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Effects of forest continuity on flying saproxylic beetle assemblages in small woodlots embedded in agricultural landscapes

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Abstract

Ancient forests are of considerable interest for strategies for biodiversity conservation. However, in European forest landscapes fragmented and harvested for a long time forest continuity might be no longer a key driver for flying organisms such as saproxylic beetles. In a study based on paired samples (n = 60 stands, p = 180 traps) of ancient and recent forests, we investigated the effects of forest continuity on saproxylic beetle assemblages in two French regions. Mean species richness was significantly related with deadwood volume in ancient forests, but not in recent forests. This loss of relationship between assemblages and their environment suggests that dispersal limitation is at work, at least for some species. Forest continuity had a significant effect on mean species richness and on the mean number of common species, but not on rare species. Forest continuity had a significant effect on assemblage composition in one out of the four cases tested. In both regions, we identified species associated with either recent or ancient forests. Finally, mean body size of species was significantly smaller in recent forests compared with ancient ones, as was their tree diameter preference, despite a higher volume of large deadwood in recent forests. These results lend support to using forest continuity as a criterion to identify sites of conservation importance, even in highly fragmented landscapes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to F. Archaux for helpful comments during the project, and to H. Brustel, O. Courtin, S. Malaty, C. Mailliu, C. Victoire, L. Burnel, B. Nusillard, C. Moliard and A. N’Diaye for field and laboratory work. We thank O. Courtin and H. Brustel for the identification of a large part of the specimens. We thank V. Moore who checked the English language. We are also grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This research was granted by the French Ministry in charge of Ecology through the “Biodiversité, Gestion Forestière et Politiques Publiques” (BGF) program (Contract Number: 10-MBGDBGF- 2-CVS-103 Distrafor).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toulouse, Engineering School of PURPAN, UMR 1201 INRA-INPT DYNAFOR, 31076, Toulouse Cedex 3, France

    Antoine Brin & Lionel Valladares

  2. French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), UMR 1201 INRA-INPT DYNAFOR, BP 52627, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan, France

    Sylvie Ladet

  3. National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA), Domaine des Barres, Nogent-Sur-Vernisson, France

    Christophe Bouget

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  1. Antoine Brin
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  2. Lionel Valladares
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Correspondence to Antoine Brin.

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Communicated by Jens Wolfgang Dauber.

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Brin, A., Valladares, L., Ladet, S. et al. Effects of forest continuity on flying saproxylic beetle assemblages in small woodlots embedded in agricultural landscapes. Biodivers Conserv 25, 587–602 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1076-z

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