The effect of contrasting management types on two distinct taxonomic groups in a large-scaled windthrow

Abstract

Improving ways of managing disturbed areas is in urgent need of further research. We assessed the effect of two contrasting management types—salvage logging and set aside for natural regeneration—applied to a large-scale windthrow in NE Poland on two distinct taxonomic groups of animals: scuttle flies and birds. In total, 5,368 individual scuttle flies were trapped and 1,649 individual birds were recorded. In both taxonomic groups, we recorded the “winners and losers” of the effects of salvage logging. The responses of particular species in both groups were independent of their body size. Species diversity, assessed by rarefaction, increased as a result of the logging in birds and declined in scuttle flies. The species richness, corrected for unseen species of scuttle flies and birds, was higher on the managed windthrow when compared to the natural one. Comparison of the results obtained with published data from the intact stands of Białowieża Primeval Forest suggests that salvage logging reduced the similarity of the fly and bird community to those reported from undisturbed, natural forest areas. Our results concern mostly the common species. We conclude that salvage logging has considerable influence on assemblages of common species in the post-disturbance forests. Birds and flies did not respond similarly to salvage logging in term of species diversity, although both groups included species that were attracted to either managed or unmanaged windthrow sites.