Fire as a tool in restoring and maintaining beetle diversity in boreal forests: preliminary results from a large-scale field experiment

Abstract

During the 1900s, the amount of dead and decaying wood has declined drastically in boreal forests in Finland because of intensive forest management. As a result, species requiring such resources have also declined or have even gone extinct. Recently it has been observed that in addition to old-growth forests, natural, early successional phases are also important for the biota of boreal forests. Because of the effective prevention of forest fires and clearing of forests after storms, the early successional stages that normally contain an abundance of dead wood, have become almost absent in forest dynamics. The development of more ecological approaches to manage production forests is needed to protect threatened species successfully and to enhance their recovery.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings: Ecology, Survey and Management of Forest Insects

Citation

Hyvarinen, E.; Lappalainen, H.; Martikainen, P.; Kouki, J. 2003. Fire as a tool in restoring and maintaining beetle diversity in boreal forests: preliminary results from a large-scale field experiment. In: McManus, Michael L.; Liebhold, Andrew M., eds. Proceedings: Ecology, Survey and Management of Forest Insects; 2002 September 1-5; Krakow, Poland. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-311. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. p.144.