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Habitat enhancements for reptiles in a beech forest may increase fungal species richness

Biodiversity and Conservation volume 29, pages 1805–1819 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

The success of habitat enhancements is typically assessed by subsequent monitoring of the focal taxonomic group. However, enhancement actions are likely to affect other, non-targeted species. On a south-facing slope in the Swiss Jura mountains, a mixed-forest stand was thinned out by irregular removal cuttings to improve the habitat conditions for reptiles. We used this enhancement action as a case study to monitor changes in the macrofungal community that came along with it. During 3 years before and after forest thinning, the site was visited between six and twelve times per year. Thereby, all apparent fungal species were recorded along a ringlike transect, split into 32 transect sections. We used site-occupancy models to estimate fungal species richness and abundance. These models allow to separately estimate occurrence probability and detection probability of species, and to account for differences in detection probability, depending on habitat and season. After the forest thinning, the occurrence probabilities of ectomycorrhizal and saprobic fungi were significantly higher than before. As a result, we estimated a mean increase in overall species richness by 4.4% (median 4.3%, CI 2.1–6.8%) and an increase in abundance by 20.0% (median 19.9%, CI 14.8–25.7%). The two major habitat changes associated with forest thinning, the decrease in living wood and the increase in dead wood on most transect sections, could not explain the whole extent of the estimated increase in species richness and abundance. We believe that forest thinning may have fostered fungal species richness by creating a larger density and diversity of suitable microhabitats. With some caution, we conclude that the small-scale habitat enhancement for reptiles at the Bolberg, creating islands of open forest, did not negatively affect species richness and abundance of macrofungi, a non-targeted species group.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Marc Kéry for comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Funding of this work was provided by the Canton of Basel-Landschaft and by oikostat GmbH.

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Author notes

  1. Peter Baumann—Deceased.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. oikostat GmbH, Hädrichstrasse 7, 8047, Zürich, Switzerland

    Stefanie von Felten

  2. Herpeton Info Berney, Hauptstrasse 85, 4126, Bettingen, Switzerland

    Christophe Berney

  3. Erlinsbach, Switzerland

    Bruno Erb

  4. Zwingen, Switzerland

    Peter Baumann

  5. oikostat GmbH, Rothmättli 16, 6218, Ettiswil, Switzerland

    Fränzi Korner-Nievergelt

  6. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Beatrice Senn-Irlet

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  1. Stefanie von Felten
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  2. Christophe Berney
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Correspondence to Stefanie von Felten.

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Communicated by Francis Brearley.

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von Felten, S., Berney, C., Erb, B. et al. Habitat enhancements for reptiles in a beech forest may increase fungal species richness. Biodivers Conserv 29, 1805–1819 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-020-01949-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-020-01949-z

Keywords

  • Biodiversity
  • Forest management
  • Reptile conservation area
  • Forest thinning
  • Site-occupancy
  • Hierarchical Bayes

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