Abstract

Throughout the northern hemisphere old forests with high abundance of dead wood are rare features in most landscapes today, and the loss of dead wood constitutes a serious threat to the existence of many species. This study, using field surveys and dendrochronology, examines the relationship between wood-inhabiting fungi and past forest utilisation along a gradient of early logging activity. Data were collected in three late-successional Scots pine forests in northern Sweden. Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS) was then used to assess differences in species composition among the forests. Our results show that minor forest logging (22-26 cut stumps ha(-1)) carried out a century ago may have continuing effects on forest characteristics, including dead wood dynamics and the wood-inhabiting fungal community especially the abundance of red-listed species. The most important effects are lower numbers of logs in early and intermediate stages of decomposition. Additionally, numbers of species (including red-listed species) can be high in forests that have been subject to low levels of logging. Overall, the high species numbers recorded in this study (n = 60-87) show that old, low-productivity pine forests harbour a considerable fraction of the total diversity of Basidiomycetes in northern Fennoscandian boreal forests. We conclude that the formation of a framework linking forest history and environmental data is vital for understanding the ecology and formulating goals for future management of these forests. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Forest history; Wood-inhabiting fungi; Logging; Conservation; CWD; Pinus sylvestris

Published in

Biological Conservation
2010, Volume: 143, number: 7, pages: 1803-1811
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

SLU Authors

• Josefsson, Torbjörn

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Östlund, Lars

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, 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

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Forest Science
Ecology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2010.04.035

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/60757