Therese Johansson

Effects of management on coarse woody debris volume and composition in boreal forests in northern Sweden

Forest management practices have led to a reduction in the volume and a change in the composition of coarse woody debris (CWD) in many forest types. This study compared CWD volume and composition in reserves and two types of managed forest in the central boreal zone of Sweden. Ten areas were surveyed, each containing clear-cut, mature managed and old-growth stands, to determine the volume of standing and lying CWD in terms of species composition, decay class and size class. Volumes of CWD on clear-cuts and in mature managed forests were high compared with previous studies. Old-growth forests (72.6 m3 ha−1) contained a greater volume of CWD than mature managed forests (23.3 m3 ha−1) and clear-cuts (13.6 m3 ha−1). Differences were greatest for the larger size classes and intermediate decay stages. Despite stand ages being up to 144 years, CWD volume and composition in managed forests was more similar to clear-cuts than to old-growth forests.

Micro and Macro-Habitat Associations in Saproxylic Beetles: Implications for Biodiversity Management

Restoration of habitats is critically important in preventing full realization of the extinction debt owed as a result of anthropogenic habitat destruction. Although much emphasis has been placed on macrohabitats, suitable microhabitats are also vital for the survival of most species. The aim of this large-scale field experiment was to evaluate the relative importance of manipulated microhabitats, i.e., dead wood substrates of spruce (snags, and logs that were burned, inoculated with wood fungi or shaded) and macrohabitats, i.e., stand types (clear-cuts, mature managed forests, and forest reserves) for species richness, abundance and assemblage composition of all saproxylic and red-listed saproxylic beetles. Beetles were collected in emergence traps in 30 forest stands in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006. More individuals emerged from snags and untreated logs than from burned and shaded logs, but species richness did not differ among substrates. Assemblage composition differed among substrates for both all saproxylics and red-listed saproxylic species, mainly attributed to different assemblage composition on snags. This suggests that the practise of leaving snags for conservation purposes should be complemented with log supplementation. Clear-cuts supported fewer species and different assemblages from mature managed forests and reserves. Neither abundance, nor species richness or assemblage composition differed between reserves and mature managed forests. This suggests that managed stands subjected to selective cutting, not clear-felling, maintain sufficient old growth characteristics and continuity to maintain more or less intact assemblages of saproxylic beetles. Thus, alternative management methods, e.g., continuity forestry should be considered for some of these stands to maintain continuity and conservation values. Furthermore, the significantly higher estimated abundance per ha of red-listed beetles in reserves underlines the importance of reserves for maintaining viable populations of rare red-listed species and as source areas for saproxylic species in boreal forest landscapes.

Evidence-Based Knowledge Versus Negotiated Indicators for Assessment of Ecological Sustainability: The Swedish Forest Stewardship Council Standard as a Case Study

Assessing ecological sustainability involves monitoring of indicators and comparison of their states with performance targets that are deemed sustainable. First, a normative model was developed centered on evidence-based knowledge about (a) forest composition, structure, and function at multiple scales, and (b) performance targets derived by quantifying the habitat amount in naturally dynamic forests, and as required for presence of populations of specialized focal species. Second, we compared the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification standards’ ecological indicators from 1998 and 2010 in Sweden to the normative model using a Specific, Measurable, Accurate, Realistic, and Timebound (SMART) indicator approach. Indicator variables and targets for riparian and aquatic ecosystems were clearly under-represented compared to terrestrial ones. FSC’s ecological indicators expanded over time from composition and structure towards function, and from finer to coarser spatial scales. However, SMART indicators were few. Moreover, they poorly reflected quantitative evidence-based knowledge, a consequence of the fact that forest certification mirrors the outcome of a complex social negotiation process.

Forest Succession and Harvesting of Hemipteran Honeydew by Boreal Ants

Ants are important harvesters of plant-derived sugars, but little is known about how anthropogenic disturbances influence this behaviour. We investigated factors related to honeydew harvesting by red wood ants, Formica aquilonia, in managed boreal forests. Ant activity was lowest in middle-age stands (30–40 years old), which had the fewest and smallest ant mounds. It was best predicted by a model containing an interaction among tree species, basal diameter and stand age. Individual workers collected similar masses of honeydew from the different aged stands, which suggests that colonies optimise foraging efforts by adjusting the number of active foragers to match resource availability. The rate of honeydew harvesting from recently clear-cut stands during the survey was similar to that in old stands, although significantly faster than in middle-aged stands. This may be a result of high aphid loads on clear-cuts and recent changes in forest management that improve the temporal continuity of forests for red wood ants. Anthropogenic alteration of habitats thus significantly alters energy use by ants, mainly as a result of changes in the abundance and size of ant colonies. This change is likely to have further consequences for ant-driven ecosystem functions.

Responses of eight boreal flat bug (Heteroptera: Aradidae) species to clear-cutting and forest fire

Boreal flat bugs include a high proportion of species that are considered negatively affected by forestry. Knowledge on the biology and habitat demands of individual species is generally limited. We examined the influence on flat bugs of stand-age and clear-cutting, comparing five classes of spruce stands. The five classes were: clear-cut, unthinned, and thinned (all three products of current clear-cutting forestry), mature managed and old-growth stands (these two had never been clear-cut). We also compared unburned and recently burned mature pine forest. Fire, but not stand age, had a pronounced effect on species richness and total abundance. Aradus depressus showed a significant association with older forest stands. Aradus betulae occurred only in clear-cuts and burned forest indicating that this species is favored by disturbance in general. Aradus lugubris, Aradus crenaticollis and Aradus brevicollis were found only in the burned forest. Aradus brevicollis has not previously been shown to be associated with fire.

Short-term responses of beetle assemblages to wildfire in a region with more than 100 years of fire suppression

Abstract.  1. Suppression of wildfires in boreal landscapes has become widespread and has seriously affected many fire favoured species. However, little is known about the response of organism assemblages to large wildfires in regions with a long history of effective fire suppression, such as Scandinavia.

Field tests of interspecific competition in ant assemblages: revisiting the dominant red wood ants

1. There has been considerable debate on the importance of competition in ecological communities, but its importance in structuring ant assemblages has often been uncritically accepted. Here, we briefly review field experiments examining competition in ant assemblages and use a removal experiment to test the effect of the classical territorial dominant ant, Formica aquilonia. Ants of this species group are thought to structure communities through a dominance hierarchy. 2. First, we used pitfall traps to compare the abundance of other ants in replicated sites with low and high densities of F. aquilonia. We found differences in community composition, in particular, Camponotus herculeanus was more common in low-density sites, in accordance with predictions. Differences in ant assemblages were not owing to differences in measured habitat variables. 3. We removed F. aquilonia from a set of high-density sites, using physical and chemical methods, and repeated these procedures at procedural control sites. One year after removal, abundances of F. aquilonia at removal sites were similar to those at low-density sites. However, the composition of other species did not change in response to F. aquilonia removal. Replication rates were identical in the mensurative and experimental components of this study, so this is unlikely to be owing to the analysis being insufficiently powerful. 4. We suggest three possibilities for the lack of difference. First, the study may have been too short term or small scale to detect differences. However, previous studies have shown effects on smaller spatial- and temporal-scales. Second, priority effects may be important in the successful colonisation by F. aquilonia. Thirdly, boreal ant assemblages may be too depauperate for redundancy in ecological roles and for competition to play an important structuring role. 5. We thus recommend that long-term large-scale experiments be considered essential if we are to distinguish between competing hypotheses in community ecology.

Saproxylic parasitoid (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonoidea) communities in managed boreal forest landscapes

Abstract.  1. Species of higher trophic levels are predicted to be more vulnerable to disturbances (e.g. by forestry) than their prey because of low population densities, extreme specialisation and reliance on intact trophic chains.

Forestry alters foraging efficiency and crop contents of aphid-tending red wood ants, Formica aquilonia.

Forest management alters species behaviours, distributions and interactions. To evaluate forestry effects on ant foraging performance, we compared the quality and quantity of honeydew harvested by ants among clear-cuts, middle-aged and mature spruce-dominated stands in boreal forests in Sweden. Honeydew quality was examined using honeydew collected by squeezing the gasters of laden Formica aquilonia workers. We used fifteen laden individuals at each study site (four replicates of each stand age) and analysed honeydew chemical composition with gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. To compare the quantity of honeydew collected by individual ants, we collected and weighed five ants moving up and five ants moving down each of ten trees at the twelve sites (totally 1200 ants). The concentration of trehalose in honeydew was lower in clear-cuts compared with middle aged and mature stands, and similar trends were shown for sucrose, raffinose and melezitose, indicating poorer honeydew quality on clear cuts. Concentrations of the amino acid serine were higher on clear-cuts. The same trend occurred for glutamine, suggesting that increased N-uptake by the trees after clear cutting is reflected in the honeydew of aphids. Ants in mature stands had larger heads and carried proportionally more honeydew and may therefore be more efficient foragers. Human alternation of habitats through clear-cutting thus affects food quality and worker condition in F. aquilonia. This is the first study to show that honeydew quality is affected by anthropogenic disturbances, likely contributing to the reduction in size and abundance of F. aquilonia workers and mounds after clear cutting.

Forest restoration to attract a putative umbrella species, the white-backed woodpecker, benefited saproxylic beetles

Umbrella species are often spatially demanding and have limited ability to adapt to environmental changes induced by human land-use. This makes them vulnerable to human encroachment. In Sweden, bro ...