The effect of coppicing on insect biodiversity. Small-scale mosaics of successional stages drive community turnover

0537991 - BC 2022 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Weiss, Matthias - Kozel, Petr - Zapletal, Michal - Hauck, David - Procházka, J. - Beneš, Jiří - Čížek, Lukáš - Šebek, Pavel
The effect of coppicing on insect biodiversity. Small-scale mosaics of successional stages drive community turnover.
Forest Ecology and Management. Roč. 483, March 01 (2021), č. článku 118774. ISSN 0378-1127. E-ISSN 1872-7042
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : biodiversity conservation * coppice-with-standards * traditional silviculture
OECD category: Forestry
Impact factor: 4.384, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112720315437?via%3Dihub

European temperate woodlands are managed as high forests by clear-cutting or selective cutting. Such forests are shady environments, providing limited opportunities for light-demanding woodland associated organisms. Coppicing has been identified as a suitable tool for biodiversity conservation, because it leads to a spatially and temporally dynamic mosaic of open and closed-canopy successional stages. We analysed the effect of the successional stage of coppice (time since last felling of coppice layer) on butterflies, moths, and saproxylic beetles, in floodplain coppice-with-standards woods dominated by oak and ash in Lower Austria. We compared species richness, community composition, and life-history traits of the target groups among four stages of coppice: (i) Freshly cut: stands in the first season after felling, (ii) Young coppice: stands 3–7 years after felling, (iii) Mid-aged: advanced stage in 10–15 years after felling with dense undergrowth and high canopy closure, and (iv) Mature: latest stage of coppice, 30–40 years old. We found differences in species richness of butterflies and moths among the stages. Butterfly richness peaked in young coppice and was lowest in dense mid-aged stage. Moth richness was higher in late stages (mid-aged and mature) than in early ones (freshly cut and young). There was no effect on richness of saproxylic beetles. Species compositions of moths and beetles, however, differed among the stages, with the most pronounced difference between early and late stages. The successional stage affected composition of life-history traits of all study groups, showing that the particular stages are exploited by species with different functional/ecological associations. The small-scale mosaic of successional stages created by coppicing thus supports the existence of diversified communities of insects with both light-demanding and shade-tolerant species.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0326379