A high amount of dead wood is one of the most important prerequisites for high biodiversity on forest land in Sweden. Dead wood is most abundant in young forests, thinned forests, woodland key habitats and protected forest land. In old-growth forests most of the dead wood consists of logs and snags, whilst in managed forests a huge proportion of dead wood is made up of logging residues like stumps and FWD, fine woody debris (< 10 cm diameter). All these different types of dead wood may serve as substrates for epixylic Bryophytes and lichens. However, few studies have been conducted on the relative importance of these different fractions of dead wood for the occurrence of Bryophytes and lichens, especially when considering dead wood on thinned forest land.

Dead wood is important for many species. The amount of coarse dead wood (diameter >10 cm) is much lower in managed forest than in unmanaged forests. Stumps constitute the largest proportion of the volume of coarse dead wood in managed forests. Since stump harvest for biofuel may increase, the amount of dead wood will decrease even more, which may threaten biodiversity. The first aim of this study was to compare the amounts of fine woody debris (FWD, .

The reduction of coarse, dead wood is considered to be the biggest threat to flora and faunain boreal forests. Extensive harvest of logging residues would increase this reduction evenmore. However, the role of dead wood created at final felling for boreal, epixylic species isstill largely unclear. It is therefore of interest to examine whether epixylic species inhabit thedead wood in young, boreal stands, especially species considered to be confined to forests inlate successional stages.The aim of this study was to investigate whether forest-interior species in fact can inhabitearly-successional forests arisen after logging. The study was conducted in young standsbordering dead wood rich woodland key habitats.

I dag råder det brist på död ved i Sveriges skogar. Detta på grund av det intensiva skogsbruket där man kalhugger och plockar bort all liggande ved. Dock är det viktigt med många döda träd i olika nedbrytningsstadier för många skogslevande arter. Svenska skogar har få urskogar där naturliga avdödningsprocesser av träd får ske och därför minskar den biologiska mångfalden i skogen. Tre arter som endast trivs i naturskog är tickorna ullticka, Phellinus ferrugineofuscus, gränsticka, Phellinus nigrolimitatus och vedticka, Phellinus viticola.