Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Habitat loss and habitat degradation through land-use change continues to be the greatest challenge facing biodiversity worldwide. In Fennoscandia, boreal forests are becoming increasingly fragmented due to intensive management, and very little old-growth forest now remains in this area. Wood-inhabiting fungi have a key ecological role as decomposers of organic matter in forest ecosystems and it is important to ensure their continued survival and reverse the pattern of declining populations for wood fungal species of conservation concern. To create efficient conservation measures for wood fungi we need a better understanding of their ecology. Woodland Key Habitats (WKHs) are considered a cost-efficient conservation measure for many species groups. However, long-term changes in fungal diversity in WKHs are insufficiently studied, especially in relation to environmental factors and in comparison with natural old-growth forest fragments. It is crucial to bridge these knowledge gaps to understand if WKHs can function as an efficient tool for conservation of fungal diversity in managed forest landscapes. This study examines the long-term changes in abundance and species richness of wood fungi in boreal forest patches of contrasting land-use in northern Sweden, in relationship to four environmental variables, namely patch size, dead wood volume, basal area of living spruce and surrounding continuous cover forest. Data for this study was collected in year 2000, 2017 and 2022. WKH that are set-aside from management are compared with natural old-growth forest patches. I found that the abundance and species richness had decreased in the natural patches but remained relatively stable in the set-aside patches during the study period. Dead wood volume was the environmental variable most positively correlated with higher abundance and species richness in both natural and set-aside patches. The remaining environmental variables exhibited no clear trends in relation to the fungal diversity measures. My results can be utilized by forest managers and policy makes to guide conservation planning in favour of dead wood and fungal conservation.