In this paper, we address the relevance of recreational foraging, picking berries and mushrooms, for developing connection to nature and what happens when that practice is interrupted by drastic landscape change. We use the site of the largest forest fire in modern Swedish history as a case to examining the relevance of foraging. In previous studies, positive associations have been observed between the activity of picking berries and mushrooms with landscape-identity prior to forest fires. The results suggest that the more participants enjoyed foraging, the stronger their attachment to the landscape as well as memories and reasoning about the landscape. These relationships remainedafter the area has been drastically altered by fire, implying a significant role of foraging for keeping “alive” the positive feelings and memories of the forest landscape. Through questionnaires and semistructured interviews, we examine why individuals forage, what foraging meant for them before the event and how they relate to the landscape and foraging after the fire. Our findings suggest that these connections are built on an interplay between place, practice and intimate knowledge. We conclude that foraging play an essential role in defining and developing connections to landscape which can act as the basis for stewardship of the landscape. Management implications • In order to facilitate reconnection to the landscape after a forest fire there is a need to understand how individuals and communities related to the landscape before the fire. • Foraging will always be reliant on issues of access, and specific management regimes. • Cultural values and small-scale activities play an essential role in defining and developing connections to landscape. Connections which can ultimately inform a sense of responsibility and stewardship. • Activities such as foraging are reliant on more than just the affordance provided by the physical and visual character of a landscape.

“There will be mushrooms again” – Foraging, landscape and forest fire

Mixed forests are proposed as a management strategy that enables high levels of wood production while also supporting ecological and social benefits that are weakened by traditional monoculture strategies. An ecological benefit of mixed forestry is that it is expected to reduce plant damage caused by specialist insect pests because theory suggests that heterogeneous habitats such as mixed forests should limit fluctuations in pest insect population dynamics. Two main hypotheses have been proposed to explain this reduction in plant damage. The first is based on a bottom-up effect whereby plants grown in a diverse habitat have more effective defences against herbivores. The second is based on a top-down effect whereby plant species diversity creates habitat diversity that supports a higher abundance of pests’ natural enemies. However, the mechanisms underlying these bottom-up and top-down effects are not fully understood. 
To fill this gap, I investigated how heterogeneity affects the bottom-up and top-down mechanisms influencing pest insect population dynamics. As a model organism, I used the European pine sawfly (Neodiprion sertifer), an herbivorous insect that frequently reaches outbreak densities and whose larvae cause severe damage when feeding on pine needles. Sawfly performance is known to be affected by pine needle chemistry – particularly the concentration of di-terpenes, which affect larval survival, and nitrogen levels, which affect cocoon weight and thus adult fecundity. Generalist and specialist natural enemies have been showed to cause significant mortality in sawfly larvae and cocoons. Despite their importance, the effects of plant chemistry and natural enemies on insect herbivores have not been studied in the context of forest heterogeneity. 
I found that the variation in cocoon weight within groups of sawfly larvae feeding on Scots pine needles increased with the needles’ contents of di-terpenes, and that this trend was stronger in mixed forests than monocultures. Additionally, the rate of generalist predation on sawfly larvae was higher in more densely planted spots within forest stands. Predation on sawfly cocoons was favoured by tree diversity, but the presence of dead wood mitigated the negative effect of low tree diversity. In addition, forest heterogeneity had no discernible effect on specialist enemies, which were able to locate their hosts equally well in simple and complex habitats.
This thesis shows that bottom-up effects on sawfly larvae cannot explain the observed reduction in tree damage in heterogeneous habitats. It may be that the higher variation in cocoon weight observed in mixed stands increases the average fecundity of adult sawflies, resulting in higher likelihood of outbreaks. Conversely, heterogeneity promoted top-down effects because it favoured generalist predators without negatively affecting specialists. These results will be useful to forest managers seeking to understand how mixed forestry can be used to mitigate anticipated increases in insect pest damage due to future climate change.

Forest management to mitigate the risk of pest damage

The production forests of southern Sweden are mainly dominated by either Scots pine
(Pinus sylvestris) or Norway spruce (Picea abies). Public concerns are now being raised
regarding a decrease in the area on which Scots pine is being regenerated, and an
increased reliance on Norway spruce production stands. The main reasons for a shift in
regenerated tree species include concerns regarding higher ungulate browsing pressure
on Scots pine regeneration, together with the expectation that Norway spruce provides
more favourable management and profits. The aim of this thesis was to examine the
potential consequences of a tree species shift from different perspectives, but with a
primary focus on implications for biodiversity. To do so the diversity of vascular plants,
bryophytes, lichens and birds were contrasted in three age classes (30, 55, 80 years of
age) of Scots pine and Norway spruce production stands in southern Sweden. Although
there was an overlap from many of the common species, the community composition of
species groups varied between the stand categories contrasted. (I) The cover of
understory vascular plants was higher in all stand age classes of the Scots pine stands,
compared to Norway spruce. The semi-light conditions, created by Scots pine’s less
dense canopy, seems favourable to at least some keystone species, including, for
example, the ericaceous shrub Vaccinium myrtillus. The denser canopy of Norway spruce
limited vascular plant cover and species richness. (II) The darker and more humid
Norway spruce stands were instead more favourable to a higher diversity of bryophyte
species than was found in Scots pine stands. Scots pine associated forest floor species
included a higher species richness and cover of terricolous lichens and bryophytes
associated with dryer and lighter environment. (III) Scots pine and Norway spruce
production forests support overlapping but still distinct bird communities, of which 80-
year spruce stands had the highest average bird species richness, and largest total number
of species recorded. These stands were associated with more broadleaves and higher
stand complexity, i.e. vertical zonation, tree size variation and availability of dead wood.
Study (IV) reviewed the biodiversity and ecosystem services consequences of a shift in
tree species. Few benefits can be expected (e.g. reduced stand-level browsing damage),
and these benefits will likely come at the expense of a range of negative outcomes for
biodiversity, production, aesthetic and recreational values, as well as increased stand
vulnerability to storm, frost, and drought damage, and potentially higher risks of pest and
pathogen outbreak. Overall the findings of this thesis should clarify for forest owners,
forest managers, and policymakers the many potentially adverse biodiversity and
ecosystem service implications that could be expected if sites traditionally regenerated
with Scots pine production stands are instead converted to Norway spruce.

Replacing Scots pine with Norway spruce

Trender i bar- och svampplockning : ett exempel pa hur kvantitativ och kvalitativ metodkan kombineras

Anders Lindhagen

Papers

Trender i bär- och svampplockning : ett exempel på hur kvantitativ och kvalitativ metodkan kombineras

Trends in picking of wild berries and mushrooms in Sweden 1977-2011