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Effective conservation of forest biodiversity and effective forest restoration are two of the biggest challenges facing forest managers globally. I present four general principles to guide strategies aimed at meeting these challenges: (1) protect and restore populations of key species and their habitats, (2) conserve and restore key attributes of stand structural complexity, (3) maintain and restore natural patterns of landscape heterogeneity, and (4) maintain and restore key ecological processes. The complexity associated with these principles is that how they will be practically implemented on the ground will invariably be ecosystem specific as what constitutes stand structural complexity or landscape heterogeneity will vary between ecosystems. Here I demonstrate the practical application of the four general principles in a detailed case study of conservation and restoration in the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria, south-eastern Australia. These forests are characterized by declining species, loss of key elements of stand structural, loss of old growth forest, altered patterns of landscape heterogeneity, and altered ecosystem processes. I highlight how altered management practices in Mountain Ash forests that are guided by our four general principles can help conserve existing biodiversity and underpin effective forest restoration. Consideration of our general principles also can identify policy deficiencies that need to be addressed to enhance restoration and biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) are State-Federal agreements underpinning the management of the majority of Australia's commercially productive native forests. Introduced between 1997 and 2001, they were designed to deliver certainty to forest industries while, simultaneously, guaranteeing environmental protection, including the conservation of biodiversity. Using examples, we argue that RFAs in some jurisdictions have failed to do either. We strongly recommend a comprehensive reassessment of RFAs. This is needed to: (1) take into account significant new knowledge on forest ecology and management that has been gathered in the past 20 years, including updated prognoses for some critically endangered species; (2) better evaluate the full range of wood and non-wood products and services provided by forests; (3) accommodate new methods of forest inventory and more environmentally sensitive silvicultural systems; and (4) better account for the impacts of natural disturbances, such as fires, on the area available for logging, sustained yield, and forest ecosystem integrity per se. Without a substantial overhaul of the RFAs, there is a significant risk of undervaluing the full range of native forest values, exacerbating species declines, and permanently damaging forest ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suspended soils in forest canopies are thought to harbor a substantial fraction of canopy biomass and many arboreal specialists, but do forest floor generalist predators with high vagility also use this habitat? We tested the hypothesis of no difference between forest floor and suspended-soil predatory mite faunas (Acari: Mesostigmata) in an Australian rain forest. Our results show that instead of being habitat generalists, many predatory mites partition soil into two main strata: soil suspended aboveground irrespective of height (0.5-20 m) and soil on the ground. Of 53 species of Mesostigmata in suspended soil, 53 percent (28 species) were absent from or rarely found on the ground. This increased to 60 percent (15/25 species) if only common species are considered. Among these 15 'suspended-soil specialists', all but the three least abundant were found throughout the arboreal strata. Moreover, ten species also occurred in litter accumulated on the surface of decaying logs or boulders close to the forest floor. Thus, although the arboreal predatory mite fauna is distinct from that on the forest floor, it is not restricted to the high canopy: even slightly elevated substrate appears acceptable as habitat for these suspended-soil specialists. Our data suggest that a substantial portion of a rain forest's soil and litter fauna is held above the forest floor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]