Nested plant and fungal communities; the importance of area and habitat quality in maximizing species capture in boreal old-growth forests

Knowledge of the distribution of rare species is crucial for species conservation in fragmented habitats. Species communities often exhibit nestedness, i.e. species in species-poor sites comprise a subset of richer ones. Thus, rare species are confined to species-rich sites. We evaluate whether plant and fungal communities in 46 old-growth spruce forest patches (0.17–12 ha) exhibit nestedness. The question whether a single large patch or several small patches capture most species (i.e. the SLOSS-issue) is evaluated in combination with species saturation analyses. All species groups exhibited significant nestedness. Area was generally related to nestedness, i.e. rare species were over-represented in the largest patches. Species saturation analysis indicated that large patches accumulated more Red-list species in patch interiors than small patches. Thus, rare and Red-list species were best captured in large patches. However, nestedness also emerged in equal sized sample plots, i.e. rare species were over-represented in high quality habitats. Thus, small habitats of high quality should not be neglected in a conservation perspective.

[1]  Alan H. Cutler.  Nested Faunas and Extinction in Fragmented Habitats , 1991 .

[2]  L. Edenius,et al.  Distribution of birds in natural landscape mosaics of old‐growth forests in northern Sweden: relations to habitat area and landscape context , 1997 .

[3]  Wirt Atmar,et al.  A comparative analysis of nested subset patterns of species composition , 1997, Oecologia.

[4]  B. Jonsson,et al.  Predictability of plant and fungal species richness of old‐growth boreal forest islands , 2001 .

[5]  T. Hallingbäck,et al.  Rödlistade mossor i Sverige: Artfakta. [Swedish Red Data Book of Bryophytes]@@@Rodlistade mossor i Sverige: Artfakta. [Swedish Red Data Book of Bryophytes] , 1999 .

[6]  W. Worthen.  Community composition and nested-subset analyses: basic descriptors for community ecology. , 1996 .

[7]  Wirt Atmar,et al.  Nested subsets and the structure of insular mammalian faunas and archipelagos , 1986 .

[8]  Richard A. Brualdi,et al.  Nested species subsets, gaps, and discrepancy , 1999, Oecologia.

[9]  B. Jonsson,et al.  Edge Effects on Liverworts and Lichens in Forest Patches in a Mosaic of Boreal Forest and Wetland , 2003 .

[10]  Jared M. Diamond,et al.  THE ISLAND DILEMMA: LESSONS OF MODERN BIOGEOGRAPHIC STUDIES FOR THE DESIGN OF NATURAL RESERVES , 1975 .

[11]  M. Nowak,et al.  Habitat destruction and the extinction debt , 1994, Nature.

[12]  Per‐Anders Esseen,et al.  Screening for species potentially sensitive to habitat fragmentation , 1998 .

[13]  D. Simberloff,et al.  What do genetics and ecology tell us about the design of nature reserves , 1986 .

[14]  Thomas W. Schoener,et al.  Distribution of Vertebrates on Some Very Small Islands. I. Occurrence Sequences of Individual Species , 1983 .

[15]  B. Jonsson,et al.  Insular patterns of calicioid lichens in a boreal old‐growth forest‐wetland mosaic , 1997 .

[16]  Mark V. Lomolino,et al.  Investigating causality of nestedness of insular communities: selective immigrations or extinctions? , 1996 .

[17]  T. Ahti,et al.  Vegetation zones and their sections in northwestern Europe , 1968 .

[18]  P. Coppin,et al.  Nested plant communities in deciduous forest fragments : species relaxation or nested habitats? , 1999 .

[19]  J. Reeves,et al.  On the meaning and measurement of nestedness of species assemblages , 1992, Oecologia.

[20]  M. Diekmann,et al.  Biological Characteristics, Habitat Associations, and Distribution of Macrofungi in Sweden , 1997 .

[21]  L. Gustafsson,et al.  Threatened Plant, Animal, and Fungus Species in Swedish Forests: Distribution and Habitat Associations , 1994 .

[22]  J. Kouki,et al.  Forest Fragmentation in Fennoscandia: Linking Habitat Requirements of Wood-associated Threatened Species to Landscape and Habitat Changes , 2001 .

[23]  Rosamonde R. Cook.  The relationship between nested subsets, habitat subdivision, and species diversity , 1995, Oecologia.

[24]  W. Boecklen.  Nestedness, biogeographic theory, and the design of nature reserves , 1997, Oecologia.

[25]  R. Kadmon.  Nested species subsets and geographic isolation : a case study , 1995 .

[26]  Daniel Simberloff,et al.  Refuge Design and Island Biogeographic Theory: Effects of Fragmentation , 1982, The American Naturalist.

[27]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  Dynamics of regional distribution: the core and satellite species hypothesis , 1982 .

[28]  James F. Quinn,et al.  Effects of habitat fragmentation and isolation on species richness: evidence from biogeographic patterns , 1988, Oecologia.

[29]  C. Murcia.  Edge effects in fragmented forests: implications for conservation. , 1995, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[30]  L. Söderström.  The occurrence of epixylic bryophyte and lichen species in an old natural and a managed forest stand in Northeast Sweden , 1988 .

[31]  B. Jonsson,et al.  Wood-inhabiting fungi and substratum decline in selectively logged boreal spruce forests , 1995 .

[32]  Wirt Atmar,et al.  The measure of order and disorder in the distribution of species in fragmented habitat , 1993, Oecologia.