Count on dead wood : a comparison of nature conservation value assessment methods concerning dead wood

Sammanfattning: Dead wood is acknowledged world-wide for its interconnection to biodiversity and sustainable forest management. In Sweden, today’s retention forestry requires measures to protect and create dead wood, which raise the need of inventory methods for estimating dead wood quantity and quality. There are however few evidence-based dead wood conservation value assessment methods, why this study aims at investigating the cost-efficiency and performance of two unconventional conservation assessment methods. The study was conducted in spruce dominated stands in Gävleborg county, which either had been clear-cut or set aside as retention. The Relascope method used a relascope to conduct dead wood measurements. The Triangle-transect method measured dead wood along three transects, established to form a triangle shape. A total inventory on sample plot level, the Sample plot method, was used for evaluation. Both methods were good proxies for dead wood volume on a plot level, though their performance for estimating volume and dead wood diversity varied dependent on forest types on stand level. Both methods were significantly faster than the Sample plot method. The results show a potential cost reduction in forest management, though further studies are needed to improve quantitative and qualitative measures of both methods before applying them in active forest management.