Ecological restoration of natural disturbances in boreal forests

Worldwide declines in biodiversity have accentuated the need for conservation actions. Unfortunately, the decline is unlikely to be reversed by traditional conservation alone. Instead the practice of ecological restoration has come to play an ever increasing role. It is therefore important to develop methods that are beneficial for biodiversity, cost efficient and applicable on larger scales. By using a before-after control-impact experiment in boreal forest voluntary set-asides, I evaluated the response of forest-dwelling beetles and flat bugs to two cost neutral ecological restoration methods. The two restoration treatments, restoration burning and artificial gap creation were aimed at emulating natural disturbance processes, at the same time as they were expected to improve conditions for biodiversity. I compared the results from the two treatments with that of unmanaged reference stands. I found that beetles showed strongest response to restoration burning by increasing in abundance and species richness directly, as well as one year after restoration. In addition the composition of species communities differed significantly between beetles collected in burned stands compared to those collected in gap-cut and reference stands immediately after restoration. One year after restoration the composition of species communities differed significantly between all three treatment groups. Flat bugs also responded strongest to restoration burning by displaying higher abundance and species richness in burned stands compared to gap-cut- and reference stands. I also found that dead wood substrate type mattered for beetles. Tree species and tree posture, i.e. if the trees were standing up or lying down, had the strongest effect on the composition of species communities emerging from the dead wood. In addition, tree species was of importance for abundance and species richness in gap-cut stands, where spruce trees generally had higher counts that birch- and pine trees. As the voluntary set-asides already were established and the restoration costs were fully covered by revenues from the extracted timber, the restoration methods applied in this study may prove particularly useful. Not only because of the positive effects on forest biodiversity, but also due to their high level of applicability and cost effectivenes

Positive effects of ecological restoration on rare and threatened flat bugs (Heteroptera: Aradidae)

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Uppföljning av kvalitetsförändringar i ängs- och betesmarker via NILS : tillstånds- och förändringsskattningar baserade på data insamlade 2006-2015

”Uppföljning av kvalitetsförändringar i ängs- och betesmark via NILS” (nedan kallat kvalitetsuppföljningen) är ett uppdrag till SLU från Jordbruksverket att årligen inventera ett urval av ängs- och betesmarker i syfte att kunna följa kvaliteter i ängs- och betesmarker. Urvalet utgörs av objekt som inventerades i ängs- och betesmarksinventeringen i början av 2000-talet och som finns registrerade i Jordbruksverkets TUVA-databas1 . Urvalet av objekt har gjorts inom ramen för NILS (Nationell inventering av landskapet i Sverige) systematiskt utlagda 5x5 km rutor. I norra Sverige finns färre ängs och betesmarker än i södra och urvalet i norra Sverige genomfördes därför inom 15x15 km-rutor centrerade runt NILS 5x5 km-rutor för att öka chanserna till att få med ängs och betesmarksobjekt. Kvalitetsuppföljningen består av en provyteinventering och en transektinventering av fjärilar och humlor. I kvalitetsuppföljningen ingår 696 ängs- och betesmarksobjekt fördelat på 402 NILS-rutor, för fler detaljer över design och datainsamling i kvalitetsuppföljningen, se Eriksson m.fl. (2011). Denna rapport redovisar tillstånd och förändringsskattningar för fjärilar och humlor såväl som för data insamlade på provytorna under perioden 2006-2015

Forest restoration for biodiversity conservation: some case studies from Sweden

Forest restoration for biodiversity conservation: some case studies from Sweden Because of worldwide forest degradation, eroding biodiversity and ecosystem services, ecological restoration has become a global priority. In many boreal forest areas, intensive management for timber production has caused declines in biodiversity and decrease in habitat quality for a large number of specialized species. As very little undisturbed forest habitats remain in many regions of the world, we have reached a situation where we no longer can rely on passive conservation measures, i.e. setting aside conservation areas under a free development philosophy. Instead, to achieve conservation goals, we need methods for restoration of hitherto managed forest, as well as for active management of forest reserves. In two separate field experiments we evaluated the effect of three different restorations methods: 1) restoration burning, 2) gap cutting and 3) selective harvest to remove Norway spruce to benefit deciduous trees (originally intended to benefit white-backed woodpeckers) on saproxylic beetles, a group of insects severely threatened by modern forestry. Beetles were collected with 3-5 window traps per stand. As predicted, saproxylic species known to be fire favoured increased dramatically after burning. The immediate response shows that, initially, fire favoured species are attracted from the surrounding landscape and not produced on site. Gap cutting increased the abundance of cambium consumers but had no significant immediate effect on total species richness or assemblage composition of saproxylic beetles. The stronger effect of burning compared to gap cutting on saproxylic assemblages is probably due to the very specific conditions created by fires that attracts many disturbance-dependent species, but that at the same time disfavour some disturbance-sensitive species. Selectively harvest to remove Norway spruce benefitted many species and the effects on species associated with sun exposure were particularly important, but many beneficiary species were also linked to dead wood from broadleaved trees. Red-listed saproxylic beetles showed a similar pattern with more species and individuals in restored sites. All three restoration methods clearly benefitted certain groups of saproxylic beetles, but to some degree different species. The implication of this is that several different restoration methods must be used to recreate/mimic natural disturbance regimes and the natural variation in boreal forest and thus benefit saproxylic species disfavoured by current even-aged silviculture.peerReviewe