Current issue: 58(2)

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Articles containing the keyword 'dead wood'

Category : Research article

article id 980, category Research article

Atte Komonen, Panu Halme, Mari Jäntti, Tuuli Koskela, Janne S. Kotiaho, Tero Toivanen. (2014). Created substrates do not fully mimic natural substrates in restoration: the occurrence of polypores on spruce logs. Silva Fennica vol. 48 no. 1 article id 980. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.980

Keywords: Norway spruce; boreal forest; ecological restoration; dead wood; protected area management; substrate quality; wood-decaying fungi

Highlights: Polypore communities were more homogeneous among created than among natural logs; The old-growth forest indicator Phellinus ferrugineofuscus occurred frequently on natural logs, but occupied only a few created logs; Results show that created logs do not fully mimic natural logs.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Many protected areas have been under intensive forest management prior to protection and thus lack natural ecosystem structures and dynamics. Dead wood is a key structure in forests harboring hundreds of threatened species. We investigated the ecological success of dead wood creation as a boreal forest restoration measure. We analysed whether the polypore communities of chain-saw felled and girdled (subsequently fallen) Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) logs differ from naturally formed spruce logs of similar decay stage and size. The study was conducted in Leivonmäki National Park in central Finland 8 years after the restoration measures. The average number of polypore species was highest on the chain-saw felled logs and most of the common polypore species were most frequent on this substrate. However, among the natural logs, number of species increased more steeply with increasing number of logs, suggesting greater variation in community composition on this substrate. The old-growth forest indicator Phellinus ferrugineofuscus occurred frequently on natural logs, occupied a few girdled logs but was absent from chain-saw felled logs. Our results show that from the polypore perspective created logs do not fully mimic natural logs, suggesting that creating substrates for species may pose a challenge for restoration.

Komonen, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: atte.komonen@jyu.fi
Halme, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: panu.halme@jyu.fi
Jäntti, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: mari.j.jantti@student.jyu.fi
Koskela, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: tuuli.e.koskela@student.jyu.fi
Kotiaho, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: janne.kotiaho@jyu.fi
Toivanen, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Finland; Current: Birdlife Finland, Annankatu 29 A 16, FI-00100 Helsinki, Finland E-mail: tero.toivanen@birdlife.fi

article id 85, category Research article

Ville A.O. Selonen, Maija Mussaari, Tero Toivanen, Janne S. Kotiaho. (2011). The conservation potential of brook-side key habitats in managed boreal forests. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 5 article id 85. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.85

Keywords: forest management; saproxylic species; dead wood; vegetation

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Today, maintaining biodiversity is included in the targets of boreal forest management. A widespread approach in northern Europe is to identify and preserve woodland key habitats within managed forests. Woodland key habitats are expected to be patches that host populations of threatened and declining species, and the preservation of these patches is assumed to enable the persistence of the focal species in the landscape. In Finland, the criteria for selecting woodland key habitats are defined in the Finnish Forest Act, and the selection has been done by forest practitioners. Our objective was to determine whether the surroundings of boreal brooks and rivulets qualified as key habitats are truly different from brook-side habitats not granted the key habitat status, and whether the brook-side habitats of the two types differ from the forest matrix managed for timber production. We found that the two brook-side habitats were in most aspects rather alike but there was a difference in the composition of ground vegetation assemblages. In contrast, the control forests were distinct from the brook-sides in terms of dead wood, species richness and assemblages of polypores, species richness of epiphytic mosses, and the composition of beetle assemblages. We conclude that brook-sides in general provide an important habitat clearly diverging from the surrounding matrix but that the conservation value of the brook-sides granted the key habitat status may not be substantially larger than that of the brook-sides without the status.

Selonen, University of Jyväskylä, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Lahti, Finland E-mail: ville.selonen@juy.fi
Mussaari, University of Jyväskylä, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Lahti, Finland E-mail: mm@nn.fi
Toivanen, University of Jyväskylä, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Lahti, Finland E-mail: tt@nn.fi
Kotiaho, University of Jyväskylä, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Lahti, Finland E-mail: jsk@nn.fi

article id 78, category Research article

Kris Vandekerkhove, Luc De Keersmaeker, Ruben Walleyn, Frank Köhler, Luc Crevecoeur, Leen Govaere, Arno Thomaes, Kris Verheyen. (2011). Reappearance of old-growth elements in lowland woodlands in northern Belgium: Do the associated species follow? Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 5 article id 78. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.78

Keywords: colonisation; saproxylic species; dead wood; very large trees

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The forest cover of the western European lowland plain has been very low for centuries. Remaining forests were intensively managed, and old-growth elements like veteran trees and coarse woody debris became virtually absent. Only over the last decades have these old-growth elements progressively redeveloped in parks, lanes and forests, and have now reached their highest level over the last 500–1000 years. Biodiversity associated with these old-growth elements makes up an important part of overall forest biodiversity. The ability of species to recolonise the newly available habitat is strongly determined by limitations in their dispersal and establishment. We analyse the current status and development of old-growth elements in Flanders (northern Belgium) and the process of recolonisation by means of specific cases, focussing on saproxylic fungi and saproxylic beetles. Our results show that ‘hotspots’ of secondary old growth, even isolated small patches, may have more potential for specialised biodiversity than expected, and may provide important new strongholds for recovery and recolonisation of an important share of old-growth related species.

Vandekerkhove, INBO, Gaverstraat 4, B-9500 Geraardsbergen, Belgium E-mail: kris.vandekerkhove@inbo.be
De Keersmaeker, INBO, Gaverstraat 4, B-9500 Geraardsbergen, Belgium E-mail: ldk@nn.be
Walleyn, INBO, Gaverstraat 4, B-9500 Geraardsbergen, Belgium E-mail: rw@nn.be
Köhler, Koleopterologisches Forschungsbüro, Bornheim, Germany E-mail: fk@nn.de
Crevecoeur, Genk, Belgium E-mail: lc@nn.be
Govaere, Agency of Nature and Forests, Brussels, Belgium E-mail: lg@nn.be
Thomaes, INBO, Gaverstraat 4, B-9500 Geraardsbergen, Belgium E-mail: at@nn.be
Verheyen, Ghent University, Laboratory of Forestry, Gontrode, Belgium E-mail: kv@nn.be

article id 150, category Research article

Sini Eräjää, Panu Halme, Janne S. Kotiaho, Anni Markkanen, Tero Toivanen. (2010). The volume and composition of dead wood on traditional and forest fuel harvested clear-cuts. Silva Fennica vol. 44 no. 2 article id 150. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.150

Keywords: dead wood; forest fuel harvesting; fine woody debris (FWD); clear-cut

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Logging residue and cut stumps are increasingly used as a renewable energy source known as forest fuel. Forest fuel harvesting obviously reduces the volume of dead wood and is likely to alter the dead wood composition, but the magnitude of the change is not known. Such information is important for the evaluation of the effects of forest fuel harvesting on biodiversity because a large proportion of forest dwelling species are directly dependent on dead wood. We measured the volume and characteristics of all dead wood units with a minimum diameter of 2 cm and a minimum length of 20 cm on 10 forest-fuel harvested and 10 traditional (control) clear-cuts. The total volume of dead wood at forest fuel harvested and control clear-cuts was 26.0 and 42.3 m³/ha, respectively. The volumes were much greater than expected suggesting that the volume of dead wood on clear-cuts has been underestimated in previous studies. Forest fuel harvested clear-cuts had 42% less branches and 81% less cut stumps than control clear-cuts but there were no differences in the volume of logs and pieces of logs, snags or roots. The volume of fine woody debris was negatively affected by forest fuel harvesting. We conclude that fine woody debris and cut stumps form a considerable resource on clear-cuts that is reduced by forest fuel harvesting. These components of dead wood have potential to be of importance in managed forests and thus deserve more attention in future biodiversity studies.

Eräjää, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: se@nn.fi
Halme, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: panu.halme@jyu.fi
Kotiaho, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: jsk@nn.fi
Markkanen, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: am@nn.fi
Toivanen, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland E-mail: tt@nn.fi

article id 216, category Research article

Juha Siitonen, Jenni Hottola, Auli Immonen. (2009). Differences in stand characteristics between brook-side key habitats and managed forests in southern Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 43 no. 1 article id 216. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.216

Keywords: dead wood; woodland key habitats; stand structure; CWD; WKH; Forest Act

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Preservation of small habitat patches termed as “woodland key habitats” or “especially important habitats” in the Finnish Forest Act has become an integral part of biodiversity-oriented forest management. Forest Act habitats belong to particular habitat types defined in the act, and they are supposed to have natural-like stand characteristics. However, very little is known about the actual stand structure in the designated habitats. Our aim was to compare stand characteristics between brook-side key habitats and comparable managed forests as controls. Seven study areas were selected from four regions across southern Finland. Within each study area ten key habitats and ten controls (140 stands) were randomly selected. Living and dead trees and cut stumps were measured in each stand within a 0.2 ha plot. The average degree of previous cutting was significantly lower whereas the volume of dead wood, volume of deciduous trees, and stand diversity were each significantly higher in key habitats than controls. The average volume of dead wood was 11.7 m³ ha^–1 in key habitats and 6.5 m³ ha^–1 in controls. However, there was considerable variation among individual stands, and a large part of key habitats could not be distinguished from randomly selected control stands with respect to stand characteristics. The preservation of natural brook channels with their immediate surroundings is undoubtedly important for maintaining aquatic and semiaquatic biodiversity. Nevertheless, when complementing the forest conservation network in the future, main emphasis in selecting potentially valuable stands should be placed on important structural features such as dead wood and old trees.

Siitonen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, P.O. Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: juha.siitonen@metla.fi
Hottola, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, P.O. Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: jh@nn.fi
Immonen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, P.O. Box 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: ai@nn.fi

article id 254, category Research article

Johanna Joensuu, Kari Heliövaara, Eino Savolainen. (2008). Risk of bark beetle (Coleoptera, Scolytidae) damage in a spruce forest restoration area in central Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 42 no. 2 article id 254. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.254

Keywords: biodiversity; dead wood; damage; forest pests; forest restoration

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

A beetle inventory using window traps was performed to examine the effect of forest restoration by artificial addition of dead wood on the abundance of beetles and to evaluate the risk of bark beetle damage in a forest restoration area. The number of beetle families was slightly increased, but no consistent differences were found in the abundance of families containing saproxylic Coleoptera between the restoration and control plots. The abundance and species number of bark beetles and longhorn beetles were significantly higher on the restoration plots. Ips typographus and Pityogenes chalcographus increased only slightly in abundance. In the regression models produced, the abundance of bark beetles was best explained by the volume of recently dead wood. However, the bark beetle species whose abundance increased most were secondary and the material also suggests an increase in the abundance of bark beetles’ natural enemies. The risk of bark beetle damage in the area is thus considered insignificant.

Joensuu, Dept. of Forest Ecology, University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: johanna.joensuu@metsanhoitajat.fi
Heliövaara, Dept. of Forest Ecology, University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: kh@nn.fi
Savolainen, Kuopio Natural History Museum, Kuopio, Finland E-mail: es@nn.fi

article id 555, category Research article

Leena Karjalainen, Timo Kuuluvainen. (2002). Amount and diversity of coarse woody debris within a boreal forest landscape dominated by Pinus sylvestris in Vienansalo wilderness, eastern Fennoscandia. Silva Fennica vol. 36 no. 1 article id 555. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.555

Keywords: forest dynamics; disturbances; dead wood; Scots pine; tree death

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The amount, variability, quality and spatial pattern of coarse woody debris (CWD) on mineral soil sites was studied within a natural Pinus sylvestris L. dominated boreal forest landscape in Russian Viena Karelia. Data on the total CWD was collected on 27 sample plots (20 m x 100 m) and data on large CWD was surveyed along four transects (40 m wide and up to 1000 m long). The mean volume of CWD (standing and down combined) was 69.5 m3 ha–1, ranging from 22.2 m3 ha–1 to 158.7 m3 ha–1 from plot to plot. On average, 26.9 m3 ha–1 (39%) of CWD was standing dead wood and 42.7 m3 ha–1 (61%) down dead wood. The CWD displayed a wide range of variation in tree species, tree size, stage of decay, dead tree type and structural characteristics, creating a high diversity of CWD habitats for saproxylic organisms. Large CWD was almost continuously present throughout the landscape and its overall spatial distribution was close to random, although a weak autocorrelation pattern was found at distances less than about 50 m. On small spatial scales total CWD showed wide variation up to a sample area of about 0.1 ha, beyond which the variation stabilized. The fire history variables of the sample plots were not related to the amount of CWD. This and the spatial pattern of CWD suggest that the CWD dynamics in this landscape was not driven by fire, but by more or less random mortality of trees due to autogenic causes of death.

Karjalainen, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 24, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: lk@nn.fi
Kuuluvainen, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 24, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: timo.kuuluvainen@helsinki.fi

article id 554, category Research article

Seppo Rouvinen, Timo Kuuluvainen, Juha Siitonen. (2002). Tree mortality in a Pinus sylvestris dominated boreal forest landscape in Vienansalo wilderness, eastern Fennoscandia. Silva Fennica vol. 36 no. 1 article id 554. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.554

Keywords: dead wood; disturbance dynamics; spatial pattern analysis; mortality agent; forest structure; temporal variation

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Tree mortality and its causes and spatial pattern were examined along four transects (width 40 m, length 2550–3960 m), with a total length of 12 190 m and area of 48.8 ha, in a Pinus sylvestris L. dominated, boreal forest landscape. Tree mortality was determined within a time window of 3 years by identifying those trees (dbh ≥ 10 cm) along the transects that fitted into one of the three categories: 1) current mortality: trees that had died during the year of survey (1998), 2) recent mortality: trees that had died during the year (1997) before the survey year, and 3) predicted mortality: trees that were expected to die during the year (1999) following the survey year. Long-term tree mortality was studied on 10 plots (20 m x 100 m) by dating 87 dead trees using dendrochronological methods. The mean current mortality was 1.4 m3 ha–1 (3.7 trees ha–1). Both the recent and predicted mortalities were also 1.4 m3 ha–1. Mortality was, on the average, higher on peatlands than on mineral soils. The highest mortality was found within an area recently flooded by beavers. Over half of the examined trees (52%) were judged to die without any visible signs of an external abiotic cause. At the landscape scale, tree mortality was continuous although somewhat aggregated in space. Of the 66 dated standing dead Pinus trees, 23 (35%) had died during the 19th century and two during the 18th century, demonstrating that dead Pinus can remain standing for long periods of time before falling. Our results show that autogenic mortality of individual trees or small groups of trees was the predominant mode of disturbance in this Pinus dominated landscape.

Rouvinen, University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forestry, P.O. Box 111, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: seppo.rouvinen@forest.joensuu.fi
Kuuluvainen, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Ecology, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: tk@nn.fi
Siitonen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 18, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: juha.siitonen@metla.fi

Category : Climate resilient and sustainable forest management – Review article

article id 23057, category Climate resilient and sustainable forest management – Review article

Ane Christensen Tange, Hanne K. Sjølie, Gunnar Austrheim. (2024). Effectiveness of conservation measures to support biodiversity in boreal timber-production forests. Silva Fennica vol. 58 no. 2 article id 23057. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.23057

Keywords: forestry; sustainable forest management; dead wood enhancement; forest certification; green tree retention; riparian buffer zone

Highlights: A systematic review of in-situ conservation measures displays that forest biodiversity levels are largely maintained upon harvest with conservation measures compared to unlogged forest; The type of control impacts the frequency of positive, not significant and negative observations; The relatively few significant results restrain distinct conclusions on the effectiveness of the assessed conservation measures to support biodiversity.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Large parts of the boreal forest ecosystems have been greatly affected by human use, and the current timber-oriented forest management practice that dominates boreal forests is proven to cause biodiversity and ecosystem services declines. These negative effects are mitigated in various ways, including in-situ measures implemented upon harvest. The measures comprise trade-offs between economic and ecological aims; thus, requiring solid knowledge of their effectiveness. However, comprehensive literature review of the effectiveness of such measures is scarce. We aim to fill part of this void by reviewing the scientific literature that have gauged effects of four in-situ conservation measures: green tree retention (GTR), patch retention (PR), dead wood retention (DW) and riparian buffer zones (RB). Two outcomes were considered, species richness and species abundance across taxa.

From a total of 3012 initial papers, 48 met our inclusion criteria that generated 238 unique results. Results were grouped according to control. 178 studies used mature, unlogged forest as control. Out of those, 68% of the findings were not significant, i.e., suggesting no significant impact of harvest with biodiversity measures on species richness and species abundance compared to no harvest. Eighteen percent of the observations showed negative effects and 14% of the observations showed positive effects compared to no harvest. Sixty studies used harvest with no measures as control, of which 45% showed significant positive effects, meaning that compared to harvest with no measures, harvest with conservation measures has positively effects on species richness and abundance. However, 43% of the studies found no significant effect of the implemented conservation measures compared to harvest with no measures taken.

The relatively few significant results reported restrain distinct conclusions on the effectiveness of the assessed conservation measures, but some degree of conservation measure is likely to have positive effects on biodiversity in timber-production forest. However, the scientific basis does not allow for pointing to threshold levels. Higher transparency of study design and statistical results would allow us to include more studies. There is a clear need for more research of effectiveness of common conservation measures in timber-production forests in order to strengthen the knowledge basis. In particular, there are few studies that employ harvest without any conservation measure as control. This is pivotal knowledge for forest managers as well as for policymakers for preserving biodiversity and the ecosystems in forest.

Tange, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology, Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Evenstad, Norway; Glommen Mjøsen Skog SA, Elverum, Norway https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3145-8159 E-mail: ane.tange@inn.no
Sjølie, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Applied Ecology, Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology, Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Evenstad, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8099-3521 E-mail: hanne.sjolie@inn.no
Austrheim, University Museum Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Natural History, Trondheim, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3909-6666 E-mail: gunnar.austrheim@ntnu.no

Category : Review article

article id 446, category Review article

Guntis Brumelis, Bengt Gunnar Jonsson, Jari Kouki, Timo Kuuluvainen, Ekaterina Shorohova. (2011). Forest naturalness in northern Europe: perspectives on processes, structures and species diversity. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 5 article id 446. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.446

Keywords: disturbances; dead wood; natural forest; biological diversity

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Saving the remaining natural forests in northern Europe has been one of the main goals to halt the ongoing decline of forest biodiversity. To facilitate the recognition, mapping and efficient conservation of natural forests, there is an urgent need for a general formulation, based on ecological patterns and processes, of the concept of “forest naturalness”. However, complexity, structural idiosyncracy and dynamical features of unmanaged forest ecosystems at various spatio-temporal scales pose major challenges for such a formulation. The definitions hitherto used for the concept of forest naturalness can be fruitfully grouped into three dimensions: 1) structure-based concepts of natural forest, 2) species-based concepts of natural forest and 3) process-based concepts of natural forest. We propose that explicit and simultaneous consideration of all these three dimensions of naturalness can better cope with the natural variability of forest states and also aid in developing strategies for forest conservation and management in different situations. To become operational, criteria and indicators of forest naturalness need to integrate the three dimensions by combining species (e.g. red-listed-, indicator- and umbrella species) with stand and landscape level structural features that are indicative of disturbance and succession processes.

Brumelis, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Kronvalda bulv. 4, Riga, LV-1586, Latvia; E-mail: guntis.brumelis@lu.lv
Jonsson, Department of Natural Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden E-mail: bgj@nn.se
Kouki, School of Forest Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Joensuu E-mail: jk@nn.fi
Kuuluvainen, Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: tk@nn.fi
Shorohova, Saint-Petersburg State Forest Academy, Saint-Petersburg, Russia & Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, Vantaa, Finland E-mail: es@nn.ru

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