Conservation thinning in secondary forest: negative but mild effect on land molluscs in closed-canopy mixed oak forest in Sweden.

ABSTRACT: Secondary succession is changing the character of many temperate forests and often leads to closed-canopy stands. In such forests set aside for conservation, habitat management alternatives need to be tested experimentally, but this is rarely done. The Swedish Oak Project compares two often debated alternatives: minimal intervention and non-traditional active management (conservation thinning) on plots of each type replicated at 25 sites. We study responses of several taxa, and here report results for land molluscs. They are considered to be sensitive to more open, drier forest and we predicted a negative effect of the thinning (26% reduction of the basal area; mean value for 25 experimental forests). We sampled molluscs in the litter in ten 20 x 25 cm subplots, and by standardised visual

SUBMITTER: Rancka B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4372413 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature