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Structures determining bryophyte species richness in a managed forest landscape in boreo-nemoral Europe

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Abstract

Forest patches with high biological value are protected as woodland key habitats (WKH), which are identified by the presence of forest structures and indicator species. However, management for conservation needs to consider also managed forests as habitats for species. In this respect, there is a need to set quantitative targets for species and structures at different landscape scales. Due to non-intensive methods of forest management used prior to 1940 in Latvia, it might be expected that large areas of forest have developed structures that can support many species characteristic of natural forests. The aim of the study was to create a model that best described the richness of bryophyte species that are characteristic of natural forests, using forest structures as explanatory factors. The structures and bryophyte communities on living trees and coarse woody debris (CWD) were described in plots along transects blindly placed in areas dominated by State forests under commercial management. Explanatory variables related to tree species composition and tree size explained 54% of the variation in WKH indicator species richness on living trees. The best explanatory factors were maximum diameter of deciduous tree species and CWD. Low richness of total bryophyte and indicator species was found on dead wood, and the amount of variation in bryophyte species richness on CWD explained by explanatory variables was low. The study indicates the importance of deciduous tree substrate in managed forests in maintaining the spatial continuity of epiphytic species diversity. However, the forests in the managed forest landscape did not support high diversity of epixylic species, even in the WKHs, due to low diversity of suitable dead wood substrate.

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Abbreviations

AIC:

Akaike information criterion

CWD:

Coarse woody debris

DBH:

Diameter at breast height

GLM:

Generalized linear model

WKH:

Woodland key habitat

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the European Social Fund within the project “Support for Doctoral Studies at the University of Latvia” and by a Latvian Science Council grant. The comments of Bengt Gunnar Jonsson and two anonymous reviewers much helped to improve the manuscript. Thanks is extended to Andris Veidemanis for help in the field, Anna Mežaka and Līga Strazdiņa for identification of some bryophytes and to Mārīte Firstova for data processing.

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  1. Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Kronvalda bulvaris 4, Riga, LV-1010, Latvia

    Linda Madžule, Guntis Brūmelis & Didzis Tjarve

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  1. Linda Madžule
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  2. Guntis Brūmelis
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  3. Didzis Tjarve
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Correspondence to Linda Madžule.

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Madžule, L., Brūmelis, G. & Tjarve, D. Structures determining bryophyte species richness in a managed forest landscape in boreo-nemoral Europe. Biodivers Conserv 21, 437–450 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0192-z

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