Retaining deadwood in disturbed forests reduces changes to soil fungal communities and promotes regeneration
Issue 586: Events such as storms that cause significant damage to forest trees have obvious effects above ground. What happens below ground is less apparent, and less studied.
Knowledge of impacts on fungal communities and carbon stocks, however, is important for informing optimal management. In particular, the symbiotic fungi that help trees to grow can be negatively impacted by disturbance, new research shows – which could be key in natural forest regeneration.
Between 1970 and 2010, the amount of timber taken from European forests affected by windthrow and bark-beetle attacks doubled – problems predicted to increase further with climate change. Disturbance can abruptly change forest structure and habitat. Deadwood, for example, promotes species richness. However, since dead and damaged trees may encourage further insect outbreaks and other disturbance events (e.g. windthrow), restrict access for machinery and provide a revenue opportunity, managers often remove them (known as ‘salvage logging’). Harvesting operations cause further disturbance – for example, when machinery compacts soil.
