%0 Research article
%T Amount and diversity of coarse woody debris within a boreal forest landscape dominated by Pinus sylvestris in Vienansalo wilderness, eastern Fennoscandia
%A Karjalainen, Leena
%A Kuuluvainen, Timo
%D 2002
%J Silva Fennica
%V 36
%N 1
%R doi:10.14214/sf.555
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/555
%X The amount, variability, quality and spatial pattern of coarse woody  debris (CWD) on mineral soil sites was studied within a natural Pinus  sylvestris L. dominated boreal forest landscape in Russian Viena  Karelia. Data on the total CWD was collected on 27 sample plots (20 m x  100 m) and data on large CWD was surveyed along four transects (40 m  wide and up to 1000 m long). The mean volume of CWD (standing and down  combined) was 69.5 m3 ha–1, ranging from 22.2 m3 ha–1 to 158.7 m3 ha–1  from plot to plot. On average, 26.9 m3 ha–1 (39%) of CWD was standing  dead wood and 42.7 m3 ha–1 (61%) down dead wood. The CWD displayed a  wide range of variation in tree species, tree size, stage of decay, dead  tree type and structural characteristics, creating a high diversity of  CWD habitats for saproxylic organisms. Large CWD was almost continuously  present throughout the landscape and its overall spatial distribution  was close to random, although a weak autocorrelation pattern was found  at distances less than about 50 m. On small spatial scales total CWD  showed wide variation up to a sample area of about 0.1 ha, beyond which  the variation stabilized. The fire history variables of the sample plots  were not related to the amount of CWD. This and the spatial pattern of  CWD suggest that the CWD dynamics in this landscape was not driven by  fire, but by more or less random mortality of trees due to autogenic  causes of death.