•Diameter of living and standing dead trees, and deadwood drive forest bird abundance.•The landscape context influences bird numbers in structurally similar forests.•Broadleaf cover and distance ...between forest sites drive bird richness and diversity.•Simply providing habitat structures for conservation is not a viable solution.
The variability in the amount and configuration of broad habitat types in the landscape, together with their structural complexity, influence observed biodiversity patterns. When considering structurally similar sites of the same habitat type, the variability in the abundance, species richness or diversity of organisms may be explained by the landscape context. To assess the numerical response of species to the landscape context, in terms of amount and configuration of forest environments, we investigated the bird assemblages of similarly structured forest habitats in an extensively managed forest region, encompassing different landscape contexts. We considered the numerical response of bird assemblages, in terms of abundance, species richness and diversity, and relative abundance of specific guilds, to the landscape context. We considered the forest cover at different spatial scales as a measure of habitat amount, while we quantified aspects of habitat configuration using various landscape metrics, and measured local forest structures. We found significant responses in multiple forest bird species to three important indices of forest structures: mean diameter of living trees, mean diameter of dead trees and volume of lying deadwood. Within similarly structured forest plots, bird assemblages showed responses linked with the landscape context, while plots with different habitat structure showed similar responses to the landscape context. In particular, there was a clear positive response of birds to the amount of broadleaf and mixed forest cover in the landscape. In addition, the distance between forest patches negatively affected species richness and diversity. Within landscapes, the increase of broadleaf in the existing forest area could boost abundance and diversity, decrease isolation levels for species dependent on broadleaves and enhance structural connectivity, generally favouring the majority of the species. Our findings suggest that the simple provision of habitat structures cannot represent a viable solution for biodiversity conservation and that the use of structural indicators of biodiversity like deadwood and age of canopy trees for assessing conservation value of forest needs to be integrated with landscape-scale indices. Our analysis clearly shows that the amount of habitat available in the surrounding landscape is linked with positive biodiversity responses. As human activities can alter both the provision of important habitat structures in stands across the landscape, as well as their overall landscape context, an integrated multi-scale biodiversity management is highly advisable.
Natura 2000 (N2k) is a multinational and coordinated conservation network designated to support the long-term survival of Europe's most valuable species and habitats. It is the key conservation tool ...in the European Union. We reviewed 510 peer-reviewed publications (period 1998–2014) focusing on ecological aspects of N2k, with the aims of identifying key research gaps and proposing future research priorities for improved conservation success. We categorized the articles by spatial scale, biogeographical regions, taxonomic groups, habitat types, and the analytical methods used. The majority of studies were performed in single N2k sites or at the regional level within countries. The Mediterranean region had the greatest number of publications and the terrestrial Black Sea, Macaronesia, Pannonian and Steppic regions were overrepresented in relation to their total area and to the area of N2k sites that they comprised. Grasslands, freshwater and wetland habitats were overrepresented in comparison to their area within N2k. Plants were the most commonly studied taxonomic group and quantitative empirical studies dominated. Future N2k research should address knowledge gaps by directing more efforts towards: 1) the Boreal region, 2) alpine, agricultural, forest and marine habitats, and 3) underrepresented taxonomic groups such as reptiles, amphibians, lichens and fungi. For enhanced evaluation and realization of the conservation potential of N2k, more studies will need to encompass large spatial scales and utilize modelling approaches to effectively address future climate and land-use changes.
•We conducted a review of ecological research on Natura 2000 network.•Regional or single-site studies, and those from the Mediterranean region dominate.•Research gaps include alpine, agricultural, forest and marine habitats.•Underrepresented were reptiles, amphibians, lichens, fungi and Boreal region.•Future studies should focus on larger spatial scales and use modelling approaches.
Context
As forest harvesting remains high, there is a crucial need to assess the remaining large, contiguous and intact forests, regionally, nationally and globally.
Objectives
Our objective was to ...analyze the spatial patterns and structural connectivity of intact and primary forests in northern Sweden with focus on the Scandinavian Mountain region; one of the few remaining large European intact forest landscapes.
Methods
Over 22 million ha with 14.5 million ha boreal and subalpine forest and with data consisting of a 60-70 year retrospective sequence, we analyzed distribution, density and connectivity of forests that have not been clear cut, using moving window and landscape analyzes derived from Circuitscape.
Results
We revealed a contiguous, connected and semi-connected intact forest landscape forming a distinct Green Belt south to north along the mountain range. Almost 60% of the forestland remains intact, including contiguous clusters 10,000 ha and larger. The connectivity is particularly high in protected areas with primary forests outside contributing substantially to overall connectivity. We found gaps in connectivity in the southern parts, and furthermore low or absent connectivity across the whole inland and coastal areas of northern Sweden.
Conclusions
Given its ecological values, the Scandinavian Mountains Green Belt is a key entity supporting ecological legacies, boreal biodiversity and ecosystem services, resilience and adaptive capacity, which needs to be safeguarded for the future. On the very large areas outside the mountain region, forestlands are severely fragmented, connectivity values are lost, and forest landscape restoration is needed for conservation and functional green infrastructure.
Loss of natural forests by forest clearcutting has been identified as a critical conservation challenge worldwide. This study addressed forest fragmentation and loss in the context of the ...establishment of a functional green infrastructure as a spatiotemporally connected landscape‐scale network of habitats enhancing biodiversity, favorable conservation status, and ecosystem services. Through retrospective analysis of satellite images, we assessed a 50‐ to 60‐year spatiotemporal clearcutting impact trajectory on natural and near‐natural boreal forests across a sizable and representative region from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Scandinavian Mountain Range in northern Fennoscandia. This period broadly covers the whole forest clearcutting period; thus, our approach and results can be applied to comprehensive impact assessment of industrial forest management. The entire study region covers close to 46,000 km2 of forest‐dominated landscape in a late phase of transition from a natural or near‐natural to a land‐use modified state. We found a substantial loss of intact forest, in particular of large, contiguous areas, a spatial polarization of remaining forest on regional scale where the inland has been more severely affected than the mountain and coastal zones, and a pronounced impact on interior forest core areas. Salient results were a decrease in area of the largest intact forest patch from 225,853 to 68,714 ha in the mountain zone and from 257,715 to 38,668 ha in the foothills zone, a decrease from 75% to 38% intact forest in the inland zones, a decrease in largest patch core area (assessed by considering 100‐m patch edge disturbance) from 6114 to 351 ha in the coastal zone, and a geographic imbalance in protected forest with an evident predominance in the mountain zone. These results demonstrate profound disturbance of configuration of the natural forest landscape and disrupted connectivity, which challenges the establishment of functional green infrastructure. Our approach supports the identification of forests for expanded protection and conservation‐oriented forest landscape restoration.
Trayectoria Natural de la Pérdida de Bosque Boreal Natural como Impedimento para la Infraestructura Verde
Resumen
La pérdida de bosques naturales por causa de la tala uniforme de árboles en los mismos ha sido identificada como un reto muy importante para la conservación global. Este estudio abordó la fragmentación y pérdida de bosques en el contexto del establecimiento de una infraestructura verde funcional como una red de hábitats a escala de paisaje conectados espacio‐temporalmente que mejoren la biodiversidad, los estados favorables de conservación y los servicios ambientales. Por medio de un análisis retrospectivo de imágenes satelitales evaluamos una trayectoria de impacto espacio‐temporal de 50 a 60 años de tala uniforme sobre bosques boreales naturales y casi naturales en una región considerable y representativa desde el Golfo de Botnia hasta la Cordillera Escandinava en el norte de Fenoescandia. Este rango cubre todo el periodo de tala uniforme en el bosque en términos generales; por lo tanto, nuestra metodología y resultados pueden aplicarse a la evaluación completa del impacto del manejo industrial de bosques. Toda la región de estudio cubría hasta 46,000 km2 de paisaje dominado por bosque en una etapa tardía de la transición entre el estado natural o casi natural y el estado de uso de suelo modificado. Encontramos una pérdida sustancial de bosque intacto, particularmente para áreas grandes y contiguas, una polarización espacial del bosque restante a una escala regional en la que tierra adentro hay mayores afectaciones que en las zonas montañosas y costeras, y un impacto pronunciado sobre las áreas nucleares de los bosques interiores. Los resultados salientes fueron una disminución en el área del fragmento más grande de bosque intacto de 225, 853 a 68, 714 ha en la zona montañosa y de 257, 715 a 38, 668 ha en la zona de pie de monte, una disminución del 75% al 38% de bosque intacto en las zonas tierra adentro, una disminución en el área nuclear del fragmento más grande (valorada al considerar 100‐m de perturbación al borde del fragmento) de 6, 114 a 351 ha en la zona costera, y un desbalance geográfico en los bosques protegidos con una evidente mayoría en la zona montañosa. Estos resultados demuestran una perturbación profunda de la configuración del paisaje de bosque natural y una conectividad interrumpida, lo que presenta un reto para el establecimiento de una infraestructura verde funcional. Nuestro enfoque sustenta la identificación de bosques para su protección expandida y la restauración del paisaje de bosque orientada hacia la conservación.
摘要
森林皆伐造成的自然森林丧失被认为是全世界面临的重要保护挑战。功能性绿色基础设施是提高生物多样性、保护状况和生态系统服务的时空上连接的景观尺度生境网络, 本研究关注其建设中的森林破碎化和森林丧失问题。通过分析卫星图像, 我们评估了芬诺斯坎迪亚 (Fennoscandia) 北部波的尼亚湾 (Gulf of Bothnia) 到斯堪的纳维亚山脉 (Scandinavian Mountain Range) 大面积有代表性的自然和接近自然的北方森林受到 50‐60 年森林皆伐的影响轨迹。这一时间段大致包括了整个森林皆伐期, 因此我们的方法和结果可以应用于工业森林管理的综合影响评估。整个研究区域覆盖了近 46,000 平方公里以森林为主的景观, 处于自然或接近自然的景观向人为改造的土地利用类型过渡的后期。我们发现原始森林严重丧失, 特别是大面积的连续区域, 剩余的森林在区域尺度上发生空间的两极分化, 其中内陆比山区和沿海地区受到更为严重的影响, 内部森林核心区也受到明显影响。 突出的结果包括: 山区最大的原始森林斑块面积从 225,853 公顷减少到 68,714 公顷, 而在山麓地区从 257,715 公顷减少到 38,668 公顷, 内陆地区从 75% 减少到 38%, 最大的斑块核心区域面积减少 (根据 6,114 公顷到 351 公顷的沿海地区 100 米斑块边缘干扰的评估结果), 以及受保护森林的地理分布不平衡 (主要在山区) 。这些结果表明, 自然森林景观配置受到严重干扰, 连接度受到破坏, 这对建设功能性绿色基础设施提出了挑战。我们的方法有助于确定扩大保护及进行保护导向的森林景观恢复的森林范围。【翻译: 胡怡思; 审校: 聂永刚】
Article impact statement: Profound transformation of natural forests into human‐made landscapes hampers Aichi targets and practical green infrastructure implementation.
•Local communities use many Ecosystem Services from the Białowieża Forest.•The use of Ecosystem Services was declining with the distance from the forest.•Tourism linked to the Białowieża Forest most ...important in the villages inside the forest.•Local communities depend on firewood from the Białowieża Forest.
Effective protection of biodiversity in areas of high conservation value requires trade-offs between local use of natural resources and conservation restrictions. The compromise is often difficult to reach, which causes conflicts over the management priorities of existing and potential protected areas. Ecosystem services (ES) perspective offers a promising avenue for diagnosing and reconciling contrasting interests concerning the use of benefits from ecosystems. We examined how the spatial proximity to the Białowieża Forest (BF), a European biodiversity hotspot, affects the perceived use of ES by local communities. We performed a survey among 719 respondents from 35 villages situated within BF and in its vicinity. We found that both the declared use of ES and the perceived influence of ES on household’s economy was declining with the distance from BF with particularly high differences between areas not further than 3 km from BF and areas located 3-15 km from BF. Different zones varied in terms of benefits from tourism and costs connected with a potential limited access to ES due to conservation. Broadening the perspective, we argue that the trade-offs linked to ES may vary depending on the location in relation to the protected area and that local communities should not be treated as a homogenous group when considering benefits from the forest. Awareness of common patterns of ES use over space and local specificity may enhance effective management of even highly contested conservation areas.
Large herbivores play key roles in terrestrial ecosystems. Continuous defaunation processes have produced cascade effects on plant community composition, vegetation structure, and even climate. ...Wood-pastures were created by traditional management practices that have maintained open structures and biodiversity for millennia. In Europe, despite the broad recognition of their biological importance, such landscapes are declining due to land-use changes. This calls for finding urgent solutions for wood-pasture conservation. To test whether introducing an ecological replacement of an extinct wild horse could have positive effects on wood-pasture restoration, we designed a 3-year rewilding experiment. Horses created a more open wood-pasture structure by browsing on seedlings and saplings, affected tree composition via selective browsing and controlled the colonization of woody vegetation in grassland-dominated areas. Thus, rewilding could be a potential avenue for wood-pasture restoration and biodiversity conservation. However, such benefits may not materialize without a necessary paradigm and political shift.
Freshwater wetlands are widely recognized as biodiversity hotspots for many organisms, including birds. Climate change and the projected increased risk of wetland fires may pose a major threat to ...wetland biodiversity in the future. There is urgent need to assess short- and long-term effect of fires on avian biodiversity and to establish relevant management implications. We analysed the short-term (first 3 months after fire) effect of a large (5 500 ha) spring wildfire on the community of breeding marshland birds in the best-preserved Polish local wetland biodiversity hotspot: Biebrza Valley. We compared the avian community structure and abundance of certain species before and after the fire on the 18 permanent transects located in both burned and unburned habitats. Within first breeding season post fire, fire significantly reduced pooled abundance and species richness of the whole bird community. Three bird species of special conservation concern (including aquatic warbler) temporarily disappeared from burned areas, and the numbers of 11 other species declined. In contrast, only 3 species benefited from the fire, none of which depended on marshes as their primary habitat. Although the reported strong initial fire effect is likely to fade away in subsequent years, its immediate detrimental effects on marshland birds should not be underestimated. We conclude that it is essential to temporarily provide the unburned adjacent refuge areas with additional protection and bird-friendly management and to focus on preventing further degradation of marshes to increase their resilience to fire.
Abstract Post‐disturbance forest management is known to impair biodiversity, including bird communities, but most studies focus on short‐term effects of salvage logging, without recognition of the ...cumulative, lasting impact of collective post‐disturbance silvicultural practices. We tracked bird community succession in a temperate pine forest from 5 to 19 years after wind disturbance in managed and unmanaged windthrow areas, covering the period from gap creation to early canopy regeneration and comparing it to nearby production forest unaffected by wind disturbance. Bird communities of unmanaged windthrow were consistently the richest in terms of bird abundance and richness. They hosted comparable forest bird diversity to unaffected production stands throughout the study period, as well as a substantial diversity of farmland birds. Managed and unmanaged windthrows followed two distinct successional pathways and did not converge. Despite the bird communities in both windthrows gradually resembling those found in undisturbed forests as the canopy regenerated, each type of windthrow and the unaffected production forest maintained distinct communities until the end of the study. Synthesis and applications . Restraining from any active post‐windthrow management sets bird succession on a distinct pathway, leading to unique and diverse bird communities. We advocate viewing natural disturbances as cost‐effective ecosystem restoration tools, provided no active management is implemented. Furthermore, we advise against using the term ‘salvage logging’ to refer to collective post‐disturbance silvicultural practices, as its varying interpretation may lead to growing confusion as the number of long‐term studies increase.
Abstrakt Działania gospodarcze po zaburzeniach lasów często prowadzą do zmniejszenia bioróżnorodności, między innymi ptaków. Większość badań skupia się jednak na krótkotrwałych efektach usuwania uszkodzonych i martwych drzew, pomijając długoterminowe dziedzictwo całości działań gospodarki leśnej. Śledziliśmy sukcesję ptaków w okresie od 5 do 19 lat po dużym huraganie na dwóch wiatrołomach: pozostawionym do naturalnego odnowienia (brak gospodarki leśnej), oraz odnowionym przez człowieka. Dodatkowo, śledziliśmy zmiany w zespołach ptaków w pobliskim niezaburzonym lesie (kontrola). Przez cały okres naszych badań, wiatrołom pozostawiony do naturalnego odnowienia cechował się największą różnorodnością ptaków spośród wszystkich trzech środowisk (liczebność i bogactwo gatunkowe). Różnorodność ptaków leśnych była zbliżona do tej z niezaburzonego lasu, a dodatkowo występowały również gatunki terenu otwartego. Sukcesja ptaków na obu wiatrołomach przebiegała odrębnymi, niezbieżnymi ścieżkami. Mimo że zespoły ptaków na obu wiatrołomach stopniowo upodabniały się do niezaburzonego lasu wraz z regeneracją drzewostanu, we wszystkich trzech środowiskach pozostały różne aż do końca trwania badań. Wnioski . Pozostawienie wiatrołomu do naturalnego odnowienia prowadzi sukcesję ptaków na nowe, unikatowe tory, cechujące się dużym bogactwem gatunkowym. W związku z tym, zalecamy częstsze postrzeganie zaburzeń środowiska jako narzędzie do odbudowy ekosystemu leśnego bez generowania dodatkowych kosztów (pod warunkiem wycofania zaburzonego terenu z gospodarki leśnej). Dodatkowo, zalecamy wycofanie się z używania terminu „salvage logging” do określenia zestawu działań gospodarczych po zaburzeniach, gdyż jego niejednoznaczna interpretacja może prowadzić do rosnącego zamieszania wraz z pojawianiem się kolejnych długoterminowych badań.
Forests are increasingly affected by natural disturbances. Subsequent salvage logging, a widespread management practice conducted predominantly to recover economic capital, produces further ...disturbance and impacts biodiversity worldwide. Hence, naturally disturbed forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world, with consequences for their associated biodiversity. However, there are no evidence-based benchmarks for the proportion of area of naturally disturbed forests to be excluded from salvage logging to conserve biodiversity. We apply a mixed rarefaction/extrapolation approach to a global multi-taxa dataset from disturbed forests, including birds, plants, insects and fungi, to close this gap. We find that 75 ± 7% (mean ± SD) of a naturally disturbed area of a forest needs to be left unlogged to maintain 90% richness of its unique species, whereas retaining 50% of a naturally disturbed forest unlogged maintains 73 ± 12% of its unique species richness. These values do not change with the time elapsed since disturbance but vary considerably among taxonomic groups.
•Ignoring representativeness and connectivity exaggerates green infrastructure functionality.•Only the low-productive sub-alpine forest ecoregion has functional habitat networks.•Intensive forestry ...and green infrastructure maintenance are competing objectives.•Restoration of green infrastructure and spatial landscape planning are needed.•Ecoregional needs for landscape planning coincide with fragmented forest ownership.
Loss of forest naturalness challenges the maintenance of green infrastructure (GI) for biodiversity conservation and delivery of diverse ecosystem services. Using the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi target #11 with its quantitative and qualitative criteria as a normative model, we aim at supporting landscape planning through a pioneering assessment of the extent to which existing amounts and spatial distributions of High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs) meet these criteria. Highly forested and committed to both intensive wood production and evidence-based conservation targets of 17–20% protected areas, Sweden was chosen as a case study. Specifically, we estimated the amount, regional representation, and functional connectivity of HCVF patches using virtual bird species, validated the results using field surveys of focal bird species, and assessed conservation target fulfilment. Finally, we linked these results to the regional distribution of forest land ownership categories, and stress that these provide different opportunities for landscape planning. Even if 31% of forest land in Sweden is officially protected, voluntarily set-aside, or not used for wood production now and in the future, we show that applying the representation and connectivity criteria of Aichi target #11 reduces this figure to an effective GI of 12%. When disaggregating the five ecoregions the effective GI was 54% for the sub-alpine forest ecoregion, which hosts EU’s last intact forest landscapes, but only 3–8% in the other four ecoregions where wood production is predominant. This results in an increasing need for forest habitat and landscape restoration from north to south. The large regional variation in the opportunity for landscape planning stresses the need for a portfolio of different approaches. We stress the need to secure funding mechanisms for compensating land owners’ investments in GI, and to adapt both the approaches and spatial extents of landscape planning units to land ownership structure.
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