The Saproxylic Database

Information scope

The Wood decomposer database aims to organize species-specific ecological information for all wood-inhabiting species in Northern Europe. The principal organism groups are Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes, Coleoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera. Furthermore, the database covers other insect groups (e.g. Hemiptera and Lepidoptera) other invertebrate groups (e.g. mites and pseudoscorpions), vertebrates, myxomycetes, mosses and lichens. The database does not include information about bacteria despite that bacteria play important roles in wood decomposition under certain conditions.

The database primarily documents the species occurring in the Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. With time it may expand to cover species from a wider geographical area. The database mostly contains primary data from the Nordic countries. But for certain species and species groups it also includes information from neighboring countries (e.g. Scotland, Germany, Poland, Baltic states, European Russia) or even more distant countries (elsewhere in Europe or Russia). This is particularly the case for rare species or species that are poorly studied in the Nordic countries. The database structure readily allows an expansion of the geographical scope, but there is no immediate plan to broaden the geographic scope to include species outside the Nordic region.

The vast majority of wood-inhabiting species live in terrestrial environments, like forests or parks, but some utilize submerged wood in freshwater or marine environments. Such aquatic species are also included in the database.

Ecological information

The database uses three species attributes to describe how a species is associated to woody material or other wood-inhabiting species: development stage (part of life cycle), dependency on woody material (obligate/facultative) and functional role (trophic status).

The database uses 7 classes of wood attributes (type of host tree, mortality type, decay stage, diameter class, microhabitat, wood type and surrounding environment) that are further subdivided into specific attributes. Each species is ranked according to their preferences for these attributes. The wood attributes are outlined in full detail in chapter 3 in the technical database description.

The organisms inhabiting dead wood form a food web where many species have inter-specific relationships through decomposition, detrivory, predation, parasitism, symbiosis, etc. The database has a special table to document such inter-specific relationships. This table also contains information about host tree associations. The species interaction table is described in chapter 4 in the technical database description.

Reference library

A reference library keeps track of all information sources that have been used to establish the database content. The information sources are different publications such as journal papers and books, but also unpublished data that has been provided by working group participants and other people.

Geographical origin of data and National status

Each data record is assigned to a geographical area from which the information originates. These geographical areas typically coincide with county borders, but for large countries (e.g. Russia) smaller geographical areas are used.

The database contains a simple checklist with species national status (known or not known from the country) for each of the countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. For some species groups, the database contains national status for additional countries.

Persons

The database has a table listing all persons that directly or indirectly have contributed to the database content. The table contains all persons that participate in some of the database working groups, all registered users, as well as authors of publications and and providers of unpublished data. The table essentially contains birth year, residence country and contact information (e-mail, phone, etc.). Each person is responsible for updating his or her own contact information.