Forest patches as stepping stones: evidence from invertebrate taxonomic and functional diversity in experimentally created water‐filled tree holes
Rattachement africain : ch, au, de. Niveau de preuve : code pays fourni par la source.
Le résumé fourni par la source
Tree‐related microhabitats (TreMs), such as water‐filled tree holes (WTHs), are important structures for forest biodiversity, providing habitats for many specialized species, which are however impaired by the intensive forest management of the past. Strategies to maintain and promote TreMs in managed forests, e.g. by establishing old‐growth forest patches as stepping stones, have been implemented, but their success has rarely been tested. We experimentally created WTHs in old‐growth patches that were established to connect forest nature reserves (FNRs) in a beech forest in Germany. Eight years after creation, we sampled, identified, and measured traits of the invertebrate community that colonized the WTHs. We then investigated how spatial and environmental variables affected taxonomic and functional attributes of communities and populations. A total of 2407 individuals of 13 species were sampled, the majority of which were insect larvae. Abundance, as well as taxonomic and functional diversity attributes and community composition, were influenced by environmental and spatial factors, generally supporting the patch‐dynamics and species‐sorting metacommunity archetype. At the population level, both spatial and environmental factors affected the abundance and functional diversity of body size distributions, suggesting that dispersal capacities, microhabitat requirements, and competitive abilities of individual species structure communities. The distance to the FNRs had a positive effect on total invertebrate abundance and the abundance of the specialized marsh beetle Prionocyphon serricornis , and a weak negative effect on the functional diversity of the community. Our study underpins the stepping‐stone concept of connecting FNRs. The species colonized all newly created microhabitats from source populations, indicating that these patches increase connectivity between the FNRs and thus contribute to forest biodiversity conservation. The negative effects of distance to FNRs on functional diversity suggest that distances between habitat patches should be kept small for such a strategy to be successful and sustainable in the long term.
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Le contrôle bibliographique ouvert
DOI retrouvé dans Crossref DOI retrouvé ; titre concordant.
- Titre Crossref
- Forest patches as stepping stones: evidence from invertebrate taxonomic and functional diversity in experimentally created water‐filled tree holes
- Date Crossref
- 23/11/2025
- Éditeur
- Wiley
- Type
- journal-article
Ce recoupement confirme des métadonnées liées au DOI. Il ne confirme ni la méthode ni les conclusions de l’étude, et il ne compte pas comme une seconde source scientifique indépendante.
Où se fait cette recherche
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Swiss Federal Institute for Forest pays non établi dans la noticeStructure de recherche
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Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network pays non établi dans la noticeStructure de recherche
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Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems Department of Environmental Systems Science pays non établi dans la noticeStructure de recherche
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Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training SFUVET pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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University of Würzburg pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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The University of Western Australia pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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WSL Swiss Federal Research Institute Birmensdorf Switzerland Forest Entomology pays non établi dans la noticeStructure de recherche
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School of Agricultural Department of Forest Sciences pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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Chair of Conservation Biology and Forest Ecology pays non établi dans la noticeInstitution
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School of Biological Sciences pays non établi dans la noticeUniversité ou école supérieure
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Department of Biology pays non établi dans la noticeInstitution
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network et Department of Environmental Systems Science — Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, avec 9 autres affiliations.
Une affiliation ne permet pas de déduire la nationalité d’un auteur.