The living dead: acknowledging life after tree death to stop forest degradation
Open accessAbstract
Global sustainability agendas focus primarily on halting deforestation, yet the biodiversity crisis resulting from the degradation of remaining forests is going largely unnoticed. Forest degradation occurs through the loss of key ecological structures, such as dying trees and deadwood, even in the absence of deforestation. One of the main drivers of forest degradation is limited awareness by policy makers and the public on the importance of these structures for supporting forest biodiversity and ecosystem function. Here, we outline management strategies to protect forest health and biodiversity by maintaining and promoting deadwood, and propose environmental education initiatives to improve the general awareness of the importance of deadwood. Finally, we call for major reforms to forest management to maintain and restore deadwood; large, old trees; and other key ecological structures.
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Deadwood is important as a living environment for insects and wood-inhabiting fungi and affects higher trophic levels through related food webs.
“Deadwood is especially important as a living environment for insects and wood-inhabiting fungi but also affects higher trophic levels through related food webs (20).”
From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [20]
Removal of deadwood as part of forest management is associated with reduced habitat diversity for numerous species.
“Removal of deadwood as part of forest management has also been associated with reducing habitat diversity for numerous species (20).”
From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [20]
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Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Chang AY. 2019. Playing nature: ecology in video games. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
- Michler T, Aschenbrand E, and Leibl F. 2019. Gestört, aber grün: 30 jahre Forschung zu Landschaftskonflikten im Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald. In: Berr K and Jenal C (Eds). Landschaftskonflikte. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden: Wiesbaden, Germany.
- Seibold S and Thorn S. 2018. The importance of dead-wood amount for saproxylic insects and how it interacts with dead-wood diver- sity and other habitat factors. In: Ulyshen MD (Ed). Saproxylic insects: diversity, ecology and conservation. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
- Seibold S, Bässler C, Brandl R, et al. 2015a. Experimental studies of dead-wood biodiversity -a review identifying global gaps in knowledge. Biol Conserv 191: 139-49.
- Stokland JN, Siitonen J, and Jonsson BG. 2012. Biodiversity in dead wood. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Ulyshen MD (Ed). 2018. Saproxylic insects: diversity, ecology and conservation. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
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Arneth, A., Olsson, L., Cowie, A., Erb, K.-H., Hurlbert, M., Kurz, W. A., Mirzabaev, A., & Rounsevell, M. D. A. (2021) · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-054809 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
“Deadwood is especially important as a living environment for insects and wood-inhabiting fungi but also affects higher trophic levels through related food webs (20).”
Background
- Authors
- Thorn, S., Seibold, S., Leverkus, A. B., Michler, T., Müller, J., Noss, R. F., Stork, N., Vogel, S., & Lindenmayer, D. B.
- Affiliations
- University of Würzburg (DE)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Bavarian Forest National Park (DE)
- Florida Institute for Conservation Science (US)
- Griffith University (AU)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Thorn, Simon
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-09-03
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 505-512
- ISSN
- 1540-9295 (ISSN-L)
- 1540-9309
- OpenAlex
- W3083517198
- Cited by
- 163
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 5
- FWCI
- 15.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Institutional Repository of the University of Granada (University of Granada) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- mediaTUM (Technical University of Munich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Online Publication Service of Würzburg University (Würzburg University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Forest Management and Policy
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Forest Insect Ecology and Management
- Keywords
- forest degradation, dead wood, dying trees, forest biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, forest management, environmental education, old trees, forest restoration, deforestation
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