简介：Background:Aftertheirdeath,Scotspinetreescanremainstandingfordecadesandsometimesupto200years,forminglong-lastingandecologicallyimportantstructuresinborealforestlandscapes.Standingdeadpinesdecayveryslowlyandwithtimedevelopinto‘kelo'trees,whicharecharacterizedbyhardwoodwithsilvery-coloredappearance.Thesekelotreesrepresentanecologicallyimportant,longlastingandvisuallystrikingelementofthestructureofnaturalpine-dominatedforestsinborealFennoscandiathatisnowadaysvirtuallyabsentfrommanagedforestlandscapes.Methods:Weexaminedandmappedtheamount,structuralfeatures,sitecharacteristicsandspatialdistributionofdeadstandingpinetreesoveratenhectareareainanunmanagedborealforestlandscapeintheKalevalaNationalParkinRussianVienaKarelia.Results:Themeanbasalareaofdeadstandingpinetreesintheforestedpartofthelandscapewas1.7m~2?ha~(-1)andtheestimatedvolume12.7m~3?ha~(-1).Fromthetotalnumberofstandingdeadpinetrees65%werekelotrees,withabasalareaof1.1m~2?ha~(-1)andvolumeof8.0m~3?ha~(-1),theremainderconsistingofstandingdeadpinesalongthecontinuumbetweenarecentlydeadtreeandakelotree.Overall,standingdeadpinesweredistributedthroughoutthestudyarea,buttherewasatendencytowardsspatialclusteringupto<100mdistances.Standingdeadpinesweremostcommonlysituatedonflatgroundorinthemidslopeinthelocaltopography.Inaddition,standingdeadpinescontributedtosubstratediversityalsobycommonlyhavingcharredwoodandbrokentops.Basedonthepresenceofdeadpinesnagsindifferentstageoftransitionfromarecentlydeadpinetoakelowithsilverysurface,itseemsevidentthattheprocessofkelorecruitmentwascontinuouslyinactioninthestudiedlandscape.Conclusions:Kelotreesareanomnipresentfeatureinnaturalpine-dominatedforestlandscapeswithimportantcontributiontoforeststructuralandsubstratediversity.Becauseo