Coarse woody debris in old Pinus sylvestris dominated forests along a geographic and human impact gradient in boreal Fennoscandia

Abstract

Coarse woody debris (CWD) was studied in old Pinus sylvestris L. dominated forests in three geographic regions in the middle boreal vegetation zone: (i) in Häme in southwestern Finland, characterized by a long history of forest utilization, (ii) in Kuhmo in northeastern Finland, with a more recent history of forest utilization, and (iii) in the Vienansalo wilderness area in northwestern Russia, characterized by large areas of almost natural forest. Within the geographic regions the measured 0.2-ha plots were divided into three stand types according to the degree of human impact: (i) natural stands, (ii) selectively logged stands, and (iii) managed stands. The results showed that compared with natural forests, forest management has strongly reduced both the amount and diversity of CWD. The highest total CWD volumes were found in the natural stands in Häme (mean 67 m3·ha–1) and Kuhmo (92 m3·ha–1) and in the selective logged stands in Vienansalo (80 m3·ha–1), while the lowest CWD volumes were found in the managed stands in Häme (7 m3·ha–1) and Kuhmo (22 m3·ha–1). The duration of forest utilization also plays a role, as forests with short management histories (Kuhmo region) still carried structural legacies from earlier more natural stages of the forest. In addition to lower total CWD volumes, managed stands also largely lacked certain dead wood characteristics, particularly large dead trees and standing dead trees with structural diversity characteristics (such as stem breakage, leaning stems, and fire scars) when compared with natural and selectively logged stands. The CWD characteristics of stands selectively logged in the past were often comparable with those of natural stands, suggesting that old selectively logged stands can be of high value from the nature conservation point of view.