Citation: Seidling W, Travaglini D, Meyer P, Waldner P, Fischer R, Granke O, Chirici G, Corona P, 2014. Dead wood and stand structure -relationships for forest plots across Europe. iForest 7: 269-281 [online 2014-04-14] URL: http://www.sisef.it/iforest/ contents/? id=ifor1057-007
Communicated by: Enrico MarchiSeidling Environment and Development (UNCED) held in 1992, the concept of sustainable multi-purpose forest management is internationally recognized and fostered. On the European level, the implementation of sustainable forest management by specific criteria and indicators is strongly promoted by the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE, now Forest Europe). Within this context, dead wood and certain features of stand structure are recognized as important preconditions for biological diversity of forests at stand level (Schäfer 2001, Larsson 2001, MCPFE 2003. In the last decades, biodiversity-oriented management practices have been proposed to increase the quantity of dead wood and the presence of veteran trees; these include prolonging the rotation period, leaving dead trees in forests or even creating artificial high stumps from living trees (e.g., Jonsell et al. 2004, Ranius et al. 2005, Abrahamsson & Lindbladh 2006, Keeton 2006, Bauhus et al. 2009).Because of its ecological importance and its role in C sequestration, surveys of dead wood have recently been included in most National Forest Inventories (NFIs) and monitoring programmes (e.g., Geburek et al. 2010, Corona et al. 2011, Weggler et al. 2012). However, protocols for dead wood assessment differ among European NFIs, and data are difficult to compare (Herrero et al. 2013). Schuck et al. (2004) analysed inventory methods for 22 countries and found differences among attributes measured, diameter thresholds and sampling design. Furthermore, there is also a need for standardized indices of stand structure, that have been shown by Neumann & Starlinger (2001) to be suitable indicators to asses biodiversityrelated aspects of forest management. Since, similar investigations with the aim of proposing methods for harmonizing results from NFIs and probably adjusting NFIs' field methods have been undertaken. These activities resulted in bridging functions for parameters among NFIs , McRoberts et al. 2009, Woodall et al. 2009, Rondeux et al. 2012.Up to now, the relationships between silviculture, stand structure, dead wood and other aspects of biodiversity have rarely been studied in an integrated manner on a large scale. This study investigates the relationships between dead wood and stand structure based on a survey at 90 intensive monitoring plots across Europe. The survey was carried out in 2004 on plots in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine. The objectives of this large-scale evaluation were to: (i) identify a sets of variables suitable to characterise dead wood structures and a set to characterise stand structures; (ii) detect the relations...