Can translocation of deadwood help help preserve wood-living metacommunities and ecosystem functions?

Translocation of species and substrates is a novel method increasingly used in ecological compensation and restoration, to possibly circumvent the “field of dreams” dilemma and mitigate negative effects of land-use on biodiversity.

However, translocation effects on community composition, dynamics and species interactions are poorly understood and require rigorous assessment.

The combinations of filters and processes that influence communities in wood are drastically changed during translocation, influencing species persistence and ecosystem function in unknown ways.

In WP1 we model the occurrence of wood-living bryophyte, fungal and lichen members of metacommunities, including their functional traits and species associations, related to density and quality of translocated deadwood and controls, with increasing time since translocation.

In WP2 we study processes leading to patterns in WP1, by modelling the colonization-extinction dynamics of the metacommunity members.

In WP3 we model how taxonomic and functional diversity of fungi and beetles influence deadwood dynamics, carbon storage, wood moisture and predation risk.

This project builds upon and provides a logical continuation of a highly successful FORMAS project and existing research infrastructure of large-scale translocation of 640 deadwood substrates.

The results will be valuable to decision makers and managers for assessing the conservation benefits and risks with this novel method for ecological compensation.