Key features for saproxylic beetle diversity derived from rapid habitat assessment in temperate forests

Abstract

Managing and monitoring forest biodiversity is challenging and rapid habitat assessment protocols should be developed to provide us with general key features based on field data.A rapid habitat assessment protocol was implemented over a wide forest gradient in France to analyze surrogacy patterns and performance consistency of presumed key attributes for saproxylic beetle diversity (large trees, microhabitat-bearing trees with trunk cavities, fruiting bodies of saproxylic fungi, tree crown deadwood and sap runs, large logs and snags) and of stand openness. Data compiled in this study include standardized deadwood and window-flight trapped beetle data from 313 plots in oak, lowland and highland beech, lowland pine, highland spruce–fir and mixed temperate forests throughout France.The most structuring factors for species richness and composition of saproxylic beetles were the density of cavity- or fungus-bearing trees and of snags, as well as the degree of openness in the 1-ha surrounding the stand. These key habitat features were nevertheless inconsistent over the different types of temperate forests, and for rare species vs. all species combined. No one variable robustly explained variations in species richness in the deciduous or conifer forest types.The influence of deadwood and “habitat trees” was affected by meso- and micro-climatic features. A significant effect of stand openness on saproxylic beetles was observed both in deciduous and in conifer forests, but only in lowlands. Effects on species richness due to an interaction between substrate availability and openness were observed in montane forests only.Our results point toward the relevance of ecological attributes in tracking changes in saproxylic beetle biodiversity in specific forest contexts, but our study failed to identify any universal structural biodiversity indicators which could be surveyed in part with data from national forest inventories and used to track progress in sustainable forest management or in the protection of sensitive areas.