Abstract
The resilience, i.e. the ability of system to resist disturbance and the rate at which it returns to equilibrium following disturbance to a large degree determines the fragility of an ecosystem to disturbance caused by human activities. An understanding of the factors governing ecological resilience is the basis for developing management strategies for maintaining biodiversity The overall aim with this project is to analyse resilience of the communities of saproxylic coleoptera and, a severely neglected group of insects, saproxylic parasitic wasps to disturbance resulting from forest practise and, by that, identify resource-efficient ways to promote biodiversity on ecosystem level, thus minimizing overall species loss.We will use a unique field experiment that was started in 2001 mainly with support from the faculty of forestry at SLU and forest companies. The experiment consist of ten localities in northern Sweden, each consisting of three sites, a forest reserve, a mature managed forest and a fresh clear-cut in close vicinity. PCA-analyses utilizing all of this information and information on differences in habitat and subtrate character will be used to identify the combinations of factors correlated with highest species diversity but also to identify species for which specific measures need to be taken. This will form the basis for our recommendation of the most resource-efficient ways that promote biodiversity on ecosystem level, thus minimizing overall species loss.
Sweden