Maintaining ecosystem resilience: functional responses of tree cavity nesters to logging in temperate forests of the Americas

Ibarra, José Tomás; Martin, Michaela; Cockle, Kristina L.; Martin, Kathy

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04733-2

Cited by 39 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…These strongly impact the long-term survival, regeneration, and diversity of forest-dwelling organism groups [3,4]. Silvicultural treatments can directly generate changes in forest biodiversity by deteriorating communities associated with individual trees and tree-related microhabitats, such as epiphytes [5], deadwood-dependent communities [6], and cavity nesters [7]. Most of the forest-dependent taxa are via artificial gaps or group selection, therefore, gap-cutting was also part of our study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Short-Term Effects of Experimental Forestry Treatments on Site Conditions in an Oak–Hornbeam Forest

Kovács

Tinya

Guba

et al. 2018

Forests

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Forest management alters forest site; however, information is still limited about how different silvicultural treatments modify abiotic conditions. We compared the effects of four treatments from three different forestry systems on forest microclimate, litter, and soil conditions. The clear-cutting, retention tree group, preparation cutting, and gap-cutting treatments were experimentally established in a European oak-dominated forest, following a complete block design with six replicates. In this study, we show the results of the quantitative analyses of 21 variables, one year after the interventions. Strong treatment effects were observed for the microclimate and litter variables, whereas the soil characteristics remained similar. The increase in light was the highest in the clear-cuts with intermediate effects in the gap-cuts. The means and variances of the air and soil temperature as well as the vapor pressure deficit were the highest for the clear-cutting treatment. An increase in soil moisture, litter pH, and litter moisture was significant in the gap-cuts and, to a smaller extent, in the clear-cuts. The soil pH increased in the retention tree groups. Microclimatic differences between the treatments were the largest during the summer, which demonstrates the buffering effect of the canopy. Our study confirms that less intensive and more spatially heterogeneous silvicultural treatments (e.g., gap-cutting) preserve a stable below-canopy microclimate more effectively. These results can support and might be useful for both forest management and conservation planning.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Short-Term Effects of Experimental Forestry Treatments on Site Conditions in an Oak–Hornbeam Forest

Kovács

Tinya

Guba

et al. 2018

Forests

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“…This outcome may be attributed to either the creation of new successional niches in the landscape or the understory vegetation and associated communities demonstrating greater resiliency than overstory communities (Andersen et al 2009). The response of bird taxonomic richness was maintained under a logging operation, but their functional richness and diversity were reduced (Ibarra et al 2017). The results of the latter study show that the disturbance paradox may play out following forest management.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…The response of bird taxonomic richness was maintained under a logging operation, but their functional richness and diversity were reduced (Ibarra et al. ). The results of the latter study show that the disturbance paradox may play out following forest management.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience to disturbance is a cross‐scale phenomenon offering a solution to the disturbance paradox

et al. 2019

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Resilience is the ability of an ecosystem to return to a previous state following disturbance. Ecological communities may demonstrate resilience after long periods of time. However, short‐term outcomes of disturbance may be reduced functionality despite an increase in biodiversity, a phenomenon known as the disturbance paradox. Silvicultural management regimes are ecological disturbances that vary with the frequency of tree harvests, the age of the tree when harvested, spatial arrangement of harvest, and the area of forest removed. Therefore, they are expected to result in different levels of resilience among forest communities over time. We used the response of temperate hardwood forest beetle communities to different timber harvest treatments in a long‐term research study to test predictions of ecosystem resilience. We also aimed to determine whether this system shows evidence of the disturbance paradox. We predicted that (1) communities following harvest differ from pre‐harvest communities, (2) areas treated with even‐aged management and uneven‐aged management would show community trajectories back to pre‐harvest communities, (3) the more concentrated disturbance of the even‐aged management would lead to a lower community resilience, and (4) community change would be attributed to an increase in pest species using recently harvested wood. The communities did change after timber harvests, but while the dissimilarity between pre‐ and post‐treatment communities was the same for the two treatments, the departure and return to the pre‐harvest community state were along different community trajectories. Furthermore, communities in both treatments showed similar resilience by returning to pre‐harvest community composition at the same rate. As predicted, the abundance of species most responsible for post‐harvest community shifts were those that feed on living wood. This, along with a decrease in abundance of decaying wood decomposers, indicated that the disturbance paradox was playing out in this system.

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“…, Ibarra et al. ). For example, following the current policy of minimum diameter cutting limits in our study system in Argentina, harvesting one‐half of the basal area of trees resulted in nine times fewer cavities and 17 times fewer nests (Cockle et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Long-lasting cavities occur primarily in large, living trees, often in slow-growing old-growth species, but also in some faster-growing early successional species such as trembling aspen (Lindenmayer and Wood 2010, Wesołowski 2011, 2012, Edworthy et al 2012. Harvesting large living trees (e.g., through minimum diameter cutting limits) has led to disproportionate reductions in cavity availability, as well as the abundance, taxonomic and functional diversity of cavity nesters (Politi et al 2012, Ruggera et al 2016, Ibarra et al 2017. For example, following the current policy of minimum diameter cutting limits in our study system in Argentina, harvesting one-half of the basal area of trees resulted in nine times fewer cavities and 17 times fewer nests (Cockle et al 2010).…”

Section: Conserving High-and Low-productivity Cavities In the Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Lifetime productivity of tree cavities used by cavity‐nesting animals in temperate and subtropical forests

Cockle

Trzcinski

Wiebe

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

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Tree cavities are a critical multi‐annual resource that can limit populations and structure communities of cavity‐nesting vertebrates. We examined the regional and local factors influencing lifetime productivity (number and richness of occupants) of individual tree cavities across two divergent forest ecosystems: temperate mixed forest in Canada and subtropical Atlantic Forest, Argentina. We predicted that (1) species would accumulate more rapidly within cavities in the species‐rich system (Argentina: 76 species) than the poorer system (Canada: 31 species), (2) cavity characteristics associated with nest‐site selection in short‐term studies would predict lifetime cavity productivity, and (3) species would accumulate more rapidly across highly used cavities than across cavities used only once, and in Argentina than in Canada. We monitored and measured nesting cavities used by birds and mammals over 22 breeding seasons (1995–2016) in Canada and 12 breeding seasons (2006–2017) in Argentina. Cavities were used an average of 3.1 times by 1.7 species in Canada and 2.2 times by 1.4 species in Argentina. Species richness within cavities increased with number of nesting events at similar rates in Canada and Argentina, in both cases much slower than expected if within‐cavity species assemblages were random, suggesting that lifetime richness of individual cavities is more strongly influenced by local ecological factors (nest site fidelity, nest niche) than by the regional species pool. The major determinant of lifetime cavity productivity was the cavity's life span. We found only weak or inconsistent relationships with cavity characteristics selected by individuals in short‐term nest‐site selection studies. Turnover among (vs. within) cavities was the primary driver of diversity at the landscape scale. In Canada, as predicted, species accumulation was fastest when sampling across high‐use cavities. In Argentina, the rates of species accumulation were similar across high‐ and low‐use cavities, and fastest when both high‐ and low‐use cavities were pooled. These findings imply that biodiversity of cavity nesters is maintained by a mix of long‐lived (highly productive, legacy trees) and many high‐turnover (single‐use, fast decaying) tree cavities. Conservation of both long‐lasting and single‐use cavities should be incorporated into decisions about stand‐level forest management, regional land use policies, and reserve networks.

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Maintaining ecosystem resilience: functional responses of tree cavity nesters to logging in temperate forests of the Americas

Cited by 39 publications

References 46 publications

The Short-Term Effects of Experimental Forestry Treatments on Site Conditions in an Oak–Hornbeam Forest

The Short-Term Effects of Experimental Forestry Treatments on Site Conditions in an Oak–Hornbeam Forest

Resilience to disturbance is a cross‐scale phenomenon offering a solution to the disturbance paradox

Lifetime productivity of tree cavities used by cavity‐nesting animals in temperate and subtropical forests

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