Preservation of oaks in spruce plantations

During the last thousand years, there has been a general decline in deciduous trees in favor of spruce in southern Sweden. Today, the general decrease of old growth deciduous trees in the boreonemoral zone of southern Scandinavia, due to extensive forestry practices, is a major threat to the saproxylic beetle fauna. It has become common practice to retain large deciduous trees as a conservation measure in Swedish forestry as old growth and dead deciduous trees are considered important for biodiversity. Nilsson et al. (2001) found that the frequency of large deciduous trees and dead wood elements are positively correlated to biodiversity values.

In this project we look at factors affecting growth and mortality of old oaks left in spruce plantations, to better understand silvicultural measures which would help preserve such trees in spruce-dominated landscapes.

Contact

Igor Drobyshev (igor.drobyshev@slu.se) & Matts Lindbladh (matts.lindbladh@slu.se)