TY  - JOUR
A1  - Georgiev, Kostadin B.
A1  - Chao, Anne
A1  - Castro, Jorge
A1  - Chen, Yan‐Han
A1  - Choi, Chang‐Yong
A1  - Fontaine, Joseph B.
A1  - Hutto, Richard L.
A1  - Lee, Eun‐Jae
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Rost, Josep
A1  - Żmihorski, Michal
A1  - Thorn, Simon
T1  - Salvage logging changes the taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional successional trajectories of forest bird communities
JF  - Journal of Applied Ecology
N2  - Salvage logging following natural disturbances may alter the natural successional trajectories of biological communities by affecting the occurrences of species, functional groups and evolutionary lineages. However, few studies have examined whether dissimilarities between bird communities of salvaged and unsalvaged forests are more pronounced for rare species, functional groups and evolutionary lineages than for their more common counterparts.

We compiled data on breeding bird assemblages from nine study areas in North America, Europe and Asia, covering a 17‐year period following wildfire or windstorm disturbances and subsequent salvage logging. We tested whether dissimilarities based on non‐shared species, functional groups and evolutionary lineages (a) decreased or increased over time and (b) the responses of rare, common and dominant species varied, by using a unified statistical framework based on Hill numbers and null models.

We found that dissimilarities between bird communities caused by salvage logging persisted over time for rare, common and dominant species, evolutionary lineages and for rare functional groups. Dissimilarities of common and dominant functional groups increased 14 years post disturbance.

Salvage logging led to significantly larger dissimilarities than expected by chance. Functional dissimilarities between salvaged and unsalvaged sites were lower compared to taxonomic and phylogenetic dissimilarities. In general, dissimilarities were highest for rare, followed by common and dominant species.

Synthesis and applications. Our research demonstrates that salvage logging did not decrease dissimilarities of bird communities over time and taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic dissimilarities persisted for over a decade. We recommend resource managers and decision makers to reserve portions of disturbed forest to enable unmanaged post‐disturbance succession of bird communities, particularly to conserve rare species found in unsalvaged disturbed forests.
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - breeding season
KW  - forest management
KW  - harvesting
KW  - Hill numbers
KW  - natural disturbance
KW  - successional trajectory
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-214887
VL  - 57
IS  - 6
SP  - 1103
EP  - 1112
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Thorn, Simon
A1  - Seibold, Sebastian
A1  - Leverkus, Alexandro B
A1  - Michler, Thomas
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Noss, Reed F
A1  - Stork, Nigel
A1  - Vogel, Sebastian
A1  - Lindenmayer, David B
T1  - The living dead: acknowledging life after tree death to stop forest degradation
JF  - Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
N2  - 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.
KW  - forest degradation
KW  - biodiversity
KW  - deadwood
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218575
VL  - 18
IS  - 9
SP  - 505
EP  - 512
ER  -