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

• Schroeder, Martin

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Djupström, Line

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss


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