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Abstract

The continued decline of habitat and species in forest ecosystems highlights the urgent need for more effective conservation and restoration measures. The lack of improvement in biodiversity conditions suggests a disconnect between practical conservation, conservation science and conservation theory. 

In this thesis, I investigate decadal, multi-taxon responses of wood-associated species communities to ecological restoration in boreal deciduous and pine forests. Ecological restoration leads to divergent diversity patterns depending on the restoration method and taxonomic group studied. In deciduous forest restoration, beetle diversity patterns are clearly divergent both from a non-restored baseline and a restoration target, one to two decades post restoration. In pine forest restoration, deadwood substrate identity had a stronger influence on species communities of lichens, fungi and beetles than the specific restoration treatment. In addition, deadwood derived from restoration supported only a fraction of the species found on old, natural deadwood.

These findings demonstrate that species community responses to restoration are highly dependent on both time and taxon. Successful restoration must account for the varied ecological requirements of forest-dwelling species across space and time. The observed divergence in species-host relationships and the limited restoration target fulfilment underscore the need to diversify and improve conservation and restoration strategies. This thesis outlines the key lessons learned and discusses future perspectives for improving restoration of boreal forest biodiversity.

Keywords

Biodiversity; Conservation; Restoration; Deadwood; Multi-taxon; Community ecology; Biodiversitet; Bevarandebiologi; Restaurering; Naturvård; Död ved; Ekologi

Published in

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae
2025, number: 2025:69
Publisher: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.54612/a.4qru4hf0d1
  • ISBN: 978-91-8124-053-5
  • eISBN: 978-91-8124-099-3

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/142470