A peer-reviewed open-access journal ZooKeysDeadwood 22: 309–340 and (2009) saproxylic beetle diversity in disturbed and managed spruce forests in Nova Scotia 309 doi: 10.3897/zookeys.22.144 RESEARCH ARTICLE www.pensoftonline.net/zookeys Launched to accelerate biodiversity research Deadwood and saproxylic beetle diversity in naturally disturbed and managed spruce forests in Nova Scotia DeLancey J. Bishop1,4, Christopher G. Majka2, Søren Bondrup-Nielsen3, Stewart B. Peck1 1 Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 2 c/o Nova Scotia Museum, 1747 Summer St., Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada 3 Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada 4 RR 5, Canning, Nova Scotia, Canada Corresponding author: Christopher G. Majka (
[email protected]) Academic editor: Jan Klimaszewski | Received 26 March 2009 | Accepted 6 April 2009 | Published 28 September 2009 Citation: Bishop DJ, Majka CG, Bondrup-Nielsen S, Peck SB (2009) Deadwood and saproxylic beetle diversity in naturally disturbed and managed spruce forests in Nova Scotia In: Majka CG, Klimaszewski J (Eds) Biodiversity, Bio- systematics, and Ecology of Canadian Coleoptera II. ZooKeys 22: 309–340. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.22.144 Abstract Even-age industrial forestry practices may alter communities of native species. Th us, identifying coarse patterns of species diversity in industrial forests and understanding how and why these patterns diff er from those in naturally disturbed forests can play an essential role in attempts to modify forestry practices to minimize their impacts on native species. Th is study compares diversity patterns of deadwood habitat structure and saproxylic beetle species in spruce forests with natural disturbance histories (wind and fi re) and human disturbance histories (clearcutting and clearcutting with thinning).