Testing indicators of biodiversity for plantation forests

Abstract In many parts of the world, plantations make up a considerable proportion of the total forest area. In such regions, the identification of high biodiversity value stands and of management practices to enhance biodiversity is essential if the goals of Sustainable Forest Management are to be achieved. Since complete biodiversity assessments are rarely possible, efforts have been increasingly focussed on the use of indicators. Of particular interest are indicators applicable to individual stands that require no specialist taxonomic or technical knowledge to assess. Candidate biodiversity indicators had been identified in a previous study using data from Irish Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) plantations but had yet to be tested on independent data. In the present study, the provisional indicators for vascular plant, bryophyte, spider and bird diversity were tested on data from Irish Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), oak (Quercus petraea/Quercus robur), Sitka spruce and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) plantations. Conifer canopy cover was confirmed as an important biodiversity indicator, due to its influence on below-canopy microclimatic and structural conditions. Bryophyte species richness was higher in relatively high canopy cover plantations on poorly drained soils, while bird species richness was higher in more open plantations with high shrub cover. Coarse woody debris was an important substrate for forest-associated bryophytes, with higher species richness at higher volumes of deadwood. Both proximity to old woodland and stand age were confirmed as positive indicators for forest-associated vascular plants. This is related to dispersal limitation in these species, with nearby woodlands acting as important seed sources and colonisation increasing with time. Stand age was also confirmed as a positive indicator for forest-associated spiders and is related to the development of suitable habitat as the plantation matures. All of the confirmed indicators can be assessed without need for specialist knowledge, are ecologically meaningful and applicable to a range of forests managed under a clearfelling system. They can be used to assess the potential value of stands for the taxonomic groups to which they apply, as well as giving insights into management practices to enhance diversity in these groups.

[1]  Marco Marchetti,et al.  Monitoring and Indicators of Forest Biodiversity in Europe - From Ideas to Operationality , 2003 .

[2]  Jan Lepš,et al.  Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data , 2006 .

[3]  Len Thomas,et al.  Distance software: design and analysis of distance sampling surveys for estimating population size , 2009, The Journal of applied ecology.

[4]  M. Williamson,et al.  Rhododendron ponticum in Britain and Ireland: Social, Economic and Ecological Factors in its Successful Invasion , 2006 .

[5]  Mark O. Kimberley,et al.  Diversity and succession of adventive and indigenous vascular understorey plants in Pinus radiata plantation forests in New Zealand , 2003 .

[6]  Mark W. Wilson,et al.  A lack of large-diameter logs and snags characterises dead wood patterns in Irish forests , 2010 .

[7]  C. Hawes,et al.  Relationships between insect diversity and habitat characteristics in plantation forests , 1999 .

[8]  R. Ferris,et al.  A review of potential biodiversity indicators for application in British forests , 1999 .

[9]  J. Cross.  THE POTENTIAL NATURAL VEGETATION OF IRELAND , 2022, Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy.

[10]  R. Moles,et al.  The influence of coniferous afforestation on lowland farmland bird communities in Ireland: different seasons and landscape contexts , 2005 .

[11]  V. Kapos,et al.  Achieving global and regional perspectives on forest biodiversity and conservation. (Eds.) Bachmann, P., Kohl, M. and Paivinen, R. Assessing biodiversity for improved forest planning , 1998 .

[12]  Steve J. Lee,et al.  Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) , 2013 .

[13]  David Thompson,et al.  Washington, Oregon or Queen Charlotte Islands? Which is the best provenance of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) for Ireland? , 2005 .

[14]  P. Legendre,et al.  vegan : Community Ecology Package. R package version 1.8-5 , 2007 .

[15]  Philip M. Perrin,et al.  Long-term deer exclusion in yew-wood and oakwood habitats in southwest Ireland: Changes in ground flora and species diversity , 2011 .

[16]  M. Kukkola,et al.  Impact of whole-tree harvesting and compensatory fertilization on growth of coniferous thinning stands , 2000 .

[17]  D. M. Gates,et al.  Spectral Properties of Plants , 1965 .

[18]  P. Giller,et al.  Structural indicators of spider communities across the forest plantation cycle , 2005 .

[19]  Aaron M.Ellison.  PC‐ORD: Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data , 1998, The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America.

[20]  Lars I. Andersson,et al.  Bryophytes and decaying wood– a comparison between managed and natural forest , 1991 .

[21]  P. Whitfield,et al.  Life in the deadwood: a guide to managing deadwood in Forestry Commission forests. , 2002 .

[22]  A. Pommerening,et al.  A review of the history, definitions and methods of continuous cover forestry with special attention to afforestation and restocking , 2004 .

[23]  Sophie E. Hale,et al.  Light regime beneath Sitka spruce plantations in northern Britain: preliminary results , 2001 .

[24]  Mark W. Wilson,et al.  Breeding bird communities of second‐rotation plantations at different stages of the forest cycle , 2010 .

[25]  D. J. Curtis.  PITFALLS IN SPIDER COMMUNITY STUDIE S (ARACHNIDA, ARANEAE ) , 1980 .

[26]  R. Ferris,et al.  Biodiversity in Britain's planted forests. Results from the Forestry Commission's Biodiversity Assessment Project. , 2003 .

[27]  B. Schmid,et al.  Relationships between productivity, number of shoots and number of species in bryophytes and vascular plants , 2001 .

[28]  Bengt Gunnar Jonsson,et al.  Fine woody debris is important for species richness on logs in managed boreal spruce forests of northern Sweden , 1999 .

[29]  Mark W. Wilson,et al.  Identifying practical indicators of biodiversity for stand-level management of plantation forests , 2008, Biodiversity and Conservation.

[30]  M. Harmon,et al.  Ecology of Coarse Woody Debris in Temperate Ecosystems , 1986 .

[31]  S. Hale.  The effect of thinning intensity on the below-canopy light environment in a Sitka spruce plantation , 2003 .

[32]  Mark W. Wilson,et al.  Assessment of Biodiversity at Different Stages of the Forest Cycle , 2005 .

[33]  J. W. Thomas,et al.  Ecological Uses of Vertebrate Indicator Species: A Critique , 1988 .

[34]  Gerald J. Niemi,et al.  Application of Ecological Indicators , 2004 .

[35]  M. Fay,et al.  New flora of the British Isles, 3rd ed , 2011 .

[36]  D. Kelly,et al.  Can plantation forests support plant species and communities of semi-natural woodland? , 2012 .

[37]  T. Kelly,et al.  Ground-dwelling invertebrates in reforested conifer plantations , 2010 .

[38]  Paul M. Dolman,et al.  Ecological patterns of plant diversity in a plantation forest managed by clearfelling , 2006 .

[39]  A. Smith.  The Moss Flora of Britain and Ireland , 1978 .

[40]  T. Rambo,et al.  DISPERSAL LIMITATIONS OF EPIPHYTIC LICHENS RESULT IN SPECIES DEPENDENT ON OLD‐GROWTH FORESTS , 2000 .

[41]  John L. Innes,et al.  Biodiversity evaluation tools for European forests , 2001 .

[42]  John H. Lawton,et al.  Beta diversity on geographic gradients in Britain , 1992 .

[43]  R. Ferris,et al.  Lichens and bryophyte communities of planted and semi-natural forests in Britain: the influence of site type, stand structure and deadwood , 2002 .

[44]  Z. Lindo,et al.  Scale dependent diversity patterns in arboreal and terrestrial oribatid mite (Acari: Oribatida) communities , 2008 .

[45]  F. Mitchell,et al.  Plant community ecology of Pinus sylvestris, an extirpated species reintroduced to Ireland , 2009, Biodiversity and Conservation.

[46]  R. Macarthur,et al.  On Bird Species Diversity , 1961 .

[47]  S. Hoyne,et al.  Forest residues: harvesting, storage and fuel value. , 2001 .

[48]  C. Stace,et al.  New Flora Of The British Isles , 1998 .

[49]  M. Lelu-Walter,et al.  Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) , 2013 .

[50]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[51]  D. Kelly,et al.  Ground flora communities in temperate oceanic plantation forests and the influence of silvicultural, geographic and edaphic factors , 2008 .

[52]  T. Kelly,et al.  Can mixed species stands enhance arthropod diversity in plantation forests , 2012 .

[53]  Céline Meredieu,et al.  Changes in quantitative patterns of dead wood in maritime pine plantations over time , 2008 .

[54]  M. Hauck.  Site factors controlling epiphytic lichen abundance in northern coniferous forests , 2011 .

[55]  R. Ferris,et al.  The potential contribution of conifer plantations to the UK Biodiversity Action Plan , 2002 .

[56]  Keith Kirby,et al.  The impact of deer on the ground flora of British broadleaved woodland , 2001 .

[57]  Mark W. Wilson,et al.  Effects of growth stage and tree species composition on breeding bird assemblages of plantation forests , 2006 .

[58]  J. Müller,et al.  Critical forest age thresholds for the diversity of lichens, molluscs and birds in beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) dominated forests , 2009 .

[59]  Neil D. Burgess,et al.  Bird Census Techniques , 1992 .

[60]  G. von Oheimb,et al.  Migration of vascular plants to secondary woodlands in southern Sweden , 1998 .

[61]  S. Chapman,et al.  Methods in plant ecology , 1977 .

[62]  G. Lempérière,et al.  Deadwood as an indicator of biodiversity in European forests: from theory to operational guidance , 2004 .

[63]  Robert K. Colwell,et al.  Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness , 2001 .

[64]  E. Duffey.  Aerial Dispersal in a Known Spider Population , 1956 .

[65]  J. Glime,et al.  Direction and Height of Bryophytes on Four Species of Northern Trees , 1982 .

[66]  Reed F. Noss,et al.  Assessing and monitoring forest biodiversity: A suggested framework and indicators , 1999 .