| Summary: | International audience Unmanaged forests currently represent less than 1% of the European forested surface area and the last remnants of primeval forests mainly occur in the northern parts of Europe. These forests are of crucial importance to preserving forest biodiversity and to studying natural patterns and processes. We quantitatively reviewed the published scientific literature: (i) comparing biodiversity between managed and unmanaged forests in Europe and; (ii) correlating deadwood volume and species richness of saproxylic organisms. Here we present the results of the two meta-analyses with a special focus on boreal forests. In Europe, the response of different taxa to forest management appears to have been more often studied in boreal than in temperate forests. Indeed, the response of some specific groups has only been published for Fennoscandian countries. For both boreal and temperate biomes, biodiversity levels tend to be higher in unmanaged than in managed forests. The number of studies relating deadwood and richness of saproxylic species (beetles and fungi) is more balanced between boreal and temperate biomes. The richness of saproxylic species was more correlated to deadwood volumes in boreal than in temperate biomes. These results support the conservation of unmanaged forests throughout Europe but strategies for deadwood management should differ between temperate and boreal biomes. There is a need for more collaborative research on these subjects within a global European framework.
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