Due to heavily managed forests in Sweden, there has been a rapid decline of deadwood and deciduous-rich areas since the 1950s. As a result of this, 2000 forest species are now red-listed of which 700 is in heavy need of deadwood. The white-backed woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos, an umbrella species whose food choice consists of insects living in dead and decaying wood, has become critically endangered due to the lack of food and nesting areas. Preservation actions aimed towards saving the white-backed woodpecker are not only essential for itself but for 200 other species dependent on the same environmental requirements. The purpose of this study was to determine if the restoration for deciduous trees has favoured the white-backed woodpecker in four different areas: Ängsbacka, Degersjön, Ålidberget, and Kvillträsk in Västerbotten. By placing two different kinds of insect traps (window traps, and malaise traps) to analyze the different insects in restoration areas compared with control areas, I could investigate if there had been an increase in the number of insects preferred by the white-backed woodpecker. I could also investigate if there was a higher diversity of these preferred insects. There was no sign of an increase in numbers of preferred insects nor in numbers of preferred species. A higher diversity could neither be proven, however all four forests were deciduous-rich with high amount of dead-wood and has proven to show good potential for a future increase in saproxylic insects if restoration continues.

In Sweden, intense human land use, especially forestry, has led to profound changes in the landscape over time, especially within the forest ecosystems. A consequence of this is that several specialist species have become endangered. One group of specialists is the woodpeckers. The middle spotted woodpecker became extinct in Sweden in 1982 and the white-backed woodpecker is today Sweden’s most critically endangered forest-living bird. The white-backed woodpecker is dependent on old deciduous forests, rich in dead wood. The woodpecker is areademanding and hence one of the best indicators or umbrella species for biodiversity in this region. A long-term goal within the conservation of the species is to be able to make more accurate predictions of what is needed in the species habitat to establish a viable population, both in terms of composition of landscape and breeding territories. In addition to earlier studies better tools are needed for measuring the distribution of suitable and potential habitats and finding faster ways of creating optimal habitats. In an attempt to secure the future existence of the white-backed woodpecker in Sweden, restocking of birds are carried out. This presupposes availability of suitable habitats as well as strong enough landscape. Due to intense forestry the presumption for the species is, as stated above, alarming. Comparing the different populations around the Baltic Sea and Norway, great differences but also similarities can be seen, in landscape as well as in territory composition. It seems that fragmentation of foraging patches as well as amount of dead deciduous wood within the breeding territory is critical matters. Grey alder stands in Sweden should have high priority in conservation of habitat for the species. / <p>Funding agency: Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC)</p>

Studien har använt ny metod för att klassificera vitryggig hackspetts skogarförutsättningar för häckande revir. 287 hektar skog värdeklassades med minstav värdeklass 1 (42 ha) och mest av värdeklass 2 (195 ha). Död ved måste ökaför att populationen av vitryggig hackspett ska öka. De åtgärder som behövergöras är ringbarkning och att minska granvolymen för att värdeklasserna ska nånästa värdeklass. Resultatet tyder på att förutsättningarna för häckningsrevir ärgoda, dock måste vissa restaureringar göras för att vitryggig hackspett skaetablera sig i området.

The Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) is a large, sedentary, omnivorous passerine. In some populations, individuals live in groups, and some of these groups breed cooperatively. The white-backed magpie (G. t. tyrannica) from the south-eastern corner of the continent, has had relatively little study, and few details are known of its mating system, social structure, and method of parental care. I conducted an observational study on a population of white-backed magpies, recording details of their demography, dispersal, breeding system, and parental care. In conjunction, I conducted a genetic analysis of the population, to determine if the genetic mating system matched the observed social system, to detect instances of extra-group mating, and to sex juvenile birds. Extra-pair paternity (EPP) is a common feature of the mating systems of many birds. The rate of EPP may vary between species, races and populations. I made a comparison of extra-group paternity (EGP) rates between two races of the Australian magpie, to determine if similar mating systems were being employed. The two populations had similar social structure, but differed in group size and dispersal. I predicted that dispersal differences would have a profound effect on the rate of EGP between the populations, as the population with the lower rate of dispersal and higher chance of breeding with a close relative would engage in EGPs more frequently. Eight microsatellite loci were used to determine parentage in the white-backed Australian magpie. The rate of EGP was found to be 44%. Dispersal rates were estimated from observational data. Over half of the juvenile magpie cohort from the previous breeding season leave the territorial group. These results contrast sharply with the results found by other researchers in a population of western Australian magpies (G t. dorsalis). In this population, 82% EGP is recorded and dispersal of juveniles is close to nil. The results indicate that dispersal rate is a potentially important predictor of rates of extra-group fertilisations between populations of this species, and suggest that females maximise their reproductive output by avoiding breeding with close kin. The reproductive success of a male bird is often correlated with measurable traits that predict his intrinsic quality. Females are thought to select mates based on their quality to gain their 'good genes'. Male Australian magpies of the white-backed race were trapped in two breeding seasons. Measurements were taken of morphometric and other characteristics in order to discover whether particular traits of males were associated with: a) number of fledglings produced in the territory per season; b) percentage of offspring sired in the territory; and c) whether females select males for their 'good genes'. The only variable that was correlated with number of territorial offspring was feather lice load. Males with high numbers of lice were less likely to produce territorial fledglings in one season and across both seasons. Males of inferior quality may be subject to increased conspecific territorial intrusions, leading to more time spent on defence, more failed breeding attempts, less time allocated to grooming and thus high parasite loads. Males that produced many territorial fledglings were more likely to gain genetic paternity of at least some of them, although again this was significant for only one season. Also, across both seasons, a high number of females in the group was correlated with increased paternity within the group. The general lack of correlation between the variables and level of genetic paternity may be due to females engaging in extra-group mating primarily to avoid breeding with a close relative rather than to choose a quality male. In this scenario, males would not have to be 'high quality', but merely genetically different to the female's social mate. Extra-group paternity (EGP) can affect paternal effort. It may also influence the helping effort of auxiliary birds in cooperatively breeding species. If helping is driven by kin selection, helpers should decline to provision unrelated young. Relatedness becomes difficult to assess however, when females mate outside the group. Alternative rewards may then become important in helper decisions. In my study population of Australian magpies, 38% of fledglings were sired by males outside the territorial group. In a second population (G. t. dorsalis), 82% of fledglings were sired by extra-group males. I observed within-group male and helper feeding effort over three breeding seasons in the first population and obtained data recorded over a single season in the second population. In both populations, males provisioned young regardless of relatedness, as did helpers. Males provisioned less than the nesting female on average. Paternal effort did not reduce with an increase in the rate of EGP between populations. In the population with intermediate levels of EGP, the white-backed magpies, I observed helpers in about half of the sampled territories that produced fledglings. Helpers did not increase the production of young. In the population with high levels of EGP, western magpies, I detected helping behaviour in proportionally more territories. It appears that Australian magpie helpers provide help in order to pay 'rent' and remain on the natal territory. I discuss these results in light of the differences between the two races of magpie and the major theories regarding male parenting decisions and helper activity. Finally, I examine the relatively high rates of EGP's in the Australian magpie from a phylogenetic perspective. Although inbreeding avoidance is strongly supported by this study as the major reason EGP is so common in magpie populations, there may be an element of phylogenetic inertia that maintains the frequency of this behavioural trait. I comment upon the use of single-population estimates of species EGP rates in comparative analyses, given the intraspecific variation discovered between Australian magpie populations. Future directions for the study of mate choice in the Australian magpie are outlined with a proposal to study variation at the major histocompatibility complex between mated pairs.

Den vitryggiga hackspetten har sedan 1970 varit en starkt hotad art i Sverige tack vare förändrade habitat till följd av ett industrialiserat skogsbruk med stor fokus på barrträd vilket inte är ett optimalträd för den vitryggiga hackspetten. Idag finns det cirka 3 häckande par kvar i Sverige. I Finland och Lettland uppvisar den vitryggiga hackspetten en stark närvaro med en stor population då skogsbruket i dessa länder skiljer sig markant mot Sverige i form av typ av träd och hantering av död ved. Syftet med studien som utförts i den här rapporten är att bedöma om ett område vid sjön Erkens norra strand kallat Hasselhorn i Stockholms län uppnår de riktlinjer Naturvårdsverket har satt på minst 20m3/ha död lövved i trakten samt en medelålder på &gt;80 år för att ett område ska anses vara ett optimalområde för den vitryggiga hackspetten. Fokustrakten identifierades med IR-bilder för att avgöra om området var rikt på lövträd och ett område på 110ha ritades in. Sextio stickprov slumpades ut i området där levande och döda träd mättes in med klave och höjdmätare för att beräkna m3/ha och ålder bedömdes visuellt för varje mätområde. Studien påvisar att Hasselhorn idag inte uppnår optimal status för alla parametrar som satts upp av Naturvårdsverket för att det ska utgöra ett lämpligt habitat för den vitryggiga hackspetten. Däremot uppnår området kravet på mer än 20m3/ha och mer än 75 % lövträd satta av Naturvårdsverket. Området uppnår dock inte medelåldern &gt;80 år. Även artfördelningen i regionen av levande träd visar på mycket lite barrträd och stor tillgång på asp som anses vara det främsta trädet för födosök för den vitryggiga hackspetten som visar på att Hasselhorn kan uppnå god status inom ett fåtal år om särskilda naturvårdsåtgärder sker i området. / The white-backed woodpecker has been a highly threatened in Sweden since 1970 due to drastically changed habitats as a result from industrialized forestry methods with a high focus on conifers. Today there are only 2 known breeding pairs left at Dalälven in Sweden. Compared to Finland and Latvia the white-backed woodpecker exhibits a strong presence with large populations as the forestry industry in these countries differs from Sweden in terms of what type of trees they use and how they manage dead wood. The purpose of this study is to assess whether an area at lake Erken’s northern shore called Hasselhorn in Stockholm County achieves the guidelines determined by Naturvårdsverket. Naturvårdsverket has determined that the white-backed woodpecker at least need 20m3/ha dead deciduous trees in a habitat and an average age of &gt;80 years to be considered as an optimal area for the white-backed woodpecker. The focus area was localized with IR-images to determine an area rich with deciduous trees and an area of 100ha was drafted. Sixty sample points were randomized in the area. All living and dead trees at each points were measured with a tree caliper and clinometer to determine the amount of wood in m3/ha. Age was determined visually for each sample point. The study showed that Hasselhorn currently does no achieve the optimal status for all parameters in the study to make it a suitable habitat for the white-backed woodpecker. On the other hand, the area does meet the guideline set by Naturvårdsverket of more than 20m3/ha dead deciduous wood and more than 75% deciduous trees in the area, however it does not show an average age of &gt;80 years. Species distribution of living deciduous trees exhibits large volumes of aspen, which is considered to be a main source of food since they contain the type of bugs preferred by the white-backed woodpecker. With the right conservation methods, the study shows that Hasselhorn can become a viable habitat for the white-backed woodpecker in the near future.

Nature conservation is often seen as being primarily about shielding parts of nature from human intervention, e.g. by protecting areas. Over the last decades, however, intervention is increasingly being seen as necessary for nature to regain or retain its values, through ecological restoration and active management. This complicates simple assumptions that ‘nature knows best’ and raises dilemmas which are hotly debated in the scholarly literature around ecological restoration, protected area management, environmental ethics and green political theory. However, how these dilemmas are dealt with in actual policy struggles among the conservation professionals who make management decisions is less studied. This thesis explores how issues regarding active intervention in nature are represented, debated and institutionalized within Swedish nature conservation, and to what effect. The empirical focus lies on policy struggles around the designation and management of protected forests and around efforts to save a nationally threatened bird species, the white-backed woodpecker. My analytical framework is informed by Argumentative Discourse Analysis and Political Discourse Theory, to which I contribute a further elaboration of the notion of discourse institutionalization. Based on documents and interviews with conservation professionals, I identify competing articulations of the ends and means of conservation and relate these to scholarly debates around ecological restoration and interventionist conservation management. The analysis further focuses on how elements of the different policy discourses are institutionalized in rules, routines or official policy documents. Two main competing policy discourses are found: one focused on leaving pristine nature to develop freely, and one focused on active, adaptive management for biodiversity. While the former has previously been said to characterize the Swedish conservation bureaucracy, my analysis shows it is now widely seen as outdated. Arguments which in the scholarly literature are associated with an ethically informed defense of nature’s autonomy are here dismissed as emotional, aesthetic and thus unscientific concerns, delegitimizing them within the rational, science-based public administration for nature conservation. In contrast, biodiversity is broadly forwarded as a self-evident goal for active intervention, in line with both science and policy requirements. Adaptive management for biodiversity is in that sense the dominant discourse. Still, the older discourse is institutionalized in the purposes and management plans of existing nature reserves, and its defenders have also succeeded in strengthening that institutionalization through new and more restrictive guidelines. The findings suggest that this has been possible not only because of the gate-keeping role of a few centrally placed actors, but also because their restrictive stance resonates with the outside threat of exploitation which organizes the common order of discourse. Naturalness, a term described as irrelevant by some proponents of adaptive management for biodiversity, is also shown to remain a shared concern in several ways. The results thus highlight the importance of both entrenched common sense and institutionalization of certain logics or arguments in authoritative documents. The main theoretical contribution of the thesis consists in clarifying the effects of such discourse institutionalization — using the terms durability, legibility and leverage — and showing how the processes of negotiation, re-interpretation and modification of institutions are more dynamic than some accounts of discourse institutionalization suggest. Rather than trying to resolve (and thus remove) the dilemma of intervention, the thesis points to the importance of keeping open discussion of the ultimately unanswerable questions about intervention in nature alive in both theory and practice. / Ecosystem restoration in policy and practice: restore, develop, adapt (RESTORE)