Abstract
Global sustainability agendas focus primarily on halting deforestation, yet the biodiversity crisis resulting from the degradation of remaining forests is going largely unnoticed. Forest degradation occurs through the loss of key ecological structures, such as dying trees and deadwood, even in the absence of deforestation. One of the main drivers of forest degradation is limited awareness by policy makers and the public on the importance of these structures for supporting forest biodiversity and ecosystem function. Here, we outline management strategies to protect forest health and biodiversity by maintaining and promoting deadwood, and propose environmental education initiatives to improve the general awareness of the importance of deadwood. Finally, we call for major reforms to forest management to maintain and restore deadwood; large, old trees; and other key ecological structures.
Highlights
Deadwood in natural forestsIn forests subject to natural dynamics, deadwood is commonly created by the complete or partial die-off of large, old trees (Holzwarth et al 2013), as well as by natural disturbances, which can affect single trees up to entire landscapes (Kulakowski et al 2017)
Global sustainability agendas focus primarily on halting deforestation, yet the biodiversity crisis resulting from the degradation of remaining forests is going largely unnoticed
The UN recognizes the unique importance of forests through major global policy initiatives, such as the Aichi targets and REDD+
Summary
In forests subject to natural dynamics, deadwood is commonly created by the complete or partial die-off of large, old trees (Holzwarth et al 2013), as well as by natural disturbances, which can affect single trees up to entire landscapes (Kulakowski et al 2017). In addition to single-tree dieback, natural disturbances can leave behind disturbance-specific deadwood structures, including snags and downed deadwood, and can generate the spatially heterogeneous recovery of vegetation (Swanson et al 2011). These so-called biological legacies can be crucial for biodiversity and forest recovery following major disturbances, such as the Mount St Helens volcanic eruption in 1980 (Franklin et al 2000). Following stand-replacing natural disturbances, the amount of deadwood can even exceed the amount of living tree biomass, making deadwood a characteristic and abundant resource in natural forest ecosystems (Seibold and Thorn 2018)
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