Salvage logging, ecosystem processes, and biodiversity conservation.

摘要: We summarize the documented and potential impacts of salvage logging—a form logging that removes trees other biological material from sites after natural disturbance. Such operations may reduce or eliminate legacies, modify rare postdisturbance habitats, influence populations, alter community composition, impair vegetation recovery, facilitate colonization invasive species, soil prop- erties nutrient levels, increase erosion, hydrological regimes aquatic ecosystems, patterns landscape heterogeneity. These can be assigned to three broad interrelated effects: (1) altered stand structural complexity; (2) ecosystem processes functions; (3) populations species composition. Some different additional effects traditional is not preceded by a large disturbance because conditions before, during, differ those characterize timber harvesting. The often have been overlooked, partly recovery are still poorly understood cumulative human well documented. Ecologically informed policies regarding needed prior major disturbances so when they occur ad hoc crisis-mode decision making avoided. should lead salvage-exemption zones limits on amounts disturbance-derived legacies (e.g., burned trees, logs) removed where takes place. Finally, we believe new terminology needed. word implies something being saved recovered, whereas an ecological perspective this rarely case.