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Lithuania and Southern Sweden share similar natural conditions, but differ considerably in forest policies and management; thereby providing an opportune basis for comparative studies. Since the 1990s, Sweden has attempted to reduce the negative impact of its forest management on biodiversity, after decades of intensive production forestry. In contrast, Lithuania has been intensifying forestry practices associated with the post-soviet socio-economic transition. Here we assess the actual outcomes by comparing selected forest structure and composition variables known to be indicators for forest biodiversity; and estimate the prospective trends by scrutinising current forest policies and management. Our results indicate that Lithuanian forests consistently possessed higher rankings in six indices related to tree species composition, stand age, and deadwood quantities that are positively associated with forest biodiversity. The reverse is indicated by those data on stand age and tree diameter that are associated with centennial dynamics in forest utilisation intensity. With respect to policy instruments, Lithuania designates a substantially greater share of forest area to non-timber functions and legislates more severe management restrictions in forests targeting timber production. Concurrently, all estimates of forestry activities indicate more intensive forest management in Southern Sweden, including a higher share of artificial regeneration and shorter rotations. This allows concluding that, if current forest management practices persist, then an increased "biodiversity gap" may be expected between the two countries. The study concludes with discussing to what degree the identified trends are the direct product of targeted policies versus merely by-products of other factors.

A total of 6444 Crocodylus porosus (4303 non-hatchlings and 2141 hatchlings) were recorded during 196 vessel-based surveys of 103 waterways to determine the distribution and abundance of Crocodylus porosus in Queensland. The surveys, conducted from January 1994 to December 2000, covered 4174.3 km of waterway. Population structure was biased towards immature crocodiles, with 91% of all animals sighted being less than the minimum breeding size for individuals in the Northern Territory. The mean relative density of non-hatchling C. porosus was highest in waterways of north-western Cape York Peninsula and Lakefield National Park, and lowest for waterways along the populated east coast of Queensland. The highest numbers of hatchlings were recorded from waterways of north-western Cape York Peninsula, where nearly 74% of all hatchlings were recorded during the seven-year survey period. The C. porosus population in northern Queensland appears to be undergoing a limited recovery, with marginal increases in the mean relative density of non-hatchlings in seven of the eight crocodile biogeographic regions. On the basis of the distribution and abundance of hatchling and non-hatchling crocodiles, the north-western Cape York Peninsula region contains the best habitat for C. porosus in Queensland, particularly in the Wenlock River and Tentpole Creek area.

Monitoring of forest biodiversity and habitats is an important part of forest conservation, but due to the impossible task of monitoring all species, indicator species are frequently used. However, reliance on an incorrect indicator of valuable habitat can reduce the efficiency of conservation efforts. Birds are often used as indicators as they are charismatic, relatively easy to survey, and because we often have knowledge of their habitat and resource requirements. In the Swedish government's environmental quality goals, there are a number of bird species identified as being associated with 'older' and 'high natural value' forests. Here we evaluate the occurrence of four of these indicator species using data from 91 production forest stands and 10 forest reserves in southern Sweden. The bird species assessed are willow tit Poecile montanus, coal tit Periparus ater, European crested tit Lophophanes cristatus and Eurasian treecreeper Certhia familiaris. For the production stands assessed, these indicator species exhibited no significant preferences regarding forest composition and structure, indicating a wider range of habitat associations than expected. These species frequently showed territorial behavior in forest stands = 10 years old included at least one of the four indicator species, this raises questions regarding the suitability of these species as indictors of forests of high conservational value in southern Sweden. Notably, besides the four species assessed here, none of the additional indicator taxa identified by the government, were recorded in the 10 reserves. This outcome may reflect the difficulties involved in finding bird indicator species indicative of high natural values in this region. Our results highlight the importance of coupling bird surveys with quantified assessments of proximate vegetation cover.

WOS:000584777900001 ; Europe's forests provide vital habitat for biodiversity and essential ecosystem services whose provision must be sustained or enhanced over the coming century. However, the potential to secure or increase forest ecosystem services, while securing the habitat requirements of taxa remains unclear, especially within the context of uncertain climate and socio-economic developments. To tease out the associated trade-offs and synergies, we used 10 case study landscapes within nine countries throughout Europe. Starting with the current status of the forests in the case study landscapes, we simulated forest development 100 years into the future. Simulations were embedded in three combined climate and socio-economic frame scenarios based on global and European policies which varied in their climate change mitigation efficiency. Scenarios were translated into country specific projections of climate variables, and resultant demands for wood products. Forest management regimes were projected to vary in response to these scenarios at local scales. The specific combinations of alternative forest management practices were based on parallel research and input from local forest stakeholders. For each case study, a specific forest growth simulator was used. In general, the climate scenarios applied did not cause fundamentally different ecosystem service outputs at the case study level. Our results revealed almost no reduction in outcomes for biodiversity indicators with an increase in wood production, and in some cases synergistic results occurred when diversity was actively promoted as part of the management concept. Net carbon uptake was not strongly correlated with biodiversity, indicating that biodiversity-friendly forest management doesn't need to curtail carbon sequestration. Notably, we obtained heterogeneous results for the relation between sustainable wood production and net carbon uptake. Most scenarios resulted in a more or less reduced net carbon uptake over the long term, often due to stand age class distribution shifts. Levels of sustainable wood production varied widely during the simulation period, from significant increases (Sweden, Lithuania) to minor changes (Slovakia, Turkey) and slight decreases (Ireland, Netherlands). We place our results within the larger context of European forest policy and the challenges of simulating and contrasting forest biodiversity and the ecosystem services that societies depend on. ; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [676754]; Forest Research Centre - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia I. P. (FCT), Portugal [UIDB/00239/2020]; Centre for Applied Ecology Prof. Baeta Neves (CEABN-InBIO) - FEDER through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE; FCTPortuguese Foundation for Science and TechnologyEuropean Commission [UID/BIA/50027/2013, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006821] ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 676754 (ALTERFOR). This research also received the support of the Forest Research Centre, a research unit funded by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia I. P. (FCT), Portugal (UIDB/00239/2020) and of the Centre for Applied Ecology Prof. Baeta Neves (CEABN-InBIO), a research unit funded by FEDER through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE and by FCT under the [UID/BIA/50027/2013] and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006821.

There are three key drivers of the biodiversity crisis: (1) the well known existing threats to biodiversity such as habitat loss, invasive pest species and resource exploitation; (2) direct effects of climate-change, such as on coastal and high elevation

Europe's forests provide vital habitat for biodiversity and essential ecosystem services whose provision must be sustained or enhanced over the coming century. However, the potential to secure or increase forest ecosystem services, while securing the habitat requirements of taxa remains unclear, especially within the context of uncertain climate and socio-economic developments. To tease out the associated trade-offs and synergies, we used 10 case study landscapes within nine countries throughout Europe. Starting with the current status of the forests in the case study landscapes, we simulated forest development 100 years into the future. Simulations were embedded in three combined climate and socio-economic frame scenarios based on global and European policies which varied in their climate change mitigation efficiency. Scenarios were translated into country specific projections of climate variables, and resultant demands for wood products. Forest management regimes were projected to vary in response to these scenarios at local scales. The specific combinations of alternative forest management practices were based on parallel research and input from local forest stakeholders. For each case study, a specific forest growth simulator was used. In general, the climate scenarios applied did not cause fundamentally different ecosystem service outputs at the case study level. Our results revealed almost no reduction in outcomes for biodiversity indicators with an increase in wood production, and in some cases synergistic results occurred when diversity was actively promoted as part of the management concept. Net carbon uptake was not strongly correlated with biodiversity, indicating that biodiversity-friendly forest management doesn't need to curtail carbon sequestration. Notably, we obtained heterogeneous results for the relation between sustainable wood production and net carbon uptake. Most scenarios resulted in a more or less reduced net carbon uptake over the long term, often due to stand age class distribution shifts. Levels of sustainable wood production varied widely during the simulation period, from significant increases (Sweden, Lithuania) to minor changes (Slovakia, Turkey) and slight decreases (Ireland, Netherlands). We place our results within the larger context of European forest policy and the challenges of simulating and contrasting forest biodiversity and the ecosystem services that societies depend on. ; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [676754]; Forest Research Centre - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia I. P. (FCT), Portugal [UIDB/00239/2020]; Centre for Applied Ecology Prof. Baeta Neves (CEABN-InBIO) - FEDER through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE; FCTPortuguese Foundation for Science and TechnologyEuropean Commission [UID/BIA/50027/2013, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006821] ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 676754 (ALTERFOR). This research also received the support of the Forest Research Centre, a research unit funded by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia I. P. (FCT), Portugal (UIDB/00239/2020) and of the Centre for Applied Ecology Prof. Baeta Neves (CEABN-InBIO), a research unit funded by FEDER through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE and by FCT under the [UID/BIA/50027/2013] and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006821. ; WOS:000584777900001 ; 2-s2.0-85094669827

The extent to which scientific knowledge translates into practice is a pervasive question. We analysed to what extent and how ecological scientists gave input to policy for two approaches advocated for promoting forest biodiversity in production forests in Sweden: green-tree retention (GTR) and continuous-cover forestry (CCF). GTR was introduced into forest policy in the 1970s and became widely implemented in the 1990s. Ecological scientists took part in the policy process by providing expert opinions, educational activities and as lobbyists, long before research confirming the positive effects of GTR on biodiversity was produced. In contrast, CCF was essentially banned in forest legislation in 1979. In the 1990s, policy implicitly opened up for CCF implementation, but CCF still remains largely a rare silvicultural outlier. Scientific publications addressing CCF appeared earlier than GTR studies, but with less focus on the effects on biodiversity. Ecological scientists promoted CCF in certain areas, but knowledge from other disciplines and other socio-political factors appear to have been more important than ecological arguments in the case of CCF. The wide uptake of GTR was enhanced by its consistency with the silvicultural knowledge and normative values that forest managers had adopted for almost a century, whereas CCF challenged those ideas. Public pressure and institutional requirements were also key to GTR implementation but were not in place for CCF. Thus, scientific ecological knowledge may play an important role for policy uptake and development, but knowledge from other research disciplines and socio-political factors are also important.