Do Riparian Buffers Conserve Biodiversity? Insights from Plant, Bird and Mammal indicators in the Eastern Canadian Boreal Forests

Riparian buffers are strips of residual uncut forest left along water bodies and wetlands duringafter logging operations. In landscapes dominated by even-aged management, Tthese riparian buffers may represent a growing proportion of mature forests in a landscape rejuvenated by even-aged management. They couldRiparian buffers could thus offer key habitats to forest dwelling species by maintaining old-growth forest attributes. However, the role of riparian buffers’ role in the long-term maintenance of matureunmanaged forest biodiversity is poorly understood. This study aimed to evaluateevaluated plant, bird and mammal diversity in 20-meters wide riparian buffers, 15 to 20 years after a clearcut and, to determined which environmental variables defined species assemblages and to identify indicator species., in 20-meters wide riparian buffers, 15 to 20 years after a clearcut. We surveyed 40 sites in the eEastern Canadian boreal forest, half of which were 15-to-20-year-old riparian buffers, and the other half undisturbed  riparian environments in undisturbed forests, our controls. We surveyed Pplants were surveyed throughusing transects, and. bBirds and mammals were surveyed using acoustic recording units and camera traps, respectively. Our findings revealed that riparian buffers were more diverseified than controls. However, controls were defined by shade-tolerant and hydrophytic plants, as well as undisturbed forest -associated birds, whereas riparian buffers were defined by shade-intolerant plants, and early successional birds, patterns which were corroborated through our indicator species analysis. Lastly, plant assemblages were defined by organic matter depth, stand density and tree richness, and bird and mammal assemblages were defined by dead wood abundance. Our findings suggest that 20 m-meters wide riparian buffers may be unable to preserve mature unmanaged forest avian and floristic species assemblages, 15 to 20 years after harvesting, emphasizing the need to better consider  alternatives to narrow fixed-width buffers, and to better integrate riparian ecosystems inthese ecosystems in forest management guidelines.