Long-term effects of single-tree selection cutting management on coarse woody debris in natural mixed beech stands in the Caspian forest (Iran)

doi:10.3832/ifor2091-010

Long-term effects of single-tree selection cutting management on coarse woody debris in natural mixed beech stands in the Caspian forest (Iran)

Farzam Tavankar⁽¹⁾ , Mehrdad Nikooy⁽²⁾, Rodolfo Picchio⁽³⁾, Rachele Venanzi⁽³⁾, Angela Lo Monaco⁽³⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 10, Issue 3, Pages 652-658 (2017)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor2091-010
Published: Jun 20, 2017 - Copyright © 2017 SISEF

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Coarse woody debris (CWD) has a wide range of ecological and conservation values such as maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems. Each forest management method can have a detrimental effect on stand structure and CWD. We analyzed the volume and density of live trees and CWD (snags and downed logs) over a long-term (30 years) selection-logging managed compartment (harvested), and compared these with values obtained from an unlogged compartment (control) in the Iranian Caspian forests. Results showed that the volume and density of live trees and CWD in the harvested area was significantly lower than in the control area, especially large size trees and CWD, very decayed CWD, and rare tree species. The ratio of snags volume to total standing volume (RSS) was significantly higher in the control (7.9%) than in the harvested area (5.2%), and the ratio of downed logs volume to trees volume (RDT) in the control area (6.3%) was significantly higher than in the harvested area (4.6%), while the ratio of downed logs volume to snags volume (RDS) was significantly higher in the harvested area (83.6%) than in the control (74%). Based on the obtained results, we recommend selection cutting forests to be managed based on CWD management plans, including appropriate cutting cycles (15-30 years) and retention of large-diameter (DBH > 75 cm) and cavity trees as a suitable habitat for many wildlife species.

Keywords

Coarse Woody Debris, Snag, Biodiversity, Selective Logging, Caspian Forest

Authors’ address

(1)

Department of Forestry, Khalkhal Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khalkhal (Iran)

(2)

Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Somehsara (Iran)

(3)

Department of Agriculture and Forest Sciences (DAFNE), Tuscia University, Via S. Camillo de Lellis, 01100 Viterbo (Italy)

Corresponding author

Farzam Tavankar
farzam_tavankar@yahoo.com

Citation

Tavankar F, Nikooy M, Picchio R, Venanzi R, Lo Monaco A (2017). Long-term effects of single-tree selection cutting management on coarse woody debris in natural mixed beech stands in the Caspian forest (Iran). iForest 10: 652-658. - doi: 10.3832/ifor2091-010

Academic Editor

Andrea Cutini

Paper history

Received: Apr 20, 2016
Accepted: Apr 10, 2017

First online: Jun 20, 2017
Publication Date: Jun 30, 2017
Publication Time: 2.37 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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