Abstract
Białowieża Forest is one of the closest to pristine forest ecosystems in temperate vegetation zone in European Lowland, which is still being transformed by forest management. We investigated the effects of salvage logging of spruce stands killed by bark beetle on the recovery process and the biodiversity of the herb layer in the early stages of vegetation development after felling, on the habitat of mixed deciduous, oak-lime-hornbeam forest (Tilio-Carpinetum). We tested: (i) to what extent salvage logging modifies the plant species richness and diversity compared to sites left intact; (ii) whether clear-felling leads to an increase in diversity of vascular plants; and (iii) which ecological groups of plants benefit, and which are hindered by disturbance, depending on age and size of the clear-felled site. Salvage harvesting executed between 2012 and 2016 led to an increase in overall plant diversity. However, the winners were the species of open habitats, promoted by soil disturbance, whereas the number and cover of ancient forest indicator species decreased in comparison to unlogged forests. Both trends were significantly related to the increasing size of clear-felled sites, and developed right after logging. A comparison of the species composition of the disturbed (logged and unlogged) sites with undisturbed forest with stands unaffected by infestation, treated as control plots revealed the great potential of the affected sites for spontaneous recovery towards the oak-lime-hornbeam forest community, despite 50–90 years of spruce-dominated stand cover. We conclude that continuous deterioration of the forest habitats via clearcutting of stands affected by insect outbreak, followed by tree planting, substantially reduces the chances of successful, natural regeneration towards deciduous, structurally complex and diverse forests.
Highlights
Biotic and abiotic disturbances are part of the dynamics of pristine forests (Fischer et al 2013)
In European forests, clearcutting followed by tree planting often in understory and herbaceous vegetation leads to the dominance of plants from Rubus or Calamagrostis genera (Fischer and Fischer 2009), or dominance of other species which may temporarily inhibit the further stages of forest succession
The studied stands, mostly planted in the 1920s on sites logged by the Century European Timber Corporation (Bajko 2001), are the most heavily affected by the recent bark beetle outbreak
Summary
Biotic and abiotic disturbances are part of the dynamics of pristine forests (Fischer et al 2013). Karst) dominated stands of Central Europe are frequently affected by outbreaks of Ips typographus L.—the European spruce bark beetle (Lewis and Lindgren 2000; Martikainen et al 1999; Nilsson 1997; Schulze et al 2005; Shorohova et al 2009), which often initiates “stand replacement” pathways of forest regeneration (sensu Veblen 1992). Such large scale disturbance-driven processes of forest stand dynamics are difficult to accept from the economic point of view. Due to excessive soil disturbance and increase of light, it promotes the establishment of early-successional, light-demanding, ruderal and invasive species (Collins and Pickett 1988a; Kusumoto et al 2015; Moola and Vasseur 2008; Odor et al 2018; Rumbaitis-del Rio 2006)
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