Ground beetle assemblages in Beijing’s new mountain forests

Eleanor Warren-Thomas,Yi Zou,Lijia Dong,Xuenan Yao,Mengjie Yang,Xiaoliang Zhang,Ya Qin,Yunhui Liu,Weiguo Sang,Jan Christoph Axmacher

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2014.09.022

Abstract

Mature forests have been almost completely destroyed in China’s northern regions, but this has been followed by large-scale reforestation in the wake of environmental degradation. Although future forest plantations are expected to expand over millions of hectares, knowledge about the ecology and biodiversity of China’s replanted forests remains very limited. Addressing these knowledge gaps, we recorded ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) communities in five secondary forest types: plantations of Chinese Pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) and Prince Rupprecht’s Larch (Larix principis-rupprechtii), Oak (Quercus wutaishanica) and Asian White Birch (Betula platyphylla) woodlands, and naturally regenerated mixed forest. Species richness peaked in mixed forests, while pine and oak woodlands harboured discrete communities of intermediate species richness. Oak, pine and mixed forest habitats also showed high levels of species turnover between plots. Canopy closure was an important factor influencing ground beetle assemblages and diversity, and a number of forest specialist species only occurred in pine or oak forests. We believe that some forest specialists have survived earlier deforestation and appear to be supported by new plantation forests, but maintenance of secondary native oak and mixed forests is crucial to safeguard the overall species pool.

Highlights

Global declines of mature forests render secondary forests and forest plantations increasingly important for the conservation of forest biodiversity (Brockerhoff et al, 2008)
Carabus vladimirskyi (Dejean, 1930) represented 6.2% of the total catch (74 individuals), with more than 85% of its specimens collected in oak forest plots, where C. vladimirskyi accounted for 42% of caught individuals (Fig. 2d)
The carabid species richness we observed at Donglingshan is only marginally lower than that of assemblages in one of the few remaining primary temperate forest ecosystems of northern China, Changbai Mountain, where 47 species were encountered in mature forest habitats along an altitudinal gradient from 700 to 2000 m, while only 20 of these species were found between 1100 and 1500 m in native mature mixed coniferous forest which corresponds to the altitudinal range of our site (Zou et al, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Global declines of mature forests render secondary forests and forest plantations increasingly important for the conservation of forest biodiversity (Brockerhoff et al, 2008). In China, forests cover approximately 195 million ha (Jia et al, 2011), but estimates suggest only 30% of this area comprises mature forest (Li, 2004). The 32% decline in China’s mature forest cover from 1950 to 2005 was accompanied by an increase in the proportion of land area covered by forest plantations, from 5.2% to 16% (FAO, 2006).

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