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ISSN: 1412-033X E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Journal of Biological Diversity Volume 16 – Number 1 – April 2015 ISSN/E-ISSN: 1412-033X (printed edition), 2085-4722 (electronic) EDITORIAL BOARD (COMMUNICATING EDITORS): Abdel Fattah N.A. Rabou (Palestine), Alan J. Lymbery (Australia), Alireza Ghanadi (Iran), Ankur Patwardhan (India), Bambang H. Saharjo (Indonesia), Daiane H. Nunes (Brazil), Ghulam Hassan Dar (India), Guofan Shao (USA), Faiza Abbasi (India), Hassan Pourbabaei (Iran), Hwan Su Yoon (South Korea), I Made Sudiana (Indonesia), Ivan Zambrana-Flores (United Kingdom), Joko R. Witono (Indonesia), Katsuhiko Kondo (Japan), Krishna Raj (India), Livia Wanntorp (Sweden), M. Jayakara Bhandary (India), Mahdi Reyahi-Khoram (Iran), Mahendra K. Rai (India), Mahesh K. Adhikari (Nepal), María La Torre Cuadros (Peru), Maria Panitsa (Greece), Muhammad Akram (Pakistan), Muhammad Iqbal (Indonesia), Mochamad A. Soendjoto (Indonesia), Mohib Shah (Pakistan), Mohamed M.M. Najim (Srilanka), Pawan K. Bharti (India), Paul K. Mbugua (Kenya), Rasool B. Tareen (Pakistan), Seweta Srivastava (India), Seyed Aliakbar Hedayati (Iran), Shahabuddin (Indonesia), Shahir Shamsir (Malaysia), Shri Kant Tripathi (India), Stavros Lalas (Greece), Subhash Santra (India), Sugiyarto (Indonesia), T.N.Prakash Kammardi (India) EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: S u t a r n o EDITORIAL MEMBERS: English Editors: Suranto, Wiryono ([email protected]); Technical Editor & Banking: Solichatun ([email protected]) Distribution & Marketing: Rita Rakhmawati ([email protected]); Webmaster: Ari Pitoyo ([email protected]) MANAGING EDITORS: Ahmad Dwi Setyawan ([email protected]) PUBLISHER: The Society for Indonesian Biodiversity CO-PUBLISHER: Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta ADDRESS: Jl. Ir. Sutami 36A Surakarta 57126. Tel. +62-271-7994097, Tel. & Fax.: +62-271-663375, Email: [email protected] ONLINE: biodiversitas.mipa.uns.ac.id EXPERTISE AND CORRESPONDING EMAIL OF THE COMMUNICATING EDITORS: GENETIC DIVERSITY: Alan J. Lymbery ([email protected]), Hwan Su Yoon ([email protected]), Mahendra K. Rai ([email protected]). SPECIES DIVERSITY: Joko R. Witono ([email protected]), Katsuhiko Kondo ([email protected]), Livia Wanntorp ([email protected]), Mahesh K. Adhikari ([email protected]), Maria Panitsa ([email protected]), Mohib Shah ([email protected]), Paul K. Mbugua ([email protected]), Rasool B. Tareen ([email protected]). ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY: Abdel Fattah N.A. Rabou ([email protected]), Alireza Ghanadi ([email protected]), Ankur Patwardhan ([email protected]), Bambang H. Saharjo ([email protected]), Daiane H. Nunes ([email protected]), Faiza Abbasi ([email protected]), Ghulam Hassan Dar ([email protected]), Guofan Shao ([email protected]), Hassan Pourbabaei ([email protected]), I Made Sudiana ([email protected]), Ivan Zambrana-Flores ([email protected]), Krishna Raj ([email protected]), Mahdi Reyahi-Khoram ([email protected]), Muhammad Iqbal ([email protected]), Mochamad A. Soendjoto ([email protected]), Mohamed M.M. Najim ([email protected]), Pawan K. Bharti ([email protected]), Seweta Srivastava ([email protected]), Seyed Aliakbar Hedayati ([email protected]), Shahabuddin ([email protected]), Shahir Shamsir ([email protected]), Shri Kant Tripathi ([email protected]), Stavros Lalas ([email protected]), Subhash Santra ([email protected]), Sugiyarto ([email protected]), T.N. Prakash Kammardi ([email protected]). ETHNOBIOLOGY: M. Jayakara Bhandary ([email protected]), María La Torre Cuadros ([email protected]), Muhammad Akram ([email protected]). Society for Indonesia Sebelas Maret University Biodiversity Surakarta BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 16, Number 1, April 2015 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 1-9 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d160101 Effects of timber harvest on structural diversity and species composition in hardwood forests FARZAM TAVANKAR1,♥, AMIR ESLAM BONYAD2 1Department of Forestry, Khalkhal Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khalkhal, Iran. P.O. Box 56817-31367, Tel.: +98 4532451220-2, Fax: +98 42549050452, ♥email: [email protected] 2Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Somehsara, Iran. Manuscript received: 13 August 2014. Revision accepted: 10 September 2014. Abstract. Tavankar F, Bonyad AE. 2015. Effects of timber harvest on structural diversity and species composition in hardwood forests. Biodiversitas 16: 1-9. Forest management leads to changes in structure and species composition of stands. In this research vertical and horizontal structure and species composition were compared in two harvested and protected stands in the Caspian forest of Iran. The results indicated the tree and seedling density, total basal area and stand volume was significantly (P < 0.01) higher in the protected stand. The Fagus orientalis L. had the most density and basal area in the both stands. Species importance value (SIV) of Fagus orientalis in the protected stand (92.5) was higher than in the harvested stand (88.5). While, the SIV of shade-intolerant tree species such as Acer insigne, Acer cappadocicum and Alnus subcordata was higher in the harvested stand. The density of trees and seedling of rare tree species, such as Ulmus glabra, Tilia begonifolia, Zelkova carpinifolia and Fraxinus coriarifolia, was also higher in the protected stand. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index in the protected stand (0.84) was significantly higher (P < 0.01) than in the harvested stand (0.72). The highest diversity value in the harvested stand was observed in DBH of 10-40 cm class, while DBH of 40-70 cm had the highest diversity value in the protected stand. Key words: Beech stands, Shannon-Wiener index, stand structure, uneven aged management. INTRODUCTION maintained by managing the structural diversity of stands is a common argument among researchers (Buongiorno et al. One main principle of biodiversity protection in multiple 1994; Lindenmayer and Franklin 1997; Sullivan et al. management of national forest is the protection of stands 2001; Franklin et al. 2002; Kant 2002; Varga et al. 2005). structure composition (Eyre et al. 2010; Sohrabi et al. Some silvicultural practices can enhance biological 2011). In forest science, stand structure refers to the within- diversity in managed forests, such as retaining old trees stand distribution of trees and other plants characteristics (Seymour and Hunter 1999), maintaining adequate levels such as size, age, vertical and horizontal arrangement, or of dead wood (Sturtevant 1997), establishing mixed stands species composition (Powelson and Martin 2001). (Palik and Engstrom 1999) or extending rotation lengths Structural diversity is a straightforward indicator of (Ferris et al. 2000). potential biodiversity in forest landscapes because a diverse The Caspian natural forests of Iran also called Hyrcanian stand structure provides better habitat for forest-dwelling forests, are located on the southern border of the Caspian organisms. Broadly accepted, a structurally diverse stand Sea and cover an area of 2 million hectares. The stands in provides living space for a number of organisms. this area are the most valuable and economical. The main Increasing and maintaining structural diversity in forest benefits of these forests are essentially two-fold: on the one stands, also has become an important forest management hand there is its wood production while on the other hand strategy for adapting climate change. Conservation of there are various physical and social effects frequently forests biodiversity is one of important objective in termed as forest influence. In many instances, the latter sustainable forest management (Burton et al. 1992; transcends is the significance of forests as producers of Brockerhoff et al. 2008). It is common opinion in forest wood (Bonyad et al. 2012). The current forest harvesting ecology that different management practices are a major method in these forests is mainly selective cutting. The determinant of forest diversity and that a more complex main goal of selection cutting management is uneven aged forest structure is linked to a high diversity of plant and and mixed stands that are close to nature. Selection cutting animal species (Pretzsch 1997; Boncina 2000; Shimatani is the silvicultural practice of harvesting a proportion of the 2001). Forest management leads to changes in horizontal trees in a stand (Pourmajidian and Rahmani 2009). In and vertical structure (Kuuluvainen et al. 1996; North et al. selective cutting, each tree must be individually assessed to 1999) and in the species composition (Nagaike Hayashi decide whether it should be cut or left. In reality, this 2004; Uuttera et al. 1997). The idea that biodiversity can be method is the practice of removing mature timber or 2 BIODIVERSITAS 16 (1): 1-9, April 2015 thinning to improve the timber stand. Selection cutting The physiographical characteristics of these compartments improves the health of the stand and releases space for are almost similar. The elevation of these compartments young trees to grow. In the selection system, regeneration, ranges from 850 m to 1,100 m asl. The climate is temperate tending, and harvesting all take place concurrently (Marvie on based Demarton climate classification, with a mean Mohadjer 2006). Selection cutting may include opening up annual temperature of 9.1°C and mean annual precipitation areas to allow