Sustaining forest biodiversity: Exploring the effect of long-term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystems
In this era of biodiversity loss and climate change, quantifying the impacts of natural disturbance on forest communities is imperative to improve biodiversity conservation efforts. Epiphytic and epixylic lichens are effective forest quality bioindicators, as they are generally long-lived organisms...
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| Format: | Article |
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Forest Ecosystems |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2197562024000502 |
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| author | Rhiannon Gloor Marek Svitok Martin Mikoláš Jeňýk Hofmeister Josef Halda Pavel Janda Francesco Maria Sabatini Lucie Zemanová Arne Buechling Daniel Kozák Matej Ferenčík Michal Frankovič Martin Dušátko Miroslav Svoboda |
| author_facet | Rhiannon Gloor Marek Svitok Martin Mikoláš Jeňýk Hofmeister Josef Halda Pavel Janda Francesco Maria Sabatini Lucie Zemanová Arne Buechling Daniel Kozák Matej Ferenčík Michal Frankovič Martin Dušátko Miroslav Svoboda |
| author_sort | Rhiannon Gloor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this era of biodiversity loss and climate change, quantifying the impacts of natural disturbance on forest communities is imperative to improve biodiversity conservation efforts. Epiphytic and epixylic lichens are effective forest quality bioindicators, as they are generally long-lived organisms supported by continuity of specific forest structures and their associated microclimatic features. However, how lichen communities respond to the effects of fluctuating historical disturbances remains unclear. Using a dendrochronological approach, this study investigates how natural disturbance dynamics indirectly influence various lichen community metrics in some of Europe's best-preserved primary mixed-beech forests. Mixed modelling revealed that natural historical disturbance processes have decades-long effects on forest structural attributes, which had both congruent and divergent impacts on lichen community richness and composition. Total species richness indirectly benefited from both historical and recent higher-severity disturbances via increased standing dead tree basal area and canopy openness respectively - likely through the presence of both pioneer and late-successional species associated with these conditions. Red-listed species richness showed a dependence on habitat continuity (old trees), and increased with disturbance-related structures (standing dead trees) whilst simultaneously benefiting from periods without severe disturbance events (old trees and reduced deadwood volume). However, if the disturbance occurred over a century in the past, no substantial effect on forest structure was detected. Therefore, while disturbance-mediated forest structures can promote overall richness, threatened species appear vulnerable to more severe disturbance events – a concern, as disturbances are predicted to intensify with climate change. Additionally, the high number of threatened species found reinforce the critical role of primary forest structural attributes for biodiversity maintenance. Hence, we recommend a landscape-scale conservation approach encompassing forest patches in different successional stages to support diverse lichen communities, and the consideration of long-term disturbance dynamics in forest conservation efforts, as they provide critical insights for safeguarding biodiversity in our changing world. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a1550585ff3d4b4580b92e9c17a545a4 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2197-5620 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
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| series | Forest Ecosystems |
| spelling | doaj-art-a1550585ff3d4b4580b92e9c17a545a42025-08-20T02:11:38ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Forest Ecosystems2197-56202024-01-011110021410.1016/j.fecs.2024.100214Sustaining forest biodiversity: Exploring the effect of long-term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystemsRhiannon Gloor0Marek Svitok1Martin Mikoláš2Jeňýk Hofmeister3Josef Halda4Pavel Janda5Francesco Maria Sabatini6Lucie Zemanová7Arne Buechling8Daniel Kozák9Matej Ferenčík10Michal Frankovič11Martin Dušátko12Miroslav Svoboda13Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech Republic; Corresponding author. Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech Republic.Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech Republic; Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Technical University in Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, 960 01, Zvolen, Slovakia; Institute of Botany, Plant Science and Biodiversity Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 23, Bratislava, SlovakiaDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech Republic; PRALES, Odtrnovie 563, 013 22, Rosina, SlovakiaDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech RepublicFaculty of Science, University of Hradec Kralove, Hradecká 1285, Hradec Králové, III 500 03, Czech RepublicDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech RepublicBIOME – Biogeography and Macroecology, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BIGEA), Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, via Irnerio 42, Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech RepublicDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech RepublicDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech RepublicDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech RepublicDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech RepublicDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech RepublicDepartment of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 – Suchdol, 165 00, Czech RepublicIn this era of biodiversity loss and climate change, quantifying the impacts of natural disturbance on forest communities is imperative to improve biodiversity conservation efforts. Epiphytic and epixylic lichens are effective forest quality bioindicators, as they are generally long-lived organisms supported by continuity of specific forest structures and their associated microclimatic features. However, how lichen communities respond to the effects of fluctuating historical disturbances remains unclear. Using a dendrochronological approach, this study investigates how natural disturbance dynamics indirectly influence various lichen community metrics in some of Europe's best-preserved primary mixed-beech forests. Mixed modelling revealed that natural historical disturbance processes have decades-long effects on forest structural attributes, which had both congruent and divergent impacts on lichen community richness and composition. Total species richness indirectly benefited from both historical and recent higher-severity disturbances via increased standing dead tree basal area and canopy openness respectively - likely through the presence of both pioneer and late-successional species associated with these conditions. Red-listed species richness showed a dependence on habitat continuity (old trees), and increased with disturbance-related structures (standing dead trees) whilst simultaneously benefiting from periods without severe disturbance events (old trees and reduced deadwood volume). However, if the disturbance occurred over a century in the past, no substantial effect on forest structure was detected. Therefore, while disturbance-mediated forest structures can promote overall richness, threatened species appear vulnerable to more severe disturbance events – a concern, as disturbances are predicted to intensify with climate change. Additionally, the high number of threatened species found reinforce the critical role of primary forest structural attributes for biodiversity maintenance. Hence, we recommend a landscape-scale conservation approach encompassing forest patches in different successional stages to support diverse lichen communities, and the consideration of long-term disturbance dynamics in forest conservation efforts, as they provide critical insights for safeguarding biodiversity in our changing world.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2197562024000502Mixed-beech forestsSpecies richnessOld-growth forestsCarpathian mountainsBiodiversity conservationDendroecology |
| spellingShingle | Rhiannon Gloor Marek Svitok Martin Mikoláš Jeňýk Hofmeister Josef Halda Pavel Janda Francesco Maria Sabatini Lucie Zemanová Arne Buechling Daniel Kozák Matej Ferenčík Michal Frankovič Martin Dušátko Miroslav Svoboda Sustaining forest biodiversity: Exploring the effect of long-term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystems Forest Ecosystems Mixed-beech forests Species richness Old-growth forests Carpathian mountains Biodiversity conservation Dendroecology |
| title | Sustaining forest biodiversity: Exploring the effect of long-term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystems |
| title_full | Sustaining forest biodiversity: Exploring the effect of long-term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystems |
| title_fullStr | Sustaining forest biodiversity: Exploring the effect of long-term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sustaining forest biodiversity: Exploring the effect of long-term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystems |
| title_short | Sustaining forest biodiversity: Exploring the effect of long-term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystems |
| title_sort | sustaining forest biodiversity exploring the effect of long term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystems |
| topic | Mixed-beech forests Species richness Old-growth forests Carpathian mountains Biodiversity conservation Dendroecology |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2197562024000502 |
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