Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

In more recent years, tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) have gained attention as an indicator of structural diversity. TreMs are morphological structures occurring on standing trees, dead or alive, that constitutes an important life site for a species. Most of the existing TreM studies have been performed in temperate broadleaved forests, temperate coniferous forests and mediterranean forests. However, there is a gap in the research about TreMs in the boreal and hemiboreal regions of northern Europe, and knowledge about TreM abundance and richness is very limited for the hemiboreal forest zone.
The aim of this thesis is to expand the knowledge about TreMs in the hemiboreal region of southern Sweden by looking at TreM richness and abundance at the tree level. A TreM inventory performed in southern Sweden showed that both TreM abundance and TreM richness was higher in broadleaved trees than in conifers, that tree species influence abundance and richness, and that both abundance and richness increase with diameter at breast height. A literature review of existing research from the temperate region was conducted and the results supported the findings of the TreM inventory. It is possible to conclude that TreM abundance and richness follow similar patterns in the hemiboreal region as in the temperate region.