Abstract
Increasing demand for biomass has led to an on‐going intensification of fuel wood plantations with possible negative effects on open land biodiversity. Hence, ecologists increasingly call for measures that reduce those negative effects on associated biodiversity. However, our knowledge about the efficiency of such measures remains scarce. We investigated the effects of gap implementation in short rotation coppices (SRCs) on carabid diversity and assemblage composition over 3 years, with pitfall traps in gaps, edges and interiors. In parallel, we quantified soil surface temperature, shrub‐ and herb cover. Edges had the highest number of species and abundances per trap, whereas rarefied species richness was significantly lower in short rotation coppice interiors than in other habitat types. Carabid community composition differed significantly between habitat types. The main environmental drivers were temperature for number of species and abundance and shrub cover for rarefied species richness. We found significantly higher rarefied species richness in gaps compared with interiors. Hence, we argue that gap implementation benefits overall diversity in short rotation coppices. Furthermore, the differences in species community composition between habitat types through increased species turnover support carabid diversity in short rotation coppices. These positive effects were largely attributed to microclimate conditions. However, to maintain positive effects, continuous management of herb layer might be necessary.
Highlights
Biomass has become an important source of renewable energy during the last decades and is predicted to gain importance in the coming decades (Schulz et al, 2009)
We found no significant differences in species richness between years (Fig. 2b)
Species richness was significantly lower in interiors (5.16 median) than in gaps (5.28)
Summary
Biomass has become an important source of renewable energy during the last decades and is predicted to gain importance in the coming decades (Schulz et al, 2009). Fast growing trees are increasingly grown as short-rotation coppices (SRC) on agricultural land. Due to the higher growth rate of juvenile trees, SRCs show higher productivity of wood than conventional forestry (Baum et al, 2009) and can regularly be coppiced (2–8 years rotation) at the ground level (Vanbeveren & Ceulemans, 2019). Widespread arthropod declines have occurred in recent years (Seibold et al, 2019). In open habitats, those declines are driven
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