What species mixes are possible for forest adaptation to climate change? Theoretical and empirical approach of ecological potentialities.

For forest managers and in the context of forest adaptation to climate change, one major challenge is having adequate methods for anticipating difficulties in the coexistence of species in a forest rotation, depending on the species in the mixture and the environmental conditions.

The objective of this thesis is to identify mixtures of two species that are viable under environmental conditions, silviculture and the effects of climate change. This general objective is broken down into three questions, focusing on the case of even-aged high forests:

1. What are the biotic, abiotic and silvicultural factors that favour the compatibility of mixed species?
2. Which species pairs in France today meet the compatibility criteria and can thus be considered viable for management, and what will happen to them in the face of climate change?
3. In a context of climate change, what will be the new compatible mixes depending on the forest sites?

The thesis mixes theoretical and empirical approaches to determine both existing and new mixes that foresters can rely on in the future.