%0 Research article
%T Immediate effects of logging, mounding and removal of logging residues and stumps on coarse woody debris in managed boreal Norway spruce stands
%A Rabinowitsch-Jokinen, Ruut
%A Vanha-Majamaa, Ilkka
%D 2010
%J Silva Fennica
%V 44
%N 1
%R doi:10.14214/sf.162
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/162
%X Wood fuel production has increased remarkably, but its environmental  effects within the forest ecosystem have not yet been studied much. We  investigated the immediate effects of two series of forest management  treatments, which produce timber and forest chips, on the volume and  decay classes of coarse woody debris (CWD). One of the treatment series  included logging and residue harvesting (LRH) and mounding (M), while  the other series included LRH and mounding combined with stump  harvesting (MSH). We hypothesized that, i) LRH reduces CWD, excluding  stumps; ii) the more intense the soil preparation treatment is, M vs.  MSH, the more CWD is destroyed; iii) both LRH and soil preparation  treatments (M and MSH) reduce the occurence of snags, highly decayed CWD  and deciduous CWD in particular. Ten sample plots in mature managed  Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) dominated forests were  located in Southern Finland. The total volume of CWD on the sample plots  was measured three times: before and after LRH, and after M or MSH. LRH  significantly decreased the volume of snags and the combined volume of  snags and logs. MSH significantly decreased the total volume of CWD,  while M had no significant effect on the volume of CWD. The middle and  highly decayed CWD were destroyed most easily in the treatments.