Lichen species diversity and substrate amounts in young planted boreal forests: A comparison between slash and stumps of Picea abies

The increasing demand for biofuel may decrease the dead wood supply in managed forests, and hence the amount of substrate available for dead wood dependent species. Slash is already being harvested for biofuel purposes, and stumps are an even bigger potential source of wood fuel. Both substrates constitute a major component of dead wood in managed forests, but have been poorly studied in terms of lichen diversity. We compared lichen species diversity between the lateral surface of slash and the cut surface of stumps of Norway spruce in planted boreonemoral Swedish forests of four age classes; 4–5, 8–9, 12–13, and 16–18 years. We also estimated the amounts of the two substrates, and discriminated between slash with bark and decorticated slash. There were no differences in species number per surface area, but slash had more species when equal volumes were compared. We found compositional differences between slash and stumps throughout the decay process. The majority of species found on both substrates were more frequent on stumps, which also had a higher number of unique species and species in the literature indicated as nationally rare or uncommon. The volume per hectare of stumps was ten times greater than that of slash but conversely, the lateral surface area of slash was five times greater than the cut surface area of stumps. Few dead wood specialist lichen species were, however, strictly associated with slash, whereas stumps offer a more heterogeneous environment and may provide important habitats for rare lichens in the managed forest landscape.