Hollow oaks and beetle functional diversity: Significance of surroundings extends beyond taxonomy.

Ross Wetherbee,Tone Birkemoe,Olav Skarpaas,Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson

doi:10.1002/ece3.5940

Ross Wetherbee, Tone Birkemoe + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5940

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Abstract

Veteran hollow oaks (Quercus spp.) are keystone structures hosting high insect diversity but are declining in numbers due to intensification of land use and the abandonment of traditional management. The loss of this vital habitat is resulting in a reduction of biodiversity, and this likely has consequences for ecosystem functioning, especially if functional diversity is reduced. A considerable amount of research has been done on predictors of beetle taxonomic diversity in veteran oaks, but predictors of functional diversity have remained largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to establish whether the features and surroundings of veteran oaks are related to functional diversity within three functional groups of beetles (decomposers, predators, and flower visitors) and determine whether species richness and functional diversity within the groups are dependent on the same predictors. Sampling was carried out intermittently between 2004 and 2011 on 61 veteran oaks in Southern Norway. Of the 876 beetle species that were collected, 359 were determined to be decomposers, 284 were predators, and 85 were flower visitors. Species richness and functional diversity in all groups were consistently higher in traps mounted on veteran oaks in forests than in open landscapes. However, additional predictors differed between groups, and for species richness and functional diversity. Decomposer species richness responded to tree vitality, while functional diversity responded to habitat connectivity, predator species richness responded to regrowth of shrubs while functional diversity responded to tree circumference, and flower visitor richness and functional diversity did not respond to any additional predictors. Previous studies have found that the features and surroundings of veteran oaks are important for conservation of taxonomic diversity, and the results from this study indicate that they are also important for functional diversity within multiple functional groups.

Highlights

Human activities are converting and degrading ecosystems at unprecedented levels (Newbold et al, 2015), and this has resulted in dramatic biodiversity loss in the last 50 years (Reid et al, 2005)
We found that the features and surroundings of the veteran oaks influenced species richness and functional diversity of beetles, whether classified as decomposers, predators, or flower visitors
The importance of forests surrounding veteran trees has been demonstrated for the conservation of rare and threatened beetles (SverdrupThygeson et al, 2010), and our results indicate that surrounding forest

Summary

Introduction

Human activities are converting and degrading ecosystems at unprecedented levels (Newbold et al, 2015), and this has resulted in dramatic biodiversity loss in the last 50 years (Reid et al, 2005). Biodiversity regulates ecosystem processes such as energy and matter fluxes over space and time, and maintenance of life on earth depends on these processes (Laureto, Cianciaruso, & Samia, 2015). This is a greater problem than a reduction in the number of species, as there is robust evidence that biodiversity has a positive effect on ecosystem functioning (Brose & Hillebrand, 2016; Cardinale et al, 2012; Laureto et al, 2015). Identifying drivers of functional diversity is a crucial step in the process of predicting and possibly mitigating reduction of ecosystem functioning

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