Dynamics of understory vegetation after restoration of natural characteristics in the boreal forests in Finland

Hekkala, Anne‐Maarit; Tarvainen, Oili; Tolvanen, Anne

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2014.07.001

Cited by 35 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…The strongest negative responses of non-saproxylic taxa (Fig. 4) were reported for lichen in a burned boreal forest (Hekkala et al, 2014) and for soil bacteria and litterdecomposing fungi in a tropical forest .…”

Section: Summary Of Results Of Experimental Studies Of Dead Woodmentioning

confidence: 94%

Experimental studies of dead-wood biodiversity — A review identifying global gaps in knowledge

Seibold

Bässler

Brandl

et al. 2015

Biological Conservation

253

170

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Section: Summary Of Results Of Experimental Studies Of Dead Woodmentioning

confidence: 94%

Experimental studies of dead-wood biodiversity — A review identifying global gaps in knowledge

Seibold

Bässler

Brandl

et al. 2015

Biological Conservation

253

170

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“…It follows that the treatments should not focus merely on the openings in the canopy, but also on the "gap dynamics" in the soil, which provide suitable seedbeds for germination and allow the initial development of tree seedlings (Kuuluvainen 1994;Kuuluvainen & Juntunen 1998;de Chantal et al 2009). To compensate for this missing variation in soil microtopography it is necessary to artificially expose the mineral soil if the canopy openings are created by the chainsaw-felling of trees rather than by uprooting (Hekkala et al 2014). An alternative is to use prescribed burning, which may also reduce the effect of root competition, at least temporarily in nutrient-poor sites, due to increased availability of soluble nutrients in the soil (Kuuluvainen & Ylläsjärvi 2011).…”

Section: Main Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This missing factor could, therefore, be replaced by artificially exposing the mineral soil from small patches (II). To better capture all the variation in pit-and-mound microtopography, an alternative would be to artificially uproot the trees when canopy openings are created (Hekkala et al 2014). Heterogeneity should also be the target in tree-level treatments where various mortality factors are emulated; to account for the natural variation in dead wood, different methods should probably be used together, to provide substrates for species with different life-history strategies and substrate requirements (Berglund et al 2011;Eriksson et al 2013;Komonen et al 2014).…”

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological effects of disturbance-based restoration in boreal forests

Pasanen¹

2017

Diss. For.

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The degradation and disappearance of natural ecosystems and habitats -including forestsis one of the most important factors behind the current global decline in biological diversity. Since most of terrestrial biodiversity is found in forests, restoration of these ecosystems or their natural characteristics has been proposed as one of the main strategies to counteract global species loss.In this thesis, I examined the ecological effects of forest restoration in disturbancedriven boreal conditions. The applied restoration methods (prescribed burning; creation of canopy gaps; dead wood restoration) used natural forest disturbances as the reference point. Specifically, I focused on the effects that restoration has on tree species composition, ageclass structure, and the amount and diversity of dead wood in forest ecosystems. In addition to examining the changes in these structural attributes, I investigated dead-wood-associated fungal communities in the restored substrates, and assessed whether dead wood restoration could be used to conserve rare and threatened fungal species.Of the examined restoration treatments, the combination of prescribed burning and the creation of canopy gaps was found to be the most promising measure for the restoration of age-class structure and tree species composition in pine-dominated forests. Dead wood restoration -by artificially creating standing and fallen large-diameter dead trees -clearly enhanced the amount of dead wood in both pine and spruce dominated forests. Although dead wood restoration increased the abundance of fungal species in the examined forests, all aspects of the qualitative variation in dead wood was found to be difficult to restore in the short-term, since the restored dead wood was mainly in the initial stage of decomposition. The use of various restoration treatments (e.g. the creation of both standing and fallen dead wood) can compensate for some of the missing variation in fungal communities in the restored substrates.Based on my results, disturbance-based restoration produces promising results by the rapid re-introduction of some of the most important structural attributes that have been lost from forests previously managed for timber production. Although the findings in this thesis show the clear positive effects that restoration has on the re-creation of naturally occurring forest characteristics, it appears difficult to restore all the inherent variability of natural forests. A particular challenge originates from the extended time scale of the natural processes, which have created and maintained the full array of ecological structures in forests, including the generally slow processes of stand succession and wood decomposition. To build a more comprehensive understanding of the potential of forest restoration for the conservation of endangered forest-associated species, a substantially longer monitoring period of restored forests would be useful in future studies.

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“…One possibility is to actively intervene and carry out specific manipulations in the ecosystems with the aim of restoring them to more natural states and functioning. For example, the use of restoration burnings is currently applied in Fennoscandian boreal forests (Hekkala et al 2014;Kouki 2016). These burnings are typically of low to moderate severity (Čugunovs et al 2017) and are to be repeated relatively rarely.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most common measures involved, however, the felling of trees, burning them after a drying period, and oftentimes active soil preparation by harrowing before, during and after a burn (Lovén and Äänismää 2006). In contrast to slash-and-burn, contemporary forest burnings in boreal Fennoscandia can be an intentional method of restoration (Vanha-Majamaa et al 2007;Kouki et al 2012;Hekkala et al 2014;Kouki 2016;Čugunovs et al 2017) at low to moderate severities and frequencies, and with careful planning. Severe and frequent historical slash-and-burn disturbance regimes, however, can be considered a detrimental human-caused perturbation from which the forests may still need to recover.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery of boreal forest soil and tree stand characteristics a century after intensive slash-and-burn cultivation

Čugunovs¹,

Tuittila²,

Sara-Aho³

et al. 2017

Silva Fenn.

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Highlights• Soil organic matter stocks have still not fully recovered after a century of stand succession and passive recovery after slash-and-burn period.• Historical slash-and-burn stands feature higher live birch and standing dead wood volume than controls.• If passive rewildening is used, Fennoscandian boreal forests need more than a century to regain naturalness. AbstractPassive rewildening of forest ecosystems is commonly used for rehabilitating degraded habitats closer to their natural origin in addition to costly active restoration measures. However, it is not clear if passive processes are effective and how long the recovery of main ecosystem properties takes. We investigate the recovery of forest soil and tree stand characteristics a century after cessation of slash-and-burn cultivation, a major historical intensive disturbance regime that was applied widely in boreal zone of Finland until late 1800s. We systematically sampled soil and tree stand parameters within former slash-and-burn and nearby control areas. Humus layer thickness and soil organic matter (SOM) stocks were still lower in the historical slash-and-burn than in control areas. Slash-and-burn areas also had a larger volume of live birch trees and a higher standing dead wood volume than control areas. Accordingly, organic matter (humus layer thickness and SOM stocks) correlated negatively with birch standing live tree volume. Combined OM stock in humus and uppermost 10 cm mineral soil layer was positively correlated with lying dead wood volume. Overall, we observed clear recovery of several natural properties but we also found that a century after cessation of frequent anthropogenic burnings, clear legacies of disturbance in the above-and below-ground parts of boreal ecosystem were evident. Our results indicate that if only passive rewildening is applied as a restoration measure, the full recovery of boreal forest is slow and the effects of historical land-use may persist for over hundred years in soil and tree properties.

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Dynamics of understory vegetation after restoration of natural characteristics in the boreal forests in Finland

Cited by 35 publications

References 69 publications

Experimental studies of dead-wood biodiversity — A review identifying global gaps in knowledge

Experimental studies of dead-wood biodiversity — A review identifying global gaps in knowledge

Ecological effects of disturbance-based restoration in boreal forests

Recovery of boreal forest soil and tree stand characteristics a century after intensive slash-and-burn cultivation

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