For this study, I revisited alder dominated swamp forests surveyed by Ek et al (2001) in 1999. They visited 20 long-continuity alder-dominated swamp forests (0.5-1.5 ha) in Kinda municipality and surveyed all alder stems for presence or absence of three lichen species: M. terebrata, T. lepadinum, and G. scripta. I used the same methodology to investigate changes and the potential effect of forestry 14 years later on these long-continuity swamp forests. I also noted any signs of forestry operations during the same period.

Each swamp forest was treated as a case, where I compared changes in all available parameters within each forest. Changes in amount of alders and lichen occurrences were compared with signs of disturbance from forestry in search for correlations. The magnitude of disturbance was estimated using a discrete scale of 0-3, where different disturbance factors were incorporated in the assessment of each swamp forest.