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Abstract
There is growing evidence that biodiversity is important for ecosystem functions. Thus, identification of habitat requirements essential for current species richness and abundance to persist is crucial. Hollow oaks (Quercus spp.) are biodiversity hot spots for deadwood‐dependent insect species, and the main objective of this paper was to test the effect of habitat history and current habitat distribution at various spatial scales on the associated beetle community. We used a gradient spanning 40 km from the coast to inland areas reflecting historical logging intensity (later and lower intensities inland) through 500 years in Southern Norway, to investigate whether the historical variation in oak density is influencing the structure of beetle communities in hollow oaks today. We trapped beetles in 32 hollow oaks along this gradient in forested and seminatural landscapes over two summers. We found higher species richness and total abundance inland consistent with our expectation based on historic logging intensity. Scale‐specific environmental variables also affected the response; beetle abundances were controlled by local conditions, whereas beetle species richness responded to habitat on the landscape scale. This indicates that long time continuity as well as large areas of favorable habitat is necessary to maintain beetle species richness through time in these highly long‐lasting structures.
Highlights
Habitat loss is currently one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and ecosystems worldwide (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; Sala et al, 2000), with species going extinct at a rate that suggests we are entering a sixth mass extinction (Barnosky et al, 2011)
We studied beetles dependent on deadwood living in hollow oaks (Quercus spp.) and ask whether the history of forest exploitation influences present patterns of species richness and abundance, beyond what can be explained by the properties of individual oak trees, their close surroundings, and the wider landscape
As a hollow oak’s distance to the coast, in itself, should not promote species richness, we believe the most likely explanation of the observed pattern is a response to the historical logging intensity and duration
Summary
Habitat loss is currently one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and ecosystems worldwide (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; Sala et al, 2000), with species going extinct at a rate that suggests we are entering a sixth mass extinction (Barnosky et al, 2011). The responses to spatial scales are likely to be species dependent (Sverdrup-Thygeson, Gustafsson, & Kouki, 2014; Wiens, 1989), and spatial studies of communities face two major. Recording species number without considering past events risks overestimating long-term species richness and underestimating the threat of extinction (Helm et al, 2006) Despite their limited number, current studies of plants, lichens, insects, fish, and birds indicate that extinction debt is more common than previously recognized (Kuussaari et al, 2009)
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