Group selection harvesting supports the diversity of epigaeic arthropod assemblages (Coleoptera: Carabidae; Araneidae: Araneae; Isopoda: Oniscidae)

Abstract

Background and purpose Timber-oriented forest management alters the environmental conditions, threatening the survival of many native and rare arthropod species. Recognition of the scale and effects of the forest loss has resulted in a considerable degree of interest in the reforestation. Nowadays, the uneven-aged management is recommended during the reforestation procedure, because this is less intensive and could be less harmful than evenaged practices. Our aim was to test the effects of clear-cutting (as even-aged method) and group selection harvesting (as uneven-aged method) on forest specialist epigaeic arthropods. Material and methods Epigaeic arthropod assemblages (ground beetles, spiders and woodlice) in gaps harvested IntroductIonT he widespread timber-oriented forest managements cause increased fragmentation and considerable environmental changes in almost all European native forests. These alterations in the original habitats threaten the survival of many native organisms (1, 2). In Europe 36% of the land surface are forested, however only 1.7% of these forests are considered natural (1). The unmanaged forests support the formation of microhabitats and food resources (such as decaying materials, old and large trees, cavities) required by forest specialist species (2, 3). While generally, the managed forests have homogeneous tree composition, homogeneous vertical stratification and age structure (4, 5).During the even-aged management a large part of a forest is harvested and then reforested, which creates monocultural stands with the same age and structure (1). It also has significant effect on the composition of the original arthropod fauna (6, 7). Conventional clear-cutting of mature forest with site preparation (grubbing, tilling, and deep-loosening) is one of the most inappropriate method among the even-aged silvicultural practices, because it increases the evaporation rate and the soil and air temperature due to removed roots with rhizomes and the ploughed soil (1, 8).Uneven-aged management methods could be a useful in the maintenance of forest biodiversity (1). During this management trees are removed individually (single tree method) or in small groups (group selection method) from the forest; thus, forest structure and age become diverse ensuring continuous forest cover in the forested area. Multi-aged reforestations may provide more favourable condition for sensitive species compared to even-aged stands, contributing to the maintenance and regeneration of the original arthropod fauna (1, 6, 9). However, only a few papers studied the effects of uneven-aged forest management on arthropods, although there is a growing need for comprehensive researches (1, 6).Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) and woodlice (Isopoda: Oniscidae) are commonly used indicator organisms during the forest management studies. These taxa taxonomically well known and they could be easily collected by pitfall trapping or litter sifting (8, 10).The aim of our study was to explore the...

Carabids benefit more from pine stands with added understory or second story of broad-leaved trees favored by climate change than from one-storied pine stands

“…That conclusion corroborates the results of the research on the consequences of introducing deciduous admixtures or the second story in pine stands (Andrzejczyk and Drozdowski 2007;Andrzejczyk et al 2011). Uneven-aged management is recommended during the reforestation procedure, because it is less intensive and might be less harmful than even-aged stand management (Debnár et al 2016).…”

Comparative study of ground beetle and ground-dwelling spider assemblages of artificial gap openings

“…It seems that the examined gap felling method does not affect harmfully the surrounding habitats, which is in line with the fi ndings of Debnár et al (2016). In addition, in our case the richness and the diversity of the communities in the gaps showed an increase.…”

“…Gap formation is part of the natural regeneration processes in temperate forests (Pickett and White 1985, Runkle 1989, Brokaw and Busing 2000, Schnitzer and Carson 2000. Artificial gaps created by modelling these processes can be essential in close-to-natural forest management techniques and achieving continuous forest cover (Klimaszewski et al 2005, Goßner et al 2006, Matveinen-Huju and Koivula 2008, Siira-Pietikäinen and Haimi 2009, Debnár et al 2016, which could mitigate the artificial disturbances and increase the naturalness of the managed forests (Bengston et al 2000).…”

Multiscale drivers of carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages in small European woodlands

“…In addition to the degree of spatial connectivity, temporal connectivity through the age of forest patches has repeatedly been shown to influence community composition, with ancient forest patches (i.e., patches that have continuously existed for centuries) harbouring a higher number of forest-specialist species with limited dispersal abilities than recent forest patches (i.e., patches that have established on former agricultural lands in recent decades) (Debnár et al, 2016;Dekoninck et al, 2005;Desender et al, 2005;Lelli et al, 2019). Ancient forest patches usually support more diverse plant assemblages than recent ones, given their higher habitat heterogeneity (Brunet, 2007;Burrascano et al, 2018) and the longer time period available for accumulating forest specialist species (i.e., the species-time relationship; Almoussawi et al, 2020;Valdés et al, 2020).…”