title: Forest Edge Regrowth Typologies in Southern Sweden-Relationship to Environmental Characteristics and Implications for Management.
abstract: After two major storms, the Swedish Transport Administration was granted permission in 2008 to expand the railroad corridor from 10 to 20 m from the rail banks, and to clear the forest edges in the expanded area. In order to evaluate the possibilities for managers to promote and control the species composition of the woody regrowth so that a forest edge with a graded profile develops over time, this study mapped the woody regrowth and environmental variables at 78 random sites along the 610-km railroad between Stockholm and Malmö four growing seasons after the clearing was implemented. Through different clustering approaches, dominant tree species to be controlled and future building block species for management were identified. Using multivariate regression trees, the most decisive environmental variables were identified and used to develop a regrowth typology and to calculate species indicator values. Five regrowth types and ten indicator species were identified along the environmental gradients of soil moisture, soil fertility, and altitude. Six tree species dominated the regrowth across the regrowth types, but clustering showed that if these were controlled by selective thinning, lower tree and shrub species were generally present so they could form the "building blocks" for development of a graded edge. We concluded that selective thinning targeted at controlling a few dominant tree species, here named Functional Species Control, is a simple and easily implemented management concept to promote a wide range of suitable species, because it does not require field staff with specialist taxonomic knowledge.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Landscape Planning, Horticulture and Agricultural Science, Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 66, Alnarp, 23053, Sweden. bjorn.wistrom@slu.se.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0179-0062
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wiström
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Landscape Planning, Horticulture and Agricultural Science, Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 66, Alnarp, 23053, Sweden.|Faculty of Science, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Section for Landscape Architecture and Planning, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, Frederiksberg C, 1958, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Busse Nielsen
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D016468:Forestry / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D065928:Forests; D033161:Government Regulation; D011897:Random Allocation; D012621:Seasons; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D013548:Sweden; D014186:Transportation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: Forest edge; Management; Railroad; Right-of-way; Succession