The combined activities of root associated mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria should therefore be appreciated as a major factor in forest growth and production. A standard forestry practice is the total harvesting of wood from the forest often using heavy tree-cutting machinery. It has been known for some time that this causes a great loss of essential growth promoting mineral and organic nutrients from the soil. Subsequent forest regeneration with nursery seedlings has also been problematic in certain clear-cut forests. The biodiversity project will involve collaboration between scientists in Finnish and Swedish University departments.
Much information is already available there on forest growth, soil fertility and nutrient cycling.
The project should provide important information urgently needed for more realistic mathematical modelling of future forest productivity and the development of improved forest management practices involving the utilisation of the soil microbial biodiversity as microbial biofertilizers. Robin Sen Ph.D, Docent. Department of Biosciences Division of General Microbiology, P.O. Box 56 FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.