Dead wood is a key element in the forest ecosystem. It plays an important role not only as habitat for a variety of animal and plant species, but also as promotor of forest regeneration. The intensive forest management in the last centuries led to a nearly total depletion of saproxylic species. However, dead wood management can easily be included into forest practises even without any economical disadvantages. Dead wood from deciduous trees does not bear the danger of outbreaks of the bark beetle Ips typographus (L.), since this species is spezialized on spruce (Picea abies L.). The influence of the amount and spatial arrangement of dead wood on saproxylic Diptera and Coleoptera is the subject of a dissertation project, carried out at the Chair of Nature and Landscape Protection (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Prof. K. C. Ewald).