Ecological Intelligence / Subject

forest thinning

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16 Oct 2026

Peer-reviewed North America

Managed hardwood openings offered bat roosting opportunities

Evidence: Peer-reviewed
Geography: Two state forests, south-central Indiana, United States; 2012–2017 telemetry
System: Central hardwood forests; northern long-eared bat roosting; timber thinning

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

Researchers tracked 69 female northern long-eared bats to 197 roosts during six years in two Indiana managed forests and combined habitat observations with lidar of forest structure. Selected roost locations were associated with higher ground, nearby unimproved roads/trails or regeneration openings and lower canopy density. Commercial thinning produced the studied favorable canopy-density conditions for roughly eleven years post-harvest. These are roost-selection and structural results, not a measured population rebound.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

A landowner choosing between protecting old forest and creating openings is being handed a false binary if the goal is a structural mosaic. The evidence supports retaining substantial mature forest while considering carefully designed regeneration patches and thinning where permitted and suitable. Roost-tree protection, species-specific seasonal restrictions and regulatory consultation still come before any harvest plan.

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

Roosts and lidar do not establish improved survival or population growth. Field data were collected in 2012–2017 in two forests, and site history may confound treatment effects. Northern long-eared bats are legally protected; prescriptions cannot be generalized or implemented without local ecological and regulatory review.

SOURCE

Beilke et al. · Conservation Science and Practice · bat-roost telemetry and lidar (15 Oct 2026)
View original evidence ↗

Northern long-eared bats selected roost settings near regeneration gaps; thinning effects on canopy lasted roughly eleven years.

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27 Sep 2026

Peer-reviewed

Heavy thinning increased short-term growth while shrinking one dimension of functional diversity

Evidence: Peer-reviewed
Geography: Zhejiang Province, China
System: Subtropical secondary evergreen broad-leaved forest

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

Thirty plots were assigned to control, light thinning (10–15% basal-area removal) or heavy thinning (20–25%), with ten replicates each. After three years, heavy thinning increased species diversity, functional evenness and divergence and raised total-biomass relative growth rate by 66.7% versus controls, while functional richness fell 61.9%. The diversity–productivity relationship also shifted from negative under control/light treatments to positive under heavy thinning.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

For managers, ‘more diversity’ and ‘more growth’ are not single outcomes. Thinning intensity can move species diversity, trait-space occupancy, structure and productivity in different directions, so the prescription should follow the objective and be evaluated with more than basal-area growth alone.

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

These are three-year responses in one regional forest type and may represent transient post-thinning dynamics rather than a stable endpoint. Higher short-term biomass growth does not establish long-term resilience or biodiversity benefit, and the loss of functional richness is a material tradeoff rather than noise.

SOURCE

BMC Plant Biology
View original evidence ↗

Three years after treatment in a Zhejiang secondary forest, heavy thinning raised species diversity and biomass growth but reduced functional richness—so the management response depends on which objective is being measured.

Read the Wild Lands assessment →

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