TY - JOUR
T1 - Decadal effects of landscape-wide enrichment of dead wood on saproxylic organisms in beech forests of different historic management intensity
AU - Roth, Nicolas
AU - Doerfler, Inken
AU - Bässler, Claus
AU - Blaschke, Markus
AU - Bussler, Heinz
AU - Gossner, Martin M.
AU - Heideroth, Antje
AU - Thorn, Simon
AU - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
AU - Müller, Jörg
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors. Diversity and Distributions Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2019/3
Y1 - 2019/3
N2 - Aim: European temperate forests have lost dead wood and the associated biodiversity owing to intensive management over centuries. Nowadays, some of these forests are being restored by enrichment with dead wood, but mostly only at stand scales. Here, we investigated effects of a seminal dead-wood enrichment strategy on saproxylic organisms at the landscape scale. Location: Temperate European beech forest in southern Germany. Methods: In a before–after control–impact design, we compared assemblages and gamma diversities of saproxylic organisms in strictly protected old-growth forest areas (reserves) and historically moderately and intensively managed forest areas before and a decade after starting a landscape-wide strategy of dead-wood enrichment. Results: Before enrichment with dead wood, the gamma diversity of saproxylic organisms in historically intensively managed forest stands was significantly lower than in reserves and historically moderately managed forest stands; this difference disappeared after 10 years of dead-wood enrichment. The species composition of beetles in forest stands of the three historical management intensities differed before the enrichment strategy, but a decade thereafter, the species compositions of previously intensively logged and forest reserve plots were similar. However, the differences in fungal species composition between historical management categories before and after 10 years of enrichment persisted. Main conclusions: Our results demonstrate that intentional enrichment of dead wood at the landscape scale is a powerful tool for rapidly restoring saproxylic beetle communities and for restoring wood-inhabiting fungal communities, which need longer than a decade for complete restoration. We propose that a strategy of area-wide active restoration combined with some permanent strict refuges is a promising means of promoting the biodiversity of age-long intensively managed Central European beech forests.
AB - Aim: European temperate forests have lost dead wood and the associated biodiversity owing to intensive management over centuries. Nowadays, some of these forests are being restored by enrichment with dead wood, but mostly only at stand scales. Here, we investigated effects of a seminal dead-wood enrichment strategy on saproxylic organisms at the landscape scale. Location: Temperate European beech forest in southern Germany. Methods: In a before–after control–impact design, we compared assemblages and gamma diversities of saproxylic organisms in strictly protected old-growth forest areas (reserves) and historically moderately and intensively managed forest areas before and a decade after starting a landscape-wide strategy of dead-wood enrichment. Results: Before enrichment with dead wood, the gamma diversity of saproxylic organisms in historically intensively managed forest stands was significantly lower than in reserves and historically moderately managed forest stands; this difference disappeared after 10 years of dead-wood enrichment. The species composition of beetles in forest stands of the three historical management intensities differed before the enrichment strategy, but a decade thereafter, the species compositions of previously intensively logged and forest reserve plots were similar. However, the differences in fungal species composition between historical management categories before and after 10 years of enrichment persisted. Main conclusions: Our results demonstrate that intentional enrichment of dead wood at the landscape scale is a powerful tool for rapidly restoring saproxylic beetle communities and for restoring wood-inhabiting fungal communities, which need longer than a decade for complete restoration. We propose that a strategy of area-wide active restoration combined with some permanent strict refuges is a promising means of promoting the biodiversity of age-long intensively managed Central European beech forests.
KW - dead-wood enrichment
KW - integrative management strategy
KW - land sharing
KW - lowland beech forests
KW - saproxylic organisms
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85058841155&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ddi.12870
DO - 10.1111/ddi.12870
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85058841155
SN - 1366-9516
VL - 25
SP - 430
EP - 441
JO - Diversity and Distributions
JF - Diversity and Distributions
IS - 3
ER -