Silviculture as a disturbance regime: the effects of clear-cutting, planting and thinning on polypore communities in mixed forests

Abstract

The structure of modern forest landscapes is profoundly affected by human-caused disturbances, particularly forest management; however, the effects and prospects of individual silvicultural techniques are insufficiently understood. This study distinguishes the effects of clear-cutting, planting and thinning on species richness and community composition of polypore fungi. In 2008–2009, 181 forest compartments (ranging from naturally regenerated deciduous stands to planted Picea abies stands and 0–137 years post clear-cutting) were explored in a hemiboreal landscape subjected to even-aged management. Altogether 104 polypore species were recorded. For species richness, time since clear-cutting was the most influential factor at both stand and landscape scales, followed by thinning. Clear-cuts had distinct polypore communities (including several red-listed species) whose species richness declined in time. Following 20 years post clear-cutting, species richness started to increase along different community–composition pathways determined by regeneration type. The communities developed after planting were moderately species rich at stand scale but homogeneous over larger areas. Thus, at landscape scale, mature unmanaged naturally regenerated stands hosted most species; thinning reduced species richness by approximately 15%, and among thinned stands, planted areas had a further 9–22% fewer species than naturally regenerated areas. In such variably managed landscape, silviculture appeared to create particularly distinct communities in young stands on nutrient-rich soils, which naturally provide polypores with a rich supply of small deciduous snags absent from stands artificially planted with P. abies and intensively thinned.