Does Riparian Forest Restoration Thinning Enhance Biodiversity? The Ecological Importance of Large Wood

Intact riparian ecosystems are rich in biological diversity, but throughout the world, many have been degraded. Biodiversity declines, particularly of vertebrates, have led to experimental efforts to restore riparian forests by thinning young stands to accelerate creation of large diameter live tree...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Water Resources Association 2014-06, Vol.50 (3), p.543-559
Main Authors: Pollock, Michael M., Beechie, Timothy J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Biological diversity
fish
fluvial processes
forest management
forest structure
Forests
Growth models
large wood
Reforestation
Restoration
Riparian ecology
Riparian forests
rivers/streams
Thinning
Trees
Vertebrates
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Summary:Intact riparian ecosystems are rich in biological diversity, but throughout the world, many have been degraded. Biodiversity declines, particularly of vertebrates, have led to experimental efforts to restore riparian forests by thinning young stands to accelerate creation of large diameter live trees. However, many vertebrates depend on large diameter deadwood that is standing as snags or fallen to the forest floor or fallen into streams. Therefore, we reviewed the sizes of deadwood and live trees used by different vertebrate species to understand which species are likely to benefit from different thinning treatments. We then examined how riparian thinning affects the long‐term development of both large diameter live trees and deadwood. To this end, we used a forest growth model to examine how different forest thinning intensities might affect the long‐term production and abundance of live trees and deadwood. Our results suggest that there are long‐term habitat tradeoffs associated with different thinning intensities. Species that utilize large diameter live trees will benefit most from heavy thinning, whereas species that utilize large diameter deadwood will benefit most from light or no thinning. Because far more vertebrate species utilize large deadwood rather than large live trees, allowing riparian forests to naturally develop may result in the most rapid and sustained development of structural features important to most terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates.
ISSN:1093-474X
1752-1688
DOI:10.1111/jawr.12206