Title

Learning from a "benign neglect strategy" in a national park: Response of saproxylic beetles to dead wood accumulation

Authors

Authors

J. Muller; R. F. Noss; H. Bussler;R. Brandl

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Biol. Conserv.

Keywords

Salvage logging; Rewilding; Threatened species; Ips typographus; Bark; beetle; Bavarian Forest National Park; Forest dynamics; SPRUCE BARK BEETLE; NATURAL DISTURBANCE; IPS-TYPOGRAPHUS; SPECIES; RICHNESS; UNITED-STATES; PINE FORESTS; SCOTS PINE; BIODIVERSITY; MANAGEMENT; CONSERVATION; Biodiversity Conservation; Ecology; Environmental Sciences

Abstract

Increasing demands for firewood owing to rising energy costs have accelerated discussions about the amount of dead wood needed for conservation. A sharp increase in dead wood caused by bark beetles in a German national park provides lessons for management of commercial and protected forests. We investigated the effects of dead wood due to bark beetle infestation as well as tree senility on abundance and richness of saproxylic species of beetles. Increasing amounts of spruce dead wood and opening of the canopy by bark beetles had positive effects on the abundance of host-generalist, conifer-specialist, and red-listed saproxylic beetles. Broadleaf specialists were positively associated with the amount of broadleaf dead wood and negatively associated with canopy openness. Gradient analysis of beetle assemblages revealed two major environmental axes: canopy openness and amount of dead wood. We found a threshold for community divergence at a canopy openness of 23% (confidence interval CI: 11-49) and at an amount of dead wood of 64 m(3) ha(-1) (CI: 35-160). Critically endangered species served as indicators of dense and open forests, but only when the amount of dead wood was high. Our results suggest that, to maintain saproxylic beetle assemblages, the amount of dead wood in commercial montane forests (at present approximate to 15 m(3) ha(-1)) needs to be tripled, with a focus on broadleaf wood in dense stands and spruce wood in open stands. For large protected areas in Europe, our data suggest that bark beetle infestation and senescence without active forest management improves habitat conditions for saproxylic beetles. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Biological Conservation

Volume

143

Issue/Number

11

Publication Date

1-1-2010

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

2559

Last Page

2569

WOS Identifier

WOS:000283412300017

ISSN

0006-3207

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