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Does dead wood volume affect saproxylic beetles in montane beech-fir forests of Central Europe?

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Abstract

As most European forests are commercially managed for wood production, excluding the disintegration phase of the forest development cycle, a serious decline of numerous species has been observed. The intensity of forest management is critical for biodiversity conservation, especially in regard to saproxylic organisms, as it reduces the abundance of old trees and dead wood. We studied saproxylic beetles in 12 montane beech-fir stands in a Central European mountain range. We used 72 flight interception traps exposed for two vegetation seasons (2012 and 2013) placed at sites characterized by three levels of dead wood volume. In total, 7990 individuals of 287 species belonging to 41 families were collected. Species richness and abundance of both non-threatened and threatened species showed no significant differences among the three studied forest stand categories. Nevertheless, the presence of both non-threatened and threatened species in the studied forest stands was affected by several environmental variables. Large diameter dead wood, dead wood in the last decay stage and dead beech wood close to the traps significantly affected the assemblage of threatened beetles. Canopy openness, thin dead wood in the wider trap surroundings and dead wood in the second and third decay stage in the closer trap surroundings affected the assemblage of non-threatened species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Jana Procházková, Zuzana Pusztaiová, Martin Pusztai, Zuzana Budková, and Jan Budka for assistance with field work and Radek Michalko for advice in statistical analyses. We thank Miloš Knížek, Pavel Průdek, Tomáš Sitek, Filip Trnka, Robert Stejskal, and Jiří Vávra for help with beetle identification. The Administration of the Beskydy Protected Landscape Area and the Forests of the Czech Republic, state enterprise, permitted us to collect beetles and measure environmental variables in the forests and nature reserves under their direction. The study received funding from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (Research Plan MSM 0021622416) and from the South Moravian Centre for International Mobility (Brno Ph.D. Talent).

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  1. Faculty of Science, Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Jiří Procházka & Jiří Schlaghamerský

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Procházka, J., Schlaghamerský, J. Does dead wood volume affect saproxylic beetles in montane beech-fir forests of Central Europe?. J Insect Conserv 23, 157–173 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-019-00130-4

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