Effects of postfire logging on soil and vegetation recovery in a Pinus halepensis Mill. forest of Greece

Spanos, Ioannis; Raftoyannis, Yannis; Goudelis, Gerasimos; Xanthopoulou, Eleni; Samara, Theano; Tsiontsis, Alexandros

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-5593-5_34

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…terrestrial gastropods, Bros, Moreno‐Rueda & Santos 2011; European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus , Rollan & Real 2010). There is no evidence that salvage logging negatively impacts vegetation or soil significantly in the mid‐term (Ne’eman, Lahav & Izhaki 1995; Inbar, Wittenberg & Tamir 1997; Spanos et al. 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of postfire salvage logging on bird communities in Mediterranean pine forests: the benefits for declining species

Rost

Clavero

Brotons

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Summary 1.Postfire salvage logging is the most commonly applied forestry practice in burned forests worldwide, mainly for economic reasons. However, it strongly affects bird communities and is generally considered to be detrimental for bird conservation. In Europe, many open-habitat species are currently declining owing to land use changes. Wildfires, which are common disturbances in the Mediterranean Basin, can create suitable habitat for these species but the effect of postfire salvage logging on bird communities is unknown. 2. We surveyed breeding birds in two burned secondary pine forests from the western Mediterranean Basin and analysed the effect of salvage logging and vegetation regeneration as determinants of individual species and community parameters. We used a pseudoexperimental before-after-control-impact approach to study the changes in the bird community during the first three springs after fire. 3. Most bird species were affected by salvage logging (measured by snag density), a relationship that was positive for forest birds and negative for open-habitat species. Species linked to shrub and edge habitats were positively affected by vegetation regrowth. Bird communities in logged areas held more species of conservation concern than those in unlogged areas. Species richness and overall density tended to decrease from the first to the second year after fire and to increase from the second to the third. 4. Salvage logging benefits a number of open-habitat species, although its effect on bird conservation depends strongly on the specific threats that birds face in each region or ecosystem. 5. Synthesis and applications. In the Mediterranean Basin, some postfire salvage logging of pine forests can be compatible with bird conservation. We recommend that managers retain some standing dead trees during logging operations and that logged forest is interspersed with unlogged stands. This will provide suitable habitat for the widest range of species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of postfire salvage logging on bird communities in Mediterranean pine forests: the benefits for declining species

Rost

Clavero

Brotons

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…Post‐fire salvage logging (SL) (i.e., the felling and removal of the burnt tree trunks, also often eliminating the remaining woody debris [branches, logs, and snags] by chipping, mastication, fire, etc.) has historically been routinely and widely practiced by forest administrations around the world (McIver & Starr 2000; Bautista et al 2004; Beschta et al 2004; Spanos et al 2005; Lindenmayer & Noss 2006), particularly in the case of burnt conifer forests. However, there is currently an intense debate about the suitability of this approach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reasons commonly invoked to justify post‐fire SL may be summarized into five core rationales: (1) recover economic returns from burnt logs; (2) reduce subsequent fire risk; (3) improve site conditions for managed reforestation work in the future (e.g., tree planting); (4) decrease risk of insect pests provoked by burnt wood; and (5) reduce risk of accidents to humans from treefall (Ne’eman et al 1995; Martínez‐Sánchez et al 1999; McIver & Starr 2000; Bautista et al 2004; Spanos et al 2005). These potential reasons to support post‐fire SL, however, depend on the characteristics of the stand affected and the restoration objectives for the area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salvage Logging Versus the Use of Burnt Wood as a Nurse Object to Promote Post‐Fire Tree Seedling Establishment

Castro

Allen

Molina‐Morales

et al. 2011

Restoration Ecology

122

121

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Intense debate surrounds the effects of post-fire salvage logging (SL) versus nonintervention policies on forest regeneration, but scant support is available from experimental studies. We analyze the effect of three post-fire management treatments on the recruitment of a serotinous pine (Pinus pinaster) at a Mediterranean mountain. Treatments were applied 7 months after the fire and differ in the degree of intervention, ranging from "no intervention" (NI, all trees left standing) to "partial cut plus lopping" (PCL, felling most of the trees, cutting the main branches, and leaving all the biomass in situ without mastication), and "SL" (felling and piling the logs, and masticating the woody debris). Seedling survival after 3 years was the highest in PCL (47.3% versus 38.7% in SL). This was associated with the amelioration of microclimatic conditions under the scattered branches, which reduced radiation and soil temperature while increasing soil moisture. Seedling density after 2 years was approximately 5.5 times higher in PCL than in SL, as in SL a large fraction of seedlings was lost as a consequence of mechanized mastication. The NI treatment showed the lowest seedling survival (17.3%). Nevertheless, seedling density was similar to SL. Seedling growth scarcely differed among treatments. Our results show that branches left onsite acted as nurse objects that improved key microclimatic conditions for seedling recruitment. This creates a facilitative interaction ideal for seedling establishment in moisture-deficient ecosystems, as it provides the benefit of a shading overstory but without underground competition.

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“…This represents a biological legacy with a critical role for the structure and functioning of the post-fire habitat [3][4][5], and with the potential to influence post-disturbance successional trajectories. In this sense, burnt logs, whether standing or felled, generate a vertical habitat structure that may promote secondary succession and accelerate ecosystem regeneration by promoting animal interactions such as seed dispersal [3,6], creating microhabitats that improve seedling recruitment [7][8][9], providing nutrients that increase primary production [10] and, overall, boosting ecosystem functioning [11]. In short, the role of snags and other CWD as biological legacies that promote biodiversity, regeneration, and ecosystem functioning has been increasingly demonstrated by studies performed mostly in the last couple of decades.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reasons for conducting SL are diverse, but are largely related either to the recovery of economic capital still available in the remaining wood soon after the disturbance, or to facilitate future restoration or reforestation [19,20]. Nonetheless, this management action has been sharply criticized in the last two decades, and a growing number of studies have showed that salvage logging may seriously compromise ecosystem regeneration [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]21,22]. It is becoming increasingly clear that the negative effect of SL is related to its impact on habitat structure and components, which is linked primarily to the amount of biomass removed and the simplification of habitat structure [9,10,12,23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Fire Salvage Logging Imposes a New Disturbance that Retards Succession: The Case of Bryophyte Communities in a Macaronesian Laurel Forest

Hernández-Hernández

Castro

Arco-Aguilar

et al. 2017

Forests

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Post-fire salvage logging (SL) is a common management action that involves the harvesting of burnt trees. As a consequence, a large amount of biological legacies in the form of logs and other coarse woody debris are removed from the post-fire habitat, creating a more simplified landscape. Therefore, SL could act as an additional disturbance over that produced by fire. In this study, we seek to determine the effect of SL on the regeneration of the bryophyte community of a laurel forest from the Canary Islands (Spain). We hypothesized that SL will act as an additional disturbance and, consequently, salvaged areas will have a higher difference in community composition with respect to a reference ecosystem (RE). Mosses and liverworts were sampled 22 months after the salvage operations in salvaged plots, non-salvaged, and in an RE represented by areas of the original forest. Species richness did not differ between salvage and non-salvaged treatments. However, multivariate analysis and species-indicator analysis showed that non-salvaged plots had a composition closer to that of the RE, with a higher proportion of closed-canopy, perennial, and long-lived species, as well as some epiphytes. By contrast, salvaged plots were dominated by early-successional terrestrial species and species preferring open habitats. We conclude that post-fire SL represents an additional disturbance that further delays succession, a result that is consistent with previous studies using other taxonomic groups. SL should therefore be avoided or, if implemented, the possibility of leaving part of the post-fire biological legacies in situ should be considered.

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Effects of postfire logging on soil and vegetation recovery in a Pinus halepensis Mill. forest of Greece

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

The effect of postfire salvage logging on bird communities in Mediterranean pine forests: the benefits for declining species

The effect of postfire salvage logging on bird communities in Mediterranean pine forests: the benefits for declining species

Salvage Logging Versus the Use of Burnt Wood as a Nurse Object to Promote Post‐Fire Tree Seedling Establishment

Post-Fire Salvage Logging Imposes a New Disturbance that Retards Succession: The Case of Bryophyte Communities in a Macaronesian Laurel Forest

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