Differences in forest structure and landscape patterns between ownership groups in Central Finland

The spatial distribution and connectivity of forest characteristics, such as soil productivity, stage of forest development, forest tree species composition and forest vertical structure, were studied according to forest ownership groups in Central Finland. The study was based on the data from the Finnish National Forest Inventory. The spatial distribution was examined by estimating variograms for compared characteristics. Connectivity of forest characteristics was estimated along the inventory track by calculating the proportions of adjacent sample plots which had the same value of the forest characteristic in question. Results on the spatial distribution and connectivity of dominating tree species, tree species composition and vertical structure of the stand show that differences in stand management have also affected the structure of forest landscape. It seems that the within-stand heterogeneity, required by many forest species, is better maintained in privately owned forests due to more heterogeneous management regimes. This leads to greater spatial correlation and connectivity of the stand structure characteristics. On the other hand, small management units in privately owned forest holdings lead to a more fragmented forest landscape. This is partly avoided in forests owned by the state or forest industrial companies, which have more continuous patches of a single successional stage of forest. However, this can be regarded only as a potential for the preservation of viable forest species populations in the future, because currently successional stages of young forest have the greatest spatial correlation and connectivity.