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Indicator Specification
MAIN ADVANTAGES OF THE INDICATOR
Volume of standing and lying deadwood in forest and other wooded land, classified by forest type (Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) (MCPFE) definition). In national forest inventories, countries generally classify according to type (standing, snags, lying, species and state of decay).
No units have been specified
Deadwood (coarse woody debris) in form of snags (dead standing trees) and logs (dead lying trees) is a habitat for a wide array of organisms and after humification an important component of forest soil. Some species are dependent, during some part of their life cycle, to find a place to live, either on the surface or in cavities/protected places of dead or dying wood of moribund or dead trees (standing and fallen), or upon wood-inhabiting fungi or other species. Because of lack of deadwood in multipurpose forests many of the species dependent on deadwood are endangered.
At present it is still debated what amount of deadwood is required in order to maintain the most valuable species and under what circumstances the accumulated deadwood component may give rise to a risk for insect outbreaks.
Decaying wood habitats are important components of biodiversity in European forests and recognised as an indicator for assessing and monitoring biodiversity as well as sustainable forest management.
No targets have been specified
No related policy documents have been specified
Definition of terms:
Terminology is well defined for international reporting by MCPFE. Dead wood (coarse woody debris) as such as well as the methodology for reporting of volume are thus defined by MCPFE.
On a national scale monitoring of deadwood is carried out in several National forest Inventories (NFIs). Work towards harmonisation of terminology is carried out by the COST E43 action. This comprises type classification (standing, bending, lying) as well as potentially important additional parameter (Uprooted stems, Clearcut stems, Pieces of stems, Cut branches, Uprooted staves, Logging residues, Fine woody debris, Intact snags, Broken snags, Broken, lying stems without uprooting). There are several approaches to register state of decay, most commonly this is classified in 5 classes. Noting the tree species is desirable but data are not collected by everybody.
MCPFE has defined the following reporting of the indicator "Deadwood":
Measurement units
Figures to be reported on
Minimum length and diameter of standing and lying dead trees
Standing deadwood: 10 cm d.b.h.
Lying deadwood: 10 cm mean diameter.
Forest type
A European Forest Types classification has been proposed to MCPFE (EEA, 2006).
No methodology for gap filling has been specified. Probably this info has been added together with indicator calculation.
No uncertainty has been specified
No uncertainty has been specified
MAIN DISADVANTAGES OF THE INDICATOR
ANALYSIS OF OPTIONS
The 35 MCPFE quantitative indicators (http://www.mcpfe.org/documents/r_2007/ici)
all relate to sustainable forestry management. From this set, those with most direct relevance to biodiversity were selected.
Work specified here requires to be completed within 1 year from now.
Work specified here will require more than 1 year (from now) to be completed.
No resource needs have been specified
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/forest-deadwood or scan the QR code.
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