Stand characteristics and dead wood in urban forests: Potential biodiversity hotspots in managed boreal landscapes

Korhonen, Aku; Siitonen, Juha; Kotze, D. Johan; Immonen, Auli; Hamberg, Leena

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103855

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…A likely reason for this is the more homogeneous forest management practices, or merely the lack of them, as the Kuhmo area forms an ecologically important region, where only 33% of field plots were normally managed, 57% strictly conserved, and 10% conserved with an unknown degree of conservation. A similar phenomenon can also be found in other forest areas with softer management practices such as urban forests [13]. There were no exceptional field plots that would have stood out from others in Kuhmo, either.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…A significant difference between managed and natural forests is dead wood volume. The mean dead wood volume in Finnish forest areas is 5.8 m 3 per hectare, varying from managed forests with less than 2 m 3 per hectare [7] to forests with softer management practices, e.g., urban forests (median 10.1 m 3 per hectare [13]), and finally to natural forests that host a volumes between 40 and 170 m 3 per hectare [14]. What follows is that the dead wood continuum does not exist either [3,15,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling of Dead Wood Potential Based on Tree Stand Data

Mikkonen

Leikola

Halme

et al. 2020

Forests

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Here we present a framework for identifying areas with high dead wood potential (DWP) for conservation planning needs. The amount and quality of dead wood and dying trees are some of the most important factors for biodiversity in forests. As they are easy to recognize on site, it is widely used as a surrogate marker for ecological quality of forests. However, wall-to-wall information on dead wood is rarely available on a large scale as field data collection is expensive and local dead wood conditions change rapidly. Our method is based on the forest growth models in the Motti forest simulator, taking into account 168 combinations of tree species, site types, and vegetation zones as well as recommendations on forest management. Simulated estimates of stand-level dead wood volume and mean diameter at breast height were converted into DWP functions. The accuracy of the method was validated on two sites in southern and northeastern Finland, both consisting of managed and conserved boreal forests. Altogether, 203 field plots were measured for living and dead trees. Data on living trees were inserted into corresponding DWP functions and the resulting DWPs were compared to the measured dead wood volumes. Our results show that DWP modeling is an operable tool, yet the accuracy differs between areas. The DWP performs best in near-pristine southern forests known for their exceptionally good quality areas. In northeastern areas with a history of softer management, the differences between near-pristine and managed forests is not as clear. While accurate wall-to-wall dead wood inventory is not available, we recommend using DWP method together with other spatial datasets when assessing biodiversity values of forests.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling of Dead Wood Potential Based on Tree Stand Data

Mikkonen

Leikola

Halme

et al. 2020

Forests

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Moth site is located in a city, and the Beech forest is in large parts a protected area rich in species, while the Pollinator site(s) are agricultural sites embedded in a matrix of species poor production forest (mainly spruce monocultures). Urban forests and protected forests have been found to be more diverse than production forests (Korhonen et al 2020) although a recent study from Finland found that fungal diversity in the air declined steeply with urbanization (Abrego et al 2020). Putting the Beech forest aside (where the pattern is difficult to assess), other explanations could also play a role: The sampling at the Moths side was conducted in the mornings, and the weather during the sampling period was variable (with some calmer and some windier days, and quite a few days with cloud cover), while the weather conditions during the sampling at the Pollinator site were windstill and sunny.…”

Section: Origin and Fate Of Airborne Ednamentioning

confidence: 99%

Airborne environmental DNA metabarcoding for the monitoring of terrestrial insects - a proof of concept

Roger

Ghanavi

Danielsson

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Biodiversity is in decline due to human land use, exploitation, and climate change. To be able to counteract this alarming trend it is paramount to closely monitor biodiversity at global scales. Because this is practically impossible with traditional methods, the last decade has seen a strong push for solutions. In aquatic ecosystems the monitoring of species from environmental DNA (eDNA) has emerged as one of the most powerful tools at our disposal but in terrestrial ecosystems the power of eDNA for monitoring has so far been hampered by the local scale of the samples. In this study we report the first attempt to detect insects from airborne eDNA. We compare our results to two traditional insect monitoring projects (1) using light trapping for moth monitoring and (2) transect counts for the monitoring of butterflies and wild bees. While we failed to detect many of the same species monitored with the traditional methods, airborne eDNA metabarcoding revealed DNA from from six classes of Arthropods, and twelve order of Insects - including representatives from all of the four largest orders: Diptera (flies), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles) and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants). We also recovered DNA from nine species of vertebrates, including frogs, birds and mammals as well as from 12 other phyla. We suggest that airborne eDNA has the potential to become a powerful tool for terrestrial biodiversity monitoring, with many impactful applications including the monitoring of pests, invasive or endangered species or disease vectors.

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“…Specifically, we hypothesise that abundant fungal communities typical in the soils of conifer-dominated forests will decompose recalcitrant litter (wood sticks) faster than in urban habitat types without trees. Remnant coniferdominated forest patches in urban areas are also expected to decompose recalcitant litter faster, since these urban forests contain dead and decaying wood but at lower volumes (Maene 2005;Korhonen et al 2020), unless disturbance impairs their soil fungal community (see Epp Schmidt et al 2017). Wood decomposition in park and ruderal sites is expected to be slow due to a lack of woody material, which will create a depauperate saproxylic microbial community.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanisation differently affects decomposition rates of recalcitrant woody material and labile leaf litter

Kotze

Setälä

2021

Urban Ecosyst

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Litter decomposition is a fundamental ecosystem process and service that supplies nutrients to the soil. Although decomposition rate is influenced by litter quality, climatic conditions, the decomposer community and vegetation type in non-urban ecosystems, little is known about the degradation of different organic matter types in urban settings. We investigated the decomposition rates of recalcitrant (wood sticks for 4 years) and labile litter (green tea leaves in pyramid-shaped teabags for 3 years) in urban habitats that differed in level of management and disturbance. We found that recalcitrant woody material decomposed slower in urban habitat types (ca. 60–75% mass loss after 4 years in remnant spruce forests, park lawns, ruderal habitats) than in natural to semi-natural spruce forest soils (84% mass loss) outside the city. Labile tea litter, however, decomposed faster in typical open urban habitats (70% mass loss after 3 years in park lawns, ruderal habitats) than in forested habitats (60% mass loss in semi-natural and remnant spruce forests), with a remarkable dichotomy in decomposition rate between open and forested habitats. We suggest that the slower rate of wood decomposition in the city relates to its depauperate saprotrophic fungal community. The faster rate of labile litter decomposition in open habitats is difficult to explain, but is potentially a consequence of environmental factors that support the activity of bacteria over fungi in open habitats. We propose that the reintroduction of decaying woody material into the urban greenspace milieu could increase biodiversity and also improve the ability of urban soils to decompose an array of organic material entering the system. This reintroduction of decaying woody material could either occur by leaving cut logs – due to management – in urban remnant forests, which has been shown to be accepted as natural features by residents in Fennoscandian cities, and by placing logs in urban parks in ways that communicate their intentional use as part of urban landscape design and management.

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Stand characteristics and dead wood in urban forests: Potential biodiversity hotspots in managed boreal landscapes

Cited by 19 publications

References 58 publications

Modeling of Dead Wood Potential Based on Tree Stand Data

Modeling of Dead Wood Potential Based on Tree Stand Data

Airborne environmental DNA metabarcoding for the monitoring of terrestrial insects - a proof of concept

Urbanisation differently affects decomposition rates of recalcitrant woody material and labile leaf litter

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