The Life in Deadwood: Forest Management for Biodiversity

The Value of Deadwood in Forests

• 💡 Deadwood is a critical habitat, supporting 30-40% of forest species, including specialized saproxylic organisms like beetles, fungi, and bacteria.
• 🦇 It provides essential nesting and roosting sites for various animals, such as bats and birds like the Ural owl.
• 💧 Beyond habitat, deadwood performs vital ecosystem functions, acting like a sponge to retain water and serving as a crucial nutrition pool for other organisms.

Historical Decline of Deadwood

• 🌳 The scarcity of deadwood in managed forests is a long-standing issue, exacerbated by modern forestry practices over the last 200-300 years.
• 📉 Commercial wood production and the shift to fast-growing conifer plantations eliminated the natural presence of rotting trees, which are abundant in natural forests.

The LIFE SPAN Project Approach

• 🚀 The LIFE SPAN project aims to integrate biodiversity protection into managed forests through an integrative and non-segregative approach.
• 🌲 It proposes creating Saproxylic Habitat Sites (SHS), which are micro-reserves designed to enhance heterogeneity by thinning, creating gaps, and developing diverse micro-habitats.
• 🌐 These SHS form a network of biodiversity reservoirs, connected by habitat trees, allowing for recolonization after disturbances while still enabling sustainable harvesting.

Enhancing Forest Structure and Biodiversity

• 🌱 The herb and shrub layer plays a fundamental ecological role by maintaining soil moisture, regulating temperature, and promoting decomposition, which prolongs deadwood availability.
• 🦋 This layer boosts flowering plant diversity, supporting pollinators, saproxylic insects, and subsequently insectivorous birds and mammals, thereby acting as an ecological engine.
• 🛠️ Active management is crucial to provide a diversity of deadwood types over time and space, including different sizes, decay stages, and tree species, rather than just a pure amount.

Changing Perceptions and Future Goals

• 🎓 The project emphasizes training and education through tools like Martelloscopes to help forest managers and students recognize the importance of deadwood and micro-habitats.
• 🗣️ Public engagement and discussion are vital to teach the purpose of these structures and change long-held views, moving from a time when leaving deadwood was forbidden to recognizing its essential value.
• ✅ The current focus is on determining how, when, and where to best preserve deadwood, reflecting a significant shift in forest management philosophy.