Biodiversity

Key Findings

Maintaining biodiversity is a key component of sustainable forest management that contributes to critical ecological functions, like pollination and nutrient cycling, and supports resilience in the face of environmental changes. Researchers at EMEND have examined the effects of variable retention harvesting on a wide variety of species, including plants, invertebrates, mammals, birds and more.

Key findings related to biodiversity at EMEND include:

  1. Increasing retention from 2% to 10% enhances biodiversity by increasing landscape structure and providing habitat diversity for various species groups.

  2. A combination of dispersed and patch retention benefits a variety of species and mitigates windthrow.

  3. Locating retention in deciduous, mixedwood and coniferous forests based on moisture levels can enhance biodiversity conservation by preserving important habitat conditions.

  4. Retention accelerates recovery of some species and species groups, especially in deciduous sites, contributing to ecosystem resilience and species persistence.

  5. Controlled burns following retention harvest fosters understory plant cover and diversity and maintains species composition for a variety of species.

Biodiversity Briefing Note

A series of briefing notes were developed to synthesize EMEND research over the past 17 years, covering various topics including biodiversity, soil management, carbon dynamics, and silvicultural strategies. These briefing notes provide a comprehensive overview of key findings for each topic and include management implications for forest managers to inform decision-making and sustainable forest management practices.

Additionally, several EMEND infographics and Sustainable Forest Management Network research notes have been produced throughout the years. Find summaries of the briefing notes, direct links to each note, and links to related EMEND Insights, infographics and research notes on each topic page.

For a complete list of references for the EMEND Biodiversity briefing note, click here.

Learn More

Click on the links below to learn more about biodiversity findings at EMEND.

EMEND Biodiversity Infographic
EMEND Insight #11: Managing coarse woody debris in harvested landscapes
EMEND Insight #12: Dispersed retention improves the conservation value of small retention patches
Research Note #74: How retention patches influence biodiversity in cutblocks


Invertebrates
EMEND Insights #2: Gatekeepers of the forest: the ichneumonids of EMEND
EMEND Insights #3: Spider responses to variable retention harvesting: biodiversity lessons learned from the EMEND project
EMEND Insights #4: Large retention patches support moth biodiversity
EMEND Insights #5: Life after death: the importance of deadwood for beetles in the boreal forest
EMEND Insights #7: Bumble bees and cut-blocks: how harvesting affects forest pollinators
EMEND Insights #8: Using ecosite classification to predict beetle diversity and key habitats for uncommon species
EMEND Insights #9: Retention patch size influences saproxylic beetle conservation in white spruce stands
EMEND Insights #20: Benefits of green-tree retention for ground beetles take time
Research Note #42: Deadwood-associated insect biodiversity in mixedwood forests

Birds
EMEND Insights #6: The role of retention and reserves in the conservation of forest bird communities
EMEND Insights #19: Who lives where? responses to forestry by cavity-nesting owls

Amphibians
EMEND Insights #15: Identifying high-quality wood frog breeding wetlands for protection during harvest

Gastropods
EMEND Insights #10: Gastropods: slugging away at the ecology of a little-known forest animal

Plants
EMEND Insights #17: Dispersed retention improves the conservation value of retention patches for plants
EMEND Insights #18: Using wet areas mapping to plan retention placement: lessons from the understory
EMEND Insights #21: Using wet areas mapping to plan retention for bryophytes
Research Note #63: Bryophyte conservation in the managed boreal mixedwood mosaic
Research Note #65: The understory story: variable retention impacts on vascular plants at EMEND
Research Note #72: Understory plant diversity and composition in boreal mixedwood forests