{"id":39719,"date":"2026-11-08T10:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T09:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=39719"},"modified":"2026-11-08T10:20:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T09:20:56","slug":"dead-wood-living-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2026\/11\/08\/dead-wood-living-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"Dead wood, living forest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83c\udf32 Climate change and massive loss of species diversity are among the most significant environmental challenges of our time. Forest ecosystems play a key role in solving both of these problems \u2013 they serve as a significant carbon sink and provide refuge for thousands of species<!--more--> organisms. European environmental policy has long assumed that measures to increase carbon storage will automatically benefit nature conservation. The latest large-scale <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-026-68668-x.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">research<\/span><\/a> published in the journal <em>Nature Communications<\/em> (Balducci et al., 2026) shows, however, that this assumption is simplistic and the potential for mutually beneficial synergies (so-called win-win effects) between carbon storage and biodiversity protection in European forests is significantly limited.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h5>Research scope and methodological approach<\/h5>\n<p>The study authors aimed to assess the relationships between aboveground carbon stocks and species richness of six key taxa across Europe. They used the European database from the Bottoms-Up platform, which brings together harmonised field data from 12 European countries. The research sample included <strong>7,971 research sites, 3,520 species and more than 140,000 field observations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The following groups of organisms were analyzed in the study:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>vascular plants<\/strong>,<\/li>\n<li><strong>epiphytic and epixylic bryophytes<\/strong>,<\/li>\n<li><strong>epiphytic and epixylic lichens<\/strong>,<\/li>\n<li><strong>wood-decaying fungi<\/strong>,<\/li>\n<li><strong>saproxylic beetles<\/strong>,<\/li>\n<li><strong>birds<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The assessment focused on three distinct above-ground carbon pools: <strong>living standing trees<\/strong> (living biomass), <strong>standing dead wood<\/strong> (dead standing trees and trunks) and <strong>lying dead wood<\/strong> (fallen trunks and branches). Advanced statistical models based on decision trees (Boosted Regression Trees \u2013 BRT) were used to evaluate the relationships.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h5>Living biomass is not a universal indicator of biodiversity<\/h5>\n<p>Between 1990 and 2020, the carbon stock in the living biomass of European forests increased from 8 to almost 12 billion tonnes. Although around 30 % of forest area in Europe is classified as habitats with conservation value, up to <strong>80 % forest habitat assessments show an unfavorable conservation status<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The study confirmed that carbon accumulation in the living biomass of standing trees is not a reliable proxy for overall forest biodiversity. The relationship between living biomass and species richness for most taxa was weak or neutral. The exception was wood-destroying fungi, which responded positively to the increase in living biomass. In contrast, in vascular plants, when the stock of living biomass increased above approximately 1 t C\/ha, <strong>a significant decrease in species richness<\/strong>. This decline is mainly due to reduced light availability on the forest floor beneath the dense, connected canopy.<\/p>\n<p>In commercial forests, high stocks of living biomass are often achieved by growing even-aged, homogeneous stands of fast-growing woody species. While these stands sequester significant amounts of carbon, they lack the structural diversity and ecological continuity required by many specialist species.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h5>The key role of dead wood for forest diversity<\/h5>\n<p>Unlike living biomass, carbon stocks in dead wood have been shown to be a crucial factor in maintaining the species richness of several groups of organisms. Dead wood accounts for approximately 7 % of the total wood stocks in Europe and plays an irreplaceable role in nutrient cycling and food webs.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lying dead wood<\/strong>: Analyses showed a very strong positive effect of lying dead wood on the species richness of wood-destroying fungi and lichens. The species richness of fungi increased sharply even at low lying wood stocks (from 0.03 t C\/ha). Lichens required higher stocks (from 0.1 t C\/ha), which is related to the need for specific light conditions in the gaps in the stands.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Standing dead wood<\/strong>: Standing dead wood had the most significant positive effect on saproxylic beetles and wood-decaying fungi (the increase in species richness started from 0.1 t C\/ha). The higher benefit of standing dead wood for beetles is mainly related to the larger size of dead trunks, which provide a stable substrate for the development of their larvae.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition to carbon stocks, environmental and management factors, especially altitude and the cultivation system used, also had a significant impact on species richness.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h5>Implications for European forestry policy and practice<\/h5>\n<p>The study&#039;s findings are of fundamental importance for the reassessment of European and global climate policies. Current initiatives and legislative frameworks (such as <a href=\"https:\/\/redd.unfccc.int\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">REDD+<\/span><\/a>, regulation <a href=\"https:\/\/unfccc.int\/topics\/land-use\/workstreams\/land-use--land-use-change-and-forestry-lulucf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">LULUCF<\/span><\/a> or the EU Forest Strategy by 2030 to plant 3 billion trees) are predominantly focused on increasing carbon stocks in living above-ground biomass. However, if in practice the accumulation of living biomass is exclusively prioritised, this can lead to the homogenisation of stands and the suppression of light-dependent and deadwood species.<\/p>\n<p>Another risk is the growing demand for woody biomass as a substitute for fossil fuels. In 2022, approximately <strong>24 % of EU log harvest used as fuelwood<\/strong>. Increased removal of logging residues from forest ecosystems reduces deadwood stocks and directly threatens endangered saproxylic species.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h5>The path to integrated management<\/h5>\n<p>The authors of the study emphasize that policy frameworks and national forest inventories must stop viewing living biomass as a universal proxy for biodiversity. To achieve sustainable management, it is necessary to move towards close-to-nature forest management (<em>closer-to-nature forest management<\/em>This approach combines the maintenance of a stock of living biomass with the active retention of standing and lying dead wood, ensuring long-term carbon storage and the protection of the complex diversity of European forests. <em><strong>JRi&amp;CO2AI\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83c\udf32 Climate change and massive loss of species diversity are among the most significant environmental challenges of our time. Forest ecosystems play a key role in solving both of these problems \u2013 they serve as a significant carbon sink and provide refuge for thousands of species<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":39725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biodiverzita","category-klimaticka-zmena"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39719"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39726,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39719\/revisions\/39726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}