A. Berg et al., THREATENED PLANT, ANIMAL, AND FUNGUS SPECIES IN SWEDISH FORESTS - DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT ASSOCIATIONS, Conservation biology, 8(3), 1994, pp. 718-731
Swedish forestry is among the most technically developed in the world;
a large part of all forest is used for commercial forestry, which has
had a large impact on the structure and function of forest ecosystems
. We have compiled present knowledge on the distribution and habitat a
ssociations of 1487 threatened forest species in Sweden, made an attem
pt to identify structures and elements that are critical for their occ
urrence, and suggest guidelines for the maintenance of threatened fore
st species. Habitat associations and distribution patterns of the thre
atened species were roughly the same for all organism groups. A signif
icantly higher proportion of the 1487 species in all organism groups (
cryptogams, vascular plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates) were foun
d in the south (temperature/hemiboreal region) than in the north (hemi
arctic/boreal region) of Sweden. For each organism group, the southern
deciduous forest contained the most threatened species. Coniferous fo
rests and other deciduous forests were also relatively species-rich, w
hile deforested areas and scrub areas were the least species-rich habi
tats for the studied species. Most groups were dependent on specific e
lements in the habitat, which all were characteristic of old forests.
Old living trees (especially deciduous trees) were critical for verteb
rates, invertebrates, and cryptogams. Logs were critical for invertebr
ates and cryptogams. Snags were especially important for invertebrates
and to some extent for vertebrates and cryptogams. Vascular plants we
re more dependent on abiotic factors and stand/site-related factors, s
uch as forest density and forest age, than were the other groups. All
groups, however, were largely dependent on old forests or habitat elem
ents associated with old forests. The threatened populations of forest
species of international importance (supposed endemics to Scandinavia
or with more than 10% of the European population in Sweden) were foun
d to a relatively large extent in coniferous forests in the north of S
weden, while the other threatened species were more restricted to deci
duous forests in the south.