Silvicultural practices are developing towards sustainable management in many countries. Environmental and other services provided by forest ecosystems have a significant importance for society. As a result, the idea of a sustainable and multi-functional forestry has almost replaced the understanding of forests as a source for timber. The Ministerial Conference on the protection of forests in Europe (MCPFE) developed criterions for sustainable forest management. Among these is the conservation of biological diversity in forest ecosystems.
This paper defines structural diversity as the combination of tree species diversity and tree heightclasses and introduces the reader to the concept of structural diversity as a possible indicator for biodiversity of forest ecosystems.