial distributions, age structures, and above-ground development of pine seedlings were evaluated. We analysed the spatial interactions between overstorey pine trees and the densities of naturally regenerated pine seedlings as a function of the microsite types using the multitype Strauss hard-core process (MSH) method. The results show a significant decrease in height growth with increasing stand density after a period of 5 years, with seedling density and spatial patterns strongly influenced by soil scarification. The MSH pairwise interaction analyses revealed significant negative effects on seedling densities based on combinations of microsites and overstorey trees.

The importance of local forests as places of recreation and human well-being depends very much on their visual impact on human perception. Forest managers, therefore, seek to achieve structural elements or attributes that can be used to enhance the visual aesthetics of managed forest ecosystems. The following survey was undertaken in the Tharandter Forest in Saxony (Germany). The field interviews were focussed on visual aesthetics and acceptance. The statements of the 53 participants in the survey were used to analyse views concerning typical Norway spruce forest types: with the regeneration of deciduous tree species in the background, without regeneration, and with European beech as a second layer in the foreground. The evaluation of the questionnaires confirmed a clear ranking. The forest view with the regeneration of deciduous tree species received the highest number of positive scores, followed by the forest view with beech as a second layer. The forest view characterised by pure and dense Norway spruce trees received the worst rating, differing significantly from the other two, on the basis of the spatial arrangement, visual diversity and acceptance. Linear mixed models demonstrated that visual aesthetics was mostly explained by visual diversity as a result of tree species diversity or mixtures and age structures, the diversity of surrounding structures and colours, ground vegetation or visibility.

The impact of extreme weather events such as droughts, heatwaves, storms and the associated intensifcation of bark beetle outbreaks in Norway spruce forests in recent years, has led to a large-scale forest loss in Central Europe. There are various options for post-disturbance management, from complete clearing to no intervention, but their pros and cons - in the context of multifunctional forest management - are not resolved. The ResEt-Fi project ('Pioneering reforestation: Regional management for establishing multifunctional forests on post-disturbed Norway spruce areas') consortium implemented a cross-regional field trial to test how specific practices of deadwood retention affect the ecological conditions and subsequent reforestation dynamics of natural regeneration and planted trees. It aims at generating climate-stable mixed forests within an ecological valuable transition, balancing ecosystem functioning and socio-economic benefits. As an outcome for stakeholders and forest practitioners, guidelines and showcase scenarios for facilitating the selection of management procedures will be created. In this article, we provide insight into (i) the applied post-disturbance deadwood management practices and the rationale for their selection, (ii) the experimental setup of our cross-regional field trial, (iii) the initial post-disturbance status and perspective with respect to regional site conditions and deadwood treatment. While the setup and site conditions will primarily serve as a reference for subsequent studies in our joint project, this is the first systematic, cross-regional study on the effects of the management options standing deadwood, high stumps and clearing on microclimate, biodiversity, and tree regeneration in the critical early stages of forest regeneration after disturbance.

Forest regeneration is crucial for forest adaptability to environmental changes and the maintenance of ecosystem services. However, assessing regeneration across different spatial scales remains a challenge. While modern remote sensing methods improve data collection, they still face technical challenges such as image interpretation, sensor calibration, and data processing. Detailed spatial recording of forest regeneration thus remains time-consuming and costly. This study introduces an innovative method based on point pattern reconstruction, which predicts the spatial distribution of regenerating trees cost-effectively over large areas. The method was tested in two 1-hectare forest areas: one in the Billenhagener Forest near Rostock and one in the Dippoldiswalder Heathland near Malter. In each area, a 0.09-hectare reference plot containing both the overstory and regeneration was analysed using terrestrial laser scanning. A reconstruction method was developed using spatial tree data and correlations between tree attributes to extrapolate the regeneration patterns to the entire area. Spatial analyses showed that the structural properties of regeneration were successfully scaled from the small reference plot to the full study site. The bimodal diameter distribution of regenerated tree species observed in the reference plot was also well reproduced throughout the area. The results confirm that the method presented enables an adequate reconstruction of regeneration based on overstory structure from a small sample plot. It provides an efficient, time- and labour-saving approach for assessing forest regeneration capacity. It has the potential to support sustainable forest management by offering scalable, data-driven insights into regeneration dynamics.