Schroeder, Martin
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Research article2012Peer reviewed
Restoration of habitats for a threatened saproxylic beetle species in a boreal landscape by retaining dead wood on clear-cuts
Boberg Djupström, Line; Weslien, Jan; Hoopen, Jan ten; Schroeder, Martin
Abstract
Forest restoration measures, such as dead wood retention and creation at the time of final felling, increase the amount of dead trees and should benefit a large proportion of species dependent on sun-exposed dead wood. In this study, the value of retained dead wood and high-cut stumps was evaluated in terms of how much they contribute to the population of the red-listed beetle Peltis grossa in a forest landscape. The evaluation was based on a population estimate before and after restoration started in the study landscape. The restoration started in 1994 with 425 high-cut stumps of Norway spruce on six experimental clear-cuts and continued 4 years later with high-cutting and retention of dead trees becoming a standard measure in the 10 000-ha forest landscape. Ten years after high-cutting, adults of P. grossa started to emerge from the stumps on the experimental clear-cuts and the number of emergence holes was counted each year during the following eight years (2003-2010). During this period, the average yearly recruitment of P. grossa from these stumps were c. 300 individuals, adding up to a total of c. 2250 emergence holes. In 2005, all clear-cuts made during 1990-2000 and random samples of young and old forest stands were inventoried in transects across the landscape. In total, 1219 emergence holes were found in 2005; all of them on the clear-cuts and none in the forest stands. Our study is the first to show that habitat restoration can increase population growth of a threatened saproxylic species on a landscape scale. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Breeding substrate; Coleoptera; Dead wood dependent; High-cut stumps; Red-listed; Tree retention
Published in
Biological Conservation
2012, volume: 155, pages: 44-49
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD
SLU Authors
Djupström, Line
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Global goals (SDG)
UKÄ Subject classification
Forest Science
Ecology
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2012.06.009
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/41712