| 1. |
- Andersson, Erik, et al.
(author)
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Ambio fit for the 2020s
- 2022
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In: Ambio. - : Springer Nature. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 51:5, s. 1091-1093
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Angelstam, Per, et al.
(author)
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Protecting forest areas for biodiversity in Sweden 1991–2010: the policy implementation process and outcomes on the ground
- 2011
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In: Silva Fennica. - : Finnish Society of Forest Science. - 0037-5330 .- 2242-4075. ; 45, s. 1111-1133
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Swedish forest and environmental policies imply that forests should be managed so that all naturally occurring species are maintained in viable populations. This requires maintenance of functional networks of representative natural forest and cultural woodland habitats. We first review the policy implementation process regarding protected areas in Sweden 1991-2010, how ecological knowledge was used to formulate interim short-term and strategic long-term biodiversity conservation goals, and the development of a hierarchical spatial planning approach. Second, we present data about the amount of formally protected and voluntarily set aside forest stands, and evaluate how much remains in terms of additional forest protection, conservation management and habitat restoration to achieve forest and environmental policy objectives in the long-term. Third, a case study in central Sweden was made to estimate the functionality of old Scots pine, Norway spruce and deciduous forest habitats, as well as cultural woodland, in different forest regions. Finally, we assess operational biodiversity conservation planning processes. We conclude that Swedish policy pronouncements capture the contemporary knowledge about biodiversity and conservation planning well. However, the existing area of protected and set-aside forests is presently too small and with too poor connectivity. To bridge this gap, spatial planning, management and restoration of habitat, as well as collaboration among forest and conservation planners need to be improved.
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| 5. |
- Angelstam, Per, et al.
(author)
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Sweden does not meet agreed national and international forest biodiversity targets : A call for adaptive landscape planning
- 2020
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In: Landscape and Urban Planning. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-2046 .- 1872-6062. ; 202
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Loss of forest naturalness challenges the maintenance of green infrastructure (GI) for biodiversity conservation and delivery of diverse ecosystem services. Using the Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi target #11 with its quantitative and qualitative criteria as a normative model, we aim at supporting landscape planning through a pioneering assessment of the extent to which existing amounts and spatial distributions of High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs) meet these criteria. Highly forested and committed to both intensive wood production and evidence-based conservation targets of 17–20% protected areas, Sweden was chosen as a case study. Specifically, we estimated the amount, regional representation, and functional connectivity of HCVF patches using virtual bird species, validated the results using field surveys of focal bird species, and assessed conservation target fulfilment. Finally, we linked these results to the regional distribution of forest land ownership categories, and stress that these provide different opportunities for landscape planning. Even if 31% of forest land in Sweden is officially protected, voluntarily set-aside, or not used for wood production now and in the future, we show that applying the representation and connectivity criteria of Aichi target #11 reduces this figure to an effective GI of 12%. When disaggregating the five ecoregions the effective GI was 54% for the sub-alpine forest ecoregion, which hosts EU's last intact forest landscapes, but only 3–8% in the other four ecoregions where wood production is predominant. This results in an increasing need for forest habitat and landscape restoration from north to south. The large regional variation in the opportunity for landscape planning stresses the need for a portfolio of different approaches. We stress the need to secure funding mechanisms for compensating land owners’ investments in GI, and to adapt both the approaches and spatial extents of landscape planning units to land ownership structure.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Aune, Karin, et al.
(author)
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Isolation and edge effects among woodland key habitats in Sweden : making fragmentation into forest policy?
- 2005
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In: Biological Conservation. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3207 .- 1873-2917. ; 124:1, s. 89-95
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fragmentation of natural forests is a major threat to forest biodiversity. In areas with a long history of forestry, the remaining patches of old forests constitute only a minor part of the landscape. In such situations small stands may be valuable and important for conservation. However, as they may suffer from strong edge effects and isolation, their value may be lower than anticipated. In Sweden a national inventory of woodland key habitats (WKHs) has identified about 1% of the forest landscape as sites where red-listed species occur or may occur. Most are small (national median 1.4 ha) and isolated stands within an intensively managed landscape. The present analyses calculate WKH core area based on a range of depths of edge influence, and isolation based on both distance to nearest WKH and a weighted isolation measure that includes all neighboring WKHs and protected forest. These analyses are done on the WKHs in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden and include almost 5000 stands. The actual core area in the WKHs is about 30% given a 50 m edge influence. The degree of isolation is species dependent but the results indicate that only species with high dispersal abilities may effectively utilize the network of WKHs. For species with effective dispersal distances of less than 2 km the network is probably insufficient. The results emphasize the need to create buffer zones, to increase reserve areas and to manage the matrix so that species dispersal is promoted. This likely includes a necessity to aggregate biodiversity efforts on the landscape scale.
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| 8. |
- Berglund, Håkan, et al.
(author)
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Assessing the extinction vulnerability of wood-inhabiting fungal species in fragmented northern Swedish boreal forests
- 2008
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In: Biological Conservation. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3207 .- 1873-2917. ; 141:12, s. 3029-3039
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fragmentation of old-growth forests and greatly reduced amounts of coarse dead wood in managed forests threat the persistence of many saproxylic species in boreal Fennoscandia. Individual old-growth forest remnants may lose species over time as they pay off their extinction debt. We tested this by comparing the observed site occupancy of individual wood-inhabiting fungal species in isolated old-growth stands (i.e. woodland key habitats; WKHs) with statistical predictions of their occupancy assuming potential extinction debt had already been paid off. The occupancy of species was analysed in two sets of WKHs differing in time since isolation (i.e. recent and old isolates).Few species occurred more frequently than expected in WKHs. However, patterns across species and across all WKHs masked important differences among species in their risk of facing future extinction. The site occupancy decreased significantly between recent and old isolates for a group of annual, red-listed specialist fungal species, suggesting that an extinction debt in WKHs may exist among specific species confined to coarse dead wood and old-growth forest habitat. Generalist species that also occur in the surrounding matrix showed no negative trends, or actually increased in site occupancy, making future extinctions less likely. Thus, continuing loss of threatened species are likely if not preservation of WKHs are combined with other conservation efforts in managed forest landscapes. Natural forest landscapes may serve as important references when aiming to identify species in risk of future extinction but more detailed knowledge about the biology of the most vulnerable species is also required.
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| 9. |
- Berglund, Håkan, et al.
(author)
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Nested plant and fungal communities : the importance of area and habitat quality in maximizing species capture in boreal old-growth forests
- 2003
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In: Biological conservation. - 0006-3207. ; 112:3, s. 319-328
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Knowledge of the distribution of rare species is crucial for species conservation in fragmented habitats. Species communities often exhibit nestedness, i.e. species in species-poor sites comprise a subset of richer ones. Thus, rare species are confined to species-rich sites. We evaluate whether plant and fungal communities in 46 old-growth spruce forest patches (0.17–12 ha) exhibit nestedness. The question whether a single large patch or several small patches capture most species (i.e. the SLOSS-issue) is evaluated in combination with species saturation analyses. All species groups exhibited significant nestedness. Area was generally related to nestedness, i.e. rare species were over-represented in the largest patches. Species saturation analysis indicated that large patches accumulated more Red-list species in patch interiors than small patches. Thus, rare and Red-list species were best captured in large patches. However, nestedness also emerged in equal sized sample plots, i.e. rare species were over-represented in high quality habitats. Thus, small habitats of high quality should not be neglected in a conservation perspective.
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| 10. |
- Berglund, Håkan, et al.
(author)
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Predictability of plant and fungal species richness of old-growth boreal forest islands
- 2001
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In: Journal of Vegetation Science. - 1100-9233 .- 1654-1103. ; 12:6, s. 857-866
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The fragmentation and deterioration of old-growth forest habitat by modern forestry have become a major threat to species diversity in Fennoscandia. In order to develop a conservation strategy for the remaining diversity it is essential to identify the existing diversity and to develop appropriate conservation and monitoring programs. For these purposes indicators of conservation value for administrative prioritization are required. This study examines the predictability of plant and fungal species richness on two spatial scales on 46 isolated old-growth forest islands (0.17-12 ha) in a forest-wetland mosaic. We explore (1) to what extent area, isolation and stand structure variables can explain the variation in species richness and (2) if richness patterns of individual species groups correlate. Isolation showed no relation to species richness. Area explained 50-70% of the variation in total species richness and was positively related to the density of crustose lichens and Red-list species in island interiors. Stand structure variables explained 28-66% of the residual variation in total species richness after controlling for island size, and 15-73% of the variation in density of species in island interiors. The highest predictability of species richness was found among substrate-specific fungi and Red-list species. Different stand structure variables were found to explain richness in the different species groups, and only among a few species groups species richness correlated. Thus, species richness of one single species group is unlikely to be a good indicator for total biodiversity. The results show that measurements of stand size and stand structure variables may be a strong complementary tool. and sometimes a substitute to extensive species inventories when one aims to estimate and monitor plant and fungal species diversity in old-growth Picea abies forests.
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