Estimating retention benchmarks for salvage logging to protect biodiversity

Simon Thorn (), Anne Chao, Kostadin B. Georgiev, Jörg Müller, Claus Bässler, John L. Campbell, Jorge Castro, Yan-Han Chen, Chang-Yong Choi, Tyler P. Cobb, Daniel C. Donato, Ewa Durska, Ellen Macdonald, Heike Feldhaar, Joseph B. Fontaine, Paula J. Fornwalt, Raquel María Hernández Hernández, Richard L. Hutto, Matti Koivula, Eun-Jae Lee, David Lindenmayer, Grzegorz Mikusiński, Martin K. Obrist, Michal Perlík, Josep Rost, Kaysandra Waldron, Beat Wermelinger, Ingmar Weiß, Michał Żmihorski and Alexandro B. Leverkus
Additional contact information
Simon Thorn: University of Würzburg
Anne Chao: National Tsing Hua University
Kostadin B. Georgiev: University of Würzburg
Jörg Müller: University of Würzburg
Claus Bässler: Goethe University Frankfurt, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity
John L. Campbell: Oregon State University
Jorge Castro: University of Granada
Yan-Han Chen: National Tsing Hua University
Chang-Yong Choi: Seoul National University
Tyler P. Cobb: Royal Alberta Museum
Daniel C. Donato: University of Washington
Ewa Durska: Polish Academy of Sciences
Ellen Macdonald: University of Alberta
Heike Feldhaar: University of Bayreuth
Joseph B. Fontaine: Murdoch University
Paula J. Fornwalt: Rocky Mountain Research Station
Raquel María Hernández Hernández: Universidad de La Laguna
Richard L. Hutto: University of Montana
Matti Koivula: Natural Resources Institute (LUKE)
Eun-Jae Lee: Daejeon Sejong Research Institute
David Lindenmayer: The Australian National University
Grzegorz Mikusiński: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU
Martin K. Obrist: WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
Michal Perlík: University of South Bohemia
Josep Rost: University of Girona. Facultat de Ciències, Carrer Maria Aurèlia Capmany
Kaysandra Waldron: Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Laurentian Forestry Centre
Beat Wermelinger: WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Forest Health and Biotic Interactions-Forest Entomology
Ingmar Weiß: Rehtränke
Michał Żmihorski: Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences
Alexandro B. Leverkus: University of Würzburg

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Forests are increasingly affected by natural disturbances. Subsequent salvage logging, a widespread management practice conducted predominantly to recover economic capital, produces further disturbance and impacts biodiversity worldwide. Hence, naturally disturbed forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world, with consequences for their associated biodiversity. However, there are no evidence-based benchmarks for the proportion of area of naturally disturbed forests to be excluded from salvage logging to conserve biodiversity. We apply a mixed rarefaction/extrapolation approach to a global multi-taxa dataset from disturbed forests, including birds, plants, insects and fungi, to close this gap. We find that 75 ± 7% (mean ± SD) of a naturally disturbed area of a forest needs to be left unlogged to maintain 90% richness of its unique species, whereas retaining 50% of a naturally disturbed forest unlogged maintains 73 ± 12% of its unique species richness. These values do not change with the time elapsed since disturbance but vary considerably among taxonomic groups.

Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-18612-4

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18612-4

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