article id 86,
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                            Stumps from clear cuts are increasingly used for bioenergy. Extracting  this wood will reduce the habitat available for saproxylic (wood-living)  organisms. As little is known about the species assemblages that will  be affected, we investigated the diversity of saproxylic beetles in  stumps on clear-felled sites and as a reference, we compared it with the  diversity in downed logs. Stumps and logs of aspen (Populus tremula  L.), birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh. and B. verrucosa Ehrh.[syn. B.  pendula Roth]), spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and pine (Pinus  sylvestris L.) were examined in clear cuts of two different ages: one  summer old and 4–5 years old. The beetles were sampled by sieving bark  (0.25 m2) peeled from the wood. The samples were taken in  pairs of one log and one stump situated close together and of the same  tree species, age since death and diameter. In total 3348 saproxylic  beetles belonging to 124 species were found in 176 samples. The stumps  had a similar number of species to the logs both as measured per sample  and as an accumulated number. Exceptions were 4–5 years old wood of  birch and pine where the number was significantly higher in the stumps.  The number of red-listed species was also similar between stumps and  logs. Species composition was more different between the stumps and logs  of conifers than of deciduous trees. We conclude that clear-felled  stumps have a diverse saproxylic insect fauna. This has to be taken into  account if large scale extraction of logging stumps is implemented.
                        
                
                                            - 
                            Jonsell,
                            Swedish University of Agrarian Sciences, Dept of Ecology, Uppsala, Sweden
                                                        E-mail:
                                                            mats.jonsell@ekol.slu.se
                                                                                        
                                                     
                                            - 
                            Hansson,
                            Swedish University of Agrarian Sciences, Dept of Ecology, Uppsala, Sweden
                                                        E-mail:
                                                            jh@nn.se