Back to Search
Start Over
Seventy-year history of management using low-intensity harvesting methods: weak impact on biodiversity of hemiboreal Scots pine forests
- Source :
- Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 50:1268-1280
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Canadian Science Publishing, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Less intensive harvesting methods (e.g., selection cutting, shelterwood cuttings) are recommended as alternatives to clearcutting for maintaining mature forest biodiversity in the process of forest regeneration. However, the long-term impact of low-intensity harvesting methods has rarely been studied. Our aim was to clarify the long-term effects of repeated selective cutting, thinning, and shelterwood cutting on the richness, abundance, and species composition of vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens in Scots pine forests (Pinus sylvestris L.). Data were collected from 25 mature stands located in dry Podzols in southwestern Estonia with a known management history for the last 70 years. Altogether, 35 vascular plant, 41 bryophyte, and 78 lichen species were recorded, including five species with conservational value. Generally, the management history was not related to species richness, except a negative correlation with the species number of epiphytic lichens on conifer trees. In addition, the abundance of two lichen species from the genus Chaenotheca was lower in more frequently managed stands. Species richness and composition were most strongly affected by soil pH and light conditions. We conclude that long-term, low-intensity harvesting of Scots pine forests on nutrient-poor Podzols maintains suitable habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens, confirming its suitability for sustainable forest regeneration.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Clearcutting
Global and Planetary Change
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Ecology
Hemiboreal
biology
Scots pine
Biodiversity
Forestry
biology.organism_classification
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Cutting
Selection cutting
Environmental science
Intensity (heat transfer)
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Forest biodiversity
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 12086037 and 00455067
- Volume :
- 50
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Canadian Journal of Forest Research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........4143b04be52738c9704f83f3d21c5d1f