at Google ScholarTitle data
Hilmers, Torben ; Friess, Nicolas ; Bässler, Claus ; Heurich, Marco ; Brandl, Roland ; Pretzsch, Hans ; Seidl, Rupert ; Müller, Jörg:
Biodiversity along temperate forest succession.
In: Journal of Applied Ecology.
Vol. 55
(2018)
Issue 6
.
- pp. 2756-2766.
ISSN 1365-2664
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13238
Abstract in another language
1. The successional dynamics of forests—from canopy openings to regeneration, maturation, and decay—influence the amount and heterogeneity of resources available for forest-dwelling organisms. Conservation has largely focused only on selected stages of forest succession (e.g., late-seral stages). However, to develop comprehensive conservation strategies and to understand the impact of forest management on biodiversity, a quantitative understanding of how different trophic groups vary over the course of succession is needed.
2. We classified mixed mountain forests in Central Europe into nine successional stages using airborne LiDAR. We analysed α- and β-diversity of six trophic groups encompassing approximately 3,000 species from three kingdoms. We quantified the effect of successional stage on the number of species with and without controlling for species abundances and tested whether the data fit the more-individuals hypothesis or the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis. Furthermore, we analysed the similarity of assemblages along successional development.
3. The abundance of producers, first-order consumers, and saprotrophic species showed a U-shaped response to forest succession. The number of species of producer and consumer groups generally followed this U-shaped pattern. In contrast to our expectation, the number of saprotrophic species did not change along succession. When we controlled for the effect of abundance, the number of producer and saproxylic beetle species increased linearly with forest succession, whereas the U-shaped response of the number of consumer species persisted. The analysis of assemblages indicated a large contribution of succession-mediated β-diversity to regional γ-diversity.
4. Synthesis and applications. Depending on the species group, our data supported both the more-individuals hypothesis and the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis. Our results highlight the strong influence of forest succession on biodiversity and underline the importance of controlling for successional dynamics when assessing biodiversity change in response to external drivers such as climate change. The successional stages with highest diversity (early and late successional stages) are currently strongly underrepresented in the forests of Central Europe. We thus recommend that conservation strategies aim at a more balanced representation of all successional stages.
Further data
| Item Type: | Article in a journal |
|---|---|
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Institutions of the University: | Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Biology > Chair Fungal Ecology > Chair Fungal Ecology - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Claus Bässler Research Institutions > Central research institutes > Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research- BayCEER |
| Result of work at the UBT: | No |
| DDC Subjects: | 500 Science > 550 Earth sciences, geology 500 Science > 570 Life sciences, biology |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Nov 2024 10:45 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Nov 2024 10:45 |
| URI: | https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/91154 |