Too much, too soon? Two Swedish case studies of short-term deadwood recruitment in riparian buffers.

ABSTRACT: Forested riparian buffers are retained along streams during forest harvest to maintain a number of ecological functions. In this paper, we examine how recently established riparian buffers along northern Swedish streams provide deadwood, a key objective for riparian buffer management in Sweden. We used observational and experimental data to show that the investigated buffers provided large volumes of deadwood to streams and riparian zones shortly after their establishment, likely jeopardizing continued recruitment over the long term. Deadwood volume decreased with increasing buffer width, and the narrowest buffers tended to blow down completely. Wider buffers (~ 15 m) provided similar volumes of deadwood as narrow buffers due to blowdowns but were, overall, more resistant to wind-felling.

SUBMITTER: Kuglerova L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9755393 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature