Managed Forests (managed + forest)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


A BIOECONOMIC APPROACH TO THE FAUSTMANN,HARTMAN MODEL: ECOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS IN MANAGED FOREST

NATURAL RESOURCE MODELING, Issue 4 2008
JULIA TOUZA
Abstract This paper develops a bioeconomic forestry model that makes it possible to take ecosystem services that are independent of the age structure of trees into account. We derive the Faustmann,Hartman optimal harvesting strategy as a special case. The bioeconomic model is then extended to account for the fact that forest harvesting decisions impact on other ecological resources, which provide benefits for the wider community. The paper focuses on impacts associated with disturbance caused by logging operations and habitat destruction due to tree removal. This enables us to explore the interactions between forest management and the dynamics of ecological resources. The optimal rotation rule is obtained as a variation on the traditional Faustmann,Hartman equation, where an additional term captures the potential benefits derived from the growth of the ecological resource valued at its shadow price. The steady-state solutions to the problem and sensitivity to model parameter are identified using numerical analysis. [source]


The effects of green tree retention and subsequent prescribed burning on ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in boreal pine-dominated forests

ECOGRAPHY, Issue 5 2006
Petri Martikainen
We studied how two methods to promote biodiversity in managed forests, i.e. green tree retention and prescribed fire, affect the assemblages of carabid beetles. Our experiment consisted of 24 study sites, each 3,5 ha in size, which had been prepared according to factorial design. Each of the eight treatment combinations determined by the two factors explored , tree retention level (0, 10, 50 m3/ha,1 and uncut controls) and prescribed use of fire (yes/no) , was replicated three times. We sampled carabids using pitfall traps one year after the treatments. Significantly more individuals were caught in most of the burned sites, but this difference was partially reflective of the trap-catches of Pterostichus adstrictus. The fire did not increase no. of P. adstrictus in the uncut sites as much as in the other sites. Species richness was significantly affected by both factors, being higher in the burned than in the unburned sites and in the harvested than in the unharvested sites. Many species were concentrated in the groups of retention trees in the burned sites, but only a few were in the unburned sites. The species turnover was greater in the burned than in the unburned sites, as indicated by the NMDS ordinations. Greater numbers of smaller sized species and proportion of brachypterous species were present in the burned sites. Fire-favored species, and also the majority of other species that prefer open habitats were more abundantly caught in the burned sites than in the unburned sites. Dead wood or logging waste around the traps did not correlate with the occurrence of species. We conclude that carabids are well adapted to disturbances, and that frequent use of prescribed fire is essential for the maintenance of natural assemblages of carabid beetles in the boreal forest. Small retention tree groups can not maintain assemblages of uncut forest, but they can be important by providing food, shelter and breeding sites for many species, particularly in the burned sites. [source]


Lichen acclimatization on retention trees: a conservation physiology lesson

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
Kadi Jairus
Summary 1.,Green-tree retention (GTR) has been suggested as a means to effectively support epiphytic lichen species in managed forests, given the low lichen mortality on retention trees in the short term. However, a long-term perspective requires a physiological understanding of lichen responses to logging. This study compares anatomical, morphological and physiological traits of lichens on retention trees and on intact forest trees. 2.,Thalli of nine taxa (Buellia griseovirens, Cladonia digitata, Hypogymnia physodes, Lecanora allophana, Lecanora pulicaris, Lepraria spp., Peltigera praetextata, Pertusaria amara and Phlyctis argena) were sampled from birch Betula spp. and aspen Populus tremula in GTR cuts, where they had previously been reported to survive well, and in adjacent managed forests. In the laboratory, chlorophyll fluorescence parameter Fv/Fm, thickness of the upper cortex, photobiont to mycobiont ratio and (in Lecanora species) the relative area of the apothecia were measured. 3.,All the lichen samples collected from GTR cuts appeared alive, but their Fv/Fm was significantly lower, relative areas of the apothecia were larger and the upper cortices of thalli were thicker compared with the samples from adjacent forests. No difference in photobiont to mycobiont ratio was found. These patterns were broadly consistent among species, indicating a common mechanism: while suffering from photoinhibition, the lichens had acclimatized to the open conditions and increased their investment to sexual reproduction in a few years. 4.,Synthesis and applications. The study highlights the value of a morpho-physiological framework for conservation management by pointing out that, in GTR areas, lichen survival is high-irradiation limited and heavily dependent on phenotypic plasticity. A thin upper cortex may be a common feature of the most sensitive species. To sustain epiphyte populations in managed forests, precautionary harvesting strategies (gradual felling; group-retention; extended rotations) should be preferred and large-enough populations should be preserved, even though short-term studies suggest a high survival of lichens in cut areas. [source]


Consequences of forest fragmentation for polyporous fungi at two spatial scales

OIKOS, Issue 2 2006
R. Penttilä
Greatly reduced area of old-growth forests and the very low amount of dead wood in managed forests in northern Europe have caused a marked decline in the populations of saproxylic species. It is less clear at which spatial and temporal scales these adverse changes are taking place, and more information is needed to reliably predict which species are especially sensitive to loss and fragmentation of habitat. Here we compare species richness, incidence of occurrence in forest fragments, and abundance of polyporous fungal species and species groups between two regions in Finland with contrasting histories of forestry and a marked difference in the amount and spatial configuration of old-growth forests. We also analyse the consequences of increasing loss of connectivity on the presence and abundance of polypores in a study region with a documented short-term history of old-growth fragmentation. Our results show that the species number, incidence of occurrence, and abundance of especially the rare, threatened, and near-threatened species are much lower in the old-growth fragments in Häme in southern Finland in comparison with Kuhmo in eastern Finland, most probably because of the longer history of intensive forestry in Häme. Among the rare species, the species that show the greatest difference between the two regions (at the scale of 500 km) also tended to respond most strongly to the more recent forest fragmentation within the study region in Kuhmo (at the scale of 50 km). Polypores associated with spruce seem to be more strongly affected by forestry than species associated with pine, possibly reflecting the differences in the natural dynamics of spruce-dominated and pine-dominated forests. [source]