Integrative nature conservation strategies for wood production and biodiversity conservation

Abstract

The importance of beta-diversity in European forest requires concepts considering a wide range of set-aside elements ranging from single trees or logs to large strictly protected areas. A successful combination of such elements in a country wide strategy requires knowledge on the importance of spatial scales, mechanisms from a landscape ecology perspective, on population dynamics and on ecological mechanisms responsible for locally diverse communities. Survey data often are blurred by too many confounding variables, which call for experimental approaches. Here I will present results from continental wide survey data and local experiments, answering some key questions how forests habitats can be improved for biodiversity of deadwood organism. Here the survey data cover the full range of European beech forests and provides new insights in the role of biogeography and climate for deadwood communities (1). Based on trait analyses I will show the most urgent targets for deadwood restoration in Central Europe (2). Based on an experimental design I will show that habitat amount is more important in forested landscapes than the spatial arrangement (3). Additionally In will present new results from a landscape wide practitioner experiment to restore a beech forest landscape. Finally I will show on the local level that enrichment of deadwood diversity is more important and at a lower price than focusing on the pure amount. 1. J. Müller et al., Increasing temperature may compensate for lower amounts of dead wood in driving richness of saproxylic beetles. Ecography 38, 499-509 (2015). 2. S. Seibold et al., Association of the extinction risk of saproxylic beetles and the ecological degradation of forests in Europe Conserv. Biol. 29, 382-390 (2015). 3. S. Seibold et al., An experimental test of the habitat-amount hypothesis for saproxylic beetles in a forested region. Ecology 98, 1613–1622 (2017).