Just a Ditch in Forest? Reconsidering Draining in the Context of Sustainable Forest Management
Abstract
Creating ditches to drain forests to improve timber production is often overlooked as an ecosystem modifier; the practice is commonplace and not easy to see, and it changes the ecosystem slowly. However, a closer look reveals a complex of feedback-regulated, largely indirect, and wide-ranging impacts of the changed hydrology on biodiversity. Our synthesis of those fragmentarily studied impacts highlights a frequent formation of unprecedented biotic assemblages with unclear long-term prospects and consequences for the ecosystem functioning. We present a context-dependent framework to support harmonizing the ditching practices with sustainable forest management—a challenging but scientifically exciting task that requires novel approaches to landscape planning, silviculture, and wetland restoration.
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Habitat quality and biodiversity value of ditches is heavily dependent on management regimes.
“However, habitat quality and the biodiversity value of ditches is heavily dependent on management regimes 134,200 .”
From Lines in the landscape (2025) · cites this paper as [200]
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Clifford, C., Bieroza, M., Clarke, S. J., Pickard, A., Stratigos, M. J., Hill, M. J., Raheem, N., Tatariw, C., Wood, P. J., Arismendi, I., et al. (2025) · Communications Earth & Environment · doi:10.1038/s43247-025-02699-y · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lõhmus, A., Remm, L., & Rannap, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Tartu (EE)
- Corresponding author
- Lõhmus, Asko
- Remm, Liina
- Rannap, Riinu
- Venue
- BioScience
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2015-10-10
- Volume
- 65
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1066-1076
- ISSN
- 0006-3568 (ISSN-L)
- 1525-3244
- OpenAlex
- W2258086558
- Cited by
- 70
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 3.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- BioScience (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Forest Management and Policy
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Ecology and biodiversity studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Keywords
- forest drainage, ditching, sustainable forest management, hydrology, biodiversity impacts, ecosystem change, ecosystem functioning, landscape planning, silviculture, wetland restoration, timber production
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