Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Forest Ecology and Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foreco No difference in plant species diversity between protected and managed ravine forests Jakub Baran, Remigiusz Pielech ⁎ , Jan Bodziarczyk Department of Forest Biodiversity, Faculty of Forestry, University of Agriculture in Krakow, 29 Listopada 46, 31-425 Kraków, Poland ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Forest management Forest protection Hart's-Tongue fern Phyllitis scolopendrium Ravine forest Tilio-Acerion Sycamore maple forest ABSTRACT The influence of management practices on forest ecosystems is usually analyzed by a comparison of species composition and richness. Different types of management practices increase plant species richness, mainly due to an increase in the number of ruderal and open habitat species. So far, most of the studies have been performed in the forest types that were most common in the studied regions. In this study we focused on broadleaved ravine forests that are spatially limited to specific habitat conditions, including steep rocky slopes with skeletal soil and unstable ground. These forests are local biodiversity hotspots, and, due to limited accessibility, have been subject to only limited management practices, mainly removal of single trees. We collected a dataset of 215 plots sampled between 1991 and 2015 in both managed forests and protected areas. We used multivariate techniques to compare the differences in the overall species composition. In addi- tion, we compared differences in diversity, structural and habitat indices to find any possible differences. There were no differences in both the plot level and accumulative species richness and diversity indices between protected and managed forests. In addition, a comparison of habitat conditions and different ecological groups, including ruderal and open habitat species, alien species and ancient forest indicator species also revealed no differences. The only significant differences between the protected and managed forests related to the evenness and shrub cover. We concluded that low intensity forest management in ravine forests resembles natural disturbances, which are characteristic of natural ravine forests. The species composing these communities are adapted to frequent natural disturbances and thus forest management did not influence significant habitat conditions. However, to fully understand the effect of these practices on biodiversity, a comparison of structural characteristics is needed. 1. Introduction During the last millennia, the vast majority of forests in Europe were heavily changed by human activity (Christensen and Emborg, 1996; Kalis et al., 2003; Sabatini et al., 2018). Except for the obvious man- agement activities, like clearing of forests for agricultural and industrial purposes, forest management also affects natural processes (Bengtsson et al., 2000). Different types of management activities influence forest ecosystems by changing the forest stand structure (Kuuluvainen et al., 1996; Commarmot et al., 2005; Wesely et al., 2018), species composi- tion (Okland et al., 2003; Nagaike et al., 2005; Sebastià et al., 2005; Durak, 2012; Horvat et al., 2017a; Kaufmann et al., 2017), soil prop- erties (Carlson and Groot, 1997; Thiffault et al., 2011; Gross et al., 2018; Kovács et al., 2018) or local microclimate (Chen et al., 1999; Daolan et al., 2000; Frey et al., 2016). In addition, forest management influence the availability of particular ecological niches by affecting the presence of coarse woody debris, pits and mounds after natural dis- turbances or giant trees (Peterson et al., 1990; Nilsson and Baranowski, 1997; Bobiec, 1998; Christensen et al., 2005; Ódor et al., 2006). It is generally believed that unmanaged forests under strict protec- tion in national parks and nature reserves promote biodiversity and host more species than managed forests. Many studies, however, showed that the relationships between forest management and biodi- versity are very complex. The effect of forest management activities depends largely on the type and magnitude (Halpern and Spies, 1995). For example, clear-cutting has a different effect on forest biodiversity than shelterwood lodging or coppicing (Nagaike et al., 2005). In ad- dition, the time since management was abandoned can have significant effects on species diversity in unmanaged forests, because the forest condition and structure change over time (Fenton and Bergeron, 2008; Horvat et al., 2017a; Horvat et al., 2017b). Interestingly, recent reviews have revealed that different components of the biodiversity may https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.08.052 Received 21 July 2018; Received in revised form 28 August 2018; Accepted 30 August 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: remekpielech@gmail.com (R. Pielech). Forest Ecology and Management 430 (2018) 587–593 0378-1127/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T