The importance of tree-related structures and tree continuity for biodiversity in boreal forests

Although it is well known that both habitat availability and continuity are important factors in maintaining biodiversity, their relative importance in applied contexts is still unclear.

I will study how the diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi and lichens depends on structural diversity and tree continuity in north-west Sweden, where the conservation value of forests with long tree continuity is debated.

The project aims to clarify the relative importance of tree continuity and structural diversity for both groups of species, as well as to determine whether the diversity of tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) developed for temperate forests, and the characteristics used to identify habitat trees in Sweden, can be used to predict biodiversity at the stand and individual tree level in boreal forests.

The results of the project will 1) facilitate prioritization of which forests should be protected, 2) refine the methods currently used to assess the value of forests, and 3) refine criteria for identifying the most effective trees to leave as retention trees during forest harvesting.

The project contributes to increased sustainability by supporting decisions on which forests should be excluded from forestry and which can be managed, as well as improve guidelines for the retention forestry that is currently practiced, and the one that needs to be developed as alternative forestry practices, such as continuous cover forestry become more common in boreal forests.