Translocation of deadwood in ecological compensation: A novel way to compensate for habitat loss

Restoration of degraded habitat is frequently used in ecological compensation. However, ecological restoration suffers from innate problems of long delivery times of features shown to be good proxies for biodiversity, e.g., large dead trees. We tested a possible way to circumvent this problem; the translocation of hard-to-come deadwood substrates from an impact area to a compensation area. Following translocation, deadwood density in the compensation area was locally equivalent to the impact area, around 20 m3 ha-1, a threshold for supporting high biodiversity of rare and red-listed species. However, deadwood composition differed between the impact and compensation area, showing a need to include more deadwood types, e.g., late decomposition deadwood, in the translocation scheme. To guide future compensation efforts, the cost for translocation at different spatial scales was calculated. We conclude that translocation of deadwood could provide a cost-efficient new tool for ecological compensation/restoration but that the method needs refinement.

Automated summary

This study tested the translocation of hard-to-come-by deadwood substrates from an impact area to a compensation area as a method for ecological restoration. The results show that the translocation of deadwood could be a cost-efficient tool for ecological compensation/restoration, but further refinement is needed to ensure better deadwood composition in the compensation area. The study also calculated the cost for translocation at different spatial scales.