Abstract

In Northern Europe, human activities have caused a substantial decrease in the number of old deciduous trees over the last two centuries, leading to a decline in species populations associated with this habitat. One way to mitigate this trend is to increase the abundance of mature and old deciduous trees in commercial forests, such as by tree retention at final harvest. We analysed the biodiversity value of retained mature oaks in the production forests of Norway spruce in southern Sweden, using oaks in pastures as reference. The forest oaks were grown in two different levels of shade. We analysed two categories of saproxylic (i.e. dead wood-dependent) beetles: those utilizing oaks (Group I) and those utilizing oak but not spruce (Group II, which was, therefore, a subcategory of Group I). We found that forest oaks sustained high beetle diversity, in particular, Group I beetles, which were significantly more abundant in forest oaks in heavily thinned patches, as compared with pasture oaks and oaks in moderately thinned patches. For both beetle groups, the composition differed between the forest oaks and pasture oaks, indicating that the forest oaks can be a complementary habitat to that of pasture oaks. There was a positive relationship between oak dead branch diameter and beetle biodiversity, but only for older oaks (similar to 200 years old). We conclude that retaining oaks in production spruce forests can increase the diversity of oak associated beetles at the landscape scale. Since many oak associated species depend on relatively high levels of insolation, management of retained oaks in production forests should include periodic removal of encroaching trees.

Keywords

Biodiversity conservation; Coleoptera; Quercus robur; Picea abies; Sustainable forestry; Sweden; Tree retention

Published in

Forest Ecology and Management
2018, Volume: 417, pages: 257-264
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

SLU Authors

• Koch Widerberg, Maria Susanna

  • Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Ranius, Thomas

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Drobyshev, Igor

  • Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)

• Lindbladh, Matts

  • Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

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


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.02.048

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/95104