Abstract
Ecosystem-based forest management strives to develop silvicultural practices that best emulate natural disturbances such as wildfire to conserve biodiversity representative of natural forest ecosystems. Yet, current logging practices alter forest structure and reduce the proportion of old-growth forest and, consequently, can exert long-term effects on the dynamics of forest biota. The stand- and landscape-scale factors driving bird community dynamics in post-disturbance environment remain poorly understood. In this study, we examined bird community dynamics along successional gradients in boreal ecosystems originating from fire and logging in landscapes dominated by old-growth forest. We tested if bird species richness and community compositions in clear-cutting stands became comparable to those in natural stands after 70 years, and identified the relative contributions of stand- and landscape-scale forest attributes in bird community dynamics. Based on records of bird occurrences at 185 field sites in natural and clearcutting stands, we demonstrate that (1) both forest structures and bird communities underwent evident changes along successional gradients in post-clearcutting environment; (2) bird species richness and community composition in 60- to 70-years-old clearcutting stands still differed from those in 50- to 79-years-old natural stands, in spite of the fact that most forest attributes of clearcutting stands became comparable to those of natural stands after 40 years; and (3) landscape disturbances contributed more than stand characteristics in explaining the lack of convergence of mature forest species, residents, and short-distance migrants in post-clearcutting environment. Our study points out that more regards should be paid to improve the landscape configuration of the managed forests, and implies that old-growth forest retention within logged areas, combined with selection cutting and prolonged logging rotations, can better emulate fire and alleviate forest harvesting effects on bird community assemblages typical of natural boreal ecosystem.
Highlights
Sustainable forest management strategies strive to maintain the biodiversity of forest ecosystems [1,2], by such means as developing forestry practices that best emulate natural disturbance regimes [3,4]
Our study aims to (1) examine the post-disturbance dynamics of bird communities along successional gradients in natural and clearcutting forests; (2) test if bird community attributes in an area that has been subjected to clear-cutting became comparable to those in natural forests after 70 years; and (3) identify the relative contributions of standand landscape-scale forest attributes in bird community dynamics
Our study demonstrates that both forest structures and bird communities underwent evident changes along successional gradients in post-clearcutting environment
Summary
Sustainable forest management strategies strive to maintain the biodiversity of forest ecosystems [1,2], by such means as developing forestry practices that best emulate natural disturbance regimes [3,4]. In boreal forests, wildfire is a key disturbance agent that generates and maintains habitat heterogeneity and complexity and, biodiversity [5]. For this reason, it is thought that forest management strategies that emulate forest fire, such as logging with rotation periods with lengths similar to fire cycles, should be able to maintain the biodiversity in the region [6]. The disturbance of logging is more regular and its application greatly reduces the proportion of old-growth stands [8,9]
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