Abstract
Research Highlights: Our study adds to the scant literature on the effects of forest bioenergy on ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and contributes new insights into the responses of ground beetle species and functional groups to operational harvest residue retention. We discovered that count of Harpalus pensylvanicus (DeGeer)—a habitat generalist—increased owing to clear-cut harvests but decreased due to harvest residue reductions; these observations uniquely allowed us to separate effects of additive forest disturbances to demonstrate that, contrarily to predictions, a generalist species considered to be adapted to disturbance may be negatively affected by altered habitat elements associated with disturbances from renewable energy development. Background and Objectives: Despite the potential environmental benefits of forest bioenergy, woody biomass harvests raise forest sustainability concerns for some stakeholders. Ground beetles are well established ecological indicators of forest ecosystem health and their life history characteristics are connected to habitat elements that are altered by forest harvesting. Thus, we evaluated the effects of harvest residue retention following woody biomass harvest for forest bioenergy on ground beetles in an operational field experiment. Materials and Methods: We sampled ground beetles using pitfall traps in harvest residue removal treatments representing variable woody biomass retention prescriptions, ranging from no retention to complete retention of all merchantable woody biomass. We replicated treatments in eight clear-cut stands in intensively managed loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) forests in North Carolina and Georgia. Results: Harvest residue retention had no effect on ground beetle richness and diversity. However, counts of H. pensylvanicus, Anisodactylus spp., and “burrower” and “fast runner” functional groups, among others, were greater in treatments with no woody biomass harvest than those with no harvest residue retention; all of these ground beetles may confer ecosystem services in forests. We suggest that H. pensylvanicus is a useful indicator species for burrowing and granivorous ground beetle response to harvest residue reductions in recently harvested stands. Lastly, we propose that retaining 15% retention of total harvest residues or more, depending on regional and operational variables, may support beneficial ground beetle populations.
Highlights
Managed forests present opportunities for sustainable development of renewable energy on a global scale
Harpalus pensylvanicus (DeGeer) was the most abundant species in NC, constituting 44% and 60% of ground beetles captures in 2012 and Species richness and diversity of ground beetles did not differ among treatments in NC, nor did they increase with an increasing volume of harvest residues in windrows at the GA sites (Table S2)
We found that burrowing and have consequences for ground beetles at functional levels and at local scales despite the lack of a predatory ground beetle species were negatively affected by harvest residue reductions, indicating community response in recently clear-cut stands in managed forests of the that woody biomass harvests may have consequences for ground beetles at functional levels and at local scales despite the lack of a community response in recently clear-cut stands in managed forests of the Southeast [1]
Summary
Managed forests present opportunities for sustainable development of renewable energy on a global scale. While Homo erectus burned wood for energy ~1.5 million years ago, today’s market demand for woody biomass as a feedstock for renewable forest bioenergy is driven by a booming renewable energy industry and concerns regarding energy crises and climate change. Renewable energy mandates in the European Union have been a boon to wood pellet production from the “wood basket” of the southeastern United States (hereafter “Southeast”), a region that has increased wood pellet exportation to Europe by over 5 million green metric tons from 2000 to 2015 alone [2]. Given its high available wood volume and active forest industry, the Southeast has the greatest potential for forest bioenergy development in the United States [1,3]
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