Abstract:Conservation Biology 41In an attempt to provide a state of the art of the effect of forest management on biodiversity, 42we performed a MA comparing the species richness of managed and unmanaged forests in 47Our MA provides basic ecological knowledge needed for conservation and ecologically 48 sustainable forestry. In this paper, we showed that forest management has a negative effect 49 on the biodiversity of forest dwelling species. Because we were aware of the limitations of 50 our MA, we used caution when discussing the results considering that: (i) the effect is 51 strongly heterogeneous between different taxa; (ii) there is a trend for recovery of biodiversity 52 once management has been abandoned; (iii) no strong conclusion on the effect of different 53 management types could be drawn from our data due to low replication number. The obvious 54 main conclusion of this paper was that research on the subject in Europe was scarce and 55 that more controlled studies may help answer the questions raised. 113always provided negative slopes, except for bryophytes and birds (see Table 3, p. 107). 114Finally, even if the effect of TSA was significant only for carabids, saproxylic beetles and 115 fungi, most of the negative slopes for taxa have much higher value than the slope for all 160(2002): this paper compares old growth with 15 years-old stands, which were not considered 161 as "young regeneration phases" nor "clearfelling stands" in our protocol. We assume that our 162 selection protocol was restrictive enough regarding the number of studies finally included in 163 our MA; if we had been more restrictive in our inclusion criteria (i.e. excluding young stands), 164we would have rejected this paper. 166 Conclusions 167The paper we published does not aim at influencing European forest and conservation 168 policies in any way, but to provide decision-making tools based on scientific facts. Both 169 managed and unmanaged forests are needed to preserve European forest biodiversity, but 170 since there are many managed forests and very few old-growth ones, a special effort should 171 be allocated to create protected reserves, as suggested by Paillet et al. (2010).

Summary1. Disturbance is one of the most important factors structuring the taxonomic and functional composition of vegetation. Vegetation resistance or resilience to disturbance depends on local environmental conditions, further modifying the pool of species and traits. This paper aims to understand how disturbance and local environment combine to affect the resistance and resilience of vegetation. 2. A functional-trait approach was used to detect traits related to vegetation resistance and resilience, and trait attributes of individual species responding to disturbance. Trait approaches enable comparison of vegetation responses across biogeographic regions containing different species pools. 3. At 35 European forest and grassland sites, experimental disturbance (human trampling) was applied at five intensities. Indices for resistance and resilience were calculated, based on total vegetation cover, and related to climate and local site factors. Additional indices were calculated for the most common species to demonstrate traits that confer resistance and resilience to disturbance. Resistance depends on the functional composition of predominant species in the assemblage, which is strongly affected by land-use history; resilience is directly connected to growth rates affected by climate. We argue for the inclusion of land-use history and climate into the planning process for visitor management, especially in areas of high conservation interest.

Question: How may sampling time affect exhaustiveness of vegetation censuses in interaction with observer effect and quadrat species richness? Location: French lowland forests. Methods: Two data sets comprised of 75 timed, one‐hour censuses of vascular plants carried out by five observers on 24 400‐m2 forest quadrats were analysed using mixed‐effect models. Results: The level of exhaustiveness increased in a semi‐logarithmic way with sampling time and decreased with quadrat species richness. After one hour, 20 to 30% of the species remained undetected by single observers. This proportion varied among observers and the discrepancy increased with increasing sampling time. Fixing the sampling time may make richness estimates vary less between observers but the time limit should be at least 30 min to reduce the bias in exhaustiveness between rich and poor quadrats. Conclusions We advocate the use of sampling methods based on spatially or temporally‐replicated censuses and statistical analyses that correct for the lack of census exhaustiveness in vegetation studies.

No abstract

-The relationships between Q. petraea site index and site variables were studied using data from 99 even-aged high-forest stands located in north-western and north-eastern France. Stepwise multiple regressions using climate, topography and soil factors were adjusted and explain 49 to 60% of the variance in site index. This clearly demonstrates that an autecological study can be successfully performed over a large geographical area if an appropriate sampling strategy is applied. Moreover, the autecology of sessile oak was specified: (1) the role of soil water capacity, topographic position, log(Mg), log(S), K/P 2 O 5 , Mg/K and humus form was emphasized; (2) no regional differences in site index were observed, which was corroborated by few climatic effects; (3) models adjusted to each region were consistent; (4) nutrient factors explained a higher portion of variance of Q. petraea site index compared to climate/water-related factors, however the confounding effect was significant. site index / ecological factors / soil analyses / Quercus petraea (Mattus) Liebl. Résumé -Variations de l'indice de fertilité du chêne sessile (Quercus petraea Liebl.) en fonction du climat, de la topographie et du sol dans des futaies régulières adultes du nord de la France. Les relations entre l'indice de fertilité de Q. petraea et le milieu ont été étudiées dans 99 peuplements de futaies régulières adultes du centre-ouest et nord-est de la France. Des régressions multiples pas à pas basées sur le climat, la topographie et le sol expliquent de 49 à 60 % de la variance de l'indice de fertilité. Ce résultat indique clairement qu'une étude autécologique peut être menée avec succès sur un grand secteur géographique si une stratégie d'échantillonnage adaptée est appliquée. De plus, l'autécologie du chêne sessile est précisée : (1) nous soulignons le rôle de la réserve utile en eau du sol, de la position topographique, de log(Mg), log(S), K/P 2 O 5 , Mg/K et du type d'humus sur l'indice de fertilité ; (2) aucune différence inter-régionale n'est observée sur l'indice de fertilité, ce qui est corroboré par le faible effet du climat sur la croissance ; (3) les modèles prédictifs ajustés au niveau de chaque région sont très proches ; (4) la part de variance de l'indice de fertilité expliquée par le niveau trophique est plus élevée que celle liée aux facteurs hydriques et climatiques, mais la part commune expliquée par ces trois facteurs est importante.indice de fertilité / facteurs écologiques / analyses de sol / Quercus petraea (Mattus) Liebl.