TY - JOUR

T1 - Species diversity of forest floor biota in non-native Douglas-fir stands is similar to that of native stands

AU - Glatthorn, Jonas

AU - Appleby, Scott

AU - Balkenhol, Niko

AU - Kriegel, Peter

AU - Likulunga, Likulunga Emmanuel

AU - Lu, Jing Zhong

AU - Matevski, Dragan

AU - Polle, Andrea

AU - Riebl, Hannes

AU - Rivera Pérez, Carmen Alicia

AU - Scheu, Stefan

AU - Seinsche, Alexander

AU - Schall, Peter

AU - Schuldt, Andreas

AU - Wingender, Severin

AU - Ammer, Christian

N1 - Funding Information: This study was conducted as part of the Research Training Group 2300 (RTG2300), funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft—DFG). Additionally Likulunga Emmanuel Likulunga received financial support from the Special Research Fellowship of the University of Zambia (Staff Development Office) and from the Bernhard‐Ulrich‐Stiftung. We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Funds of the Göttingen University. We are grateful to Martin Gossner for identifying forest specialist ground beetles. We are grateful to Dominik Schneider for his assistance during the bioinformatic analysis of the root and soil fungi data. We highly appreciate as well many valuable comments of two anonymous reviewers that helped to improve the manuscript. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Funding Information: This study was conducted as part of the Research Training Group 2300 (RTG2300), funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft—DFG). Additionally Likulunga Emmanuel Likulunga received financial support from the Special Research Fellowship of the University of Zambia (Staff Development Office) and from the Bernhard-Ulrich-Stiftung. We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Funds of the Göttingen University. We are grateful to Martin Gossner for identifying forest specialist ground beetles. We are grateful to Dominik Schneider for his assistance during the bioinformatic analysis of the root and soil fungi data. We highly appreciate as well many valuable comments of two anonymous reviewers that helped to improve the manuscript. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Ecosphere published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America.

PY - 2023/7/1

Y1 - 2023/7/1

N2 - Cultivation of non-native tree species is a promising option to adapt managed forests to climate change. However, consequences of non-native tree species on flora, fauna, and microorganisms that occur in forest ecosystems (forest associates) need to be considered when managing forests. We lack a solid understanding of how cultivating non-native tree species in pure stands and in mixture with native tree species impacts abundance and species diversity of forest associates. We compared abundance, alpha-, beta- and gamma-diversity of eight forest-floor-associated taxa that are relevant for ecosystem functioning (including fungi, plants, arthropods, and small mammals) between different forest ecosystems. We addressed pure stands of non-native coniferous Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and two native species, broad-leaved European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and coniferous Norway spruce (Picea abies), as well as mixed stands of European beech with each conifer in two regions with differing site conditions in temperate Northwest Germany. Diversity indices revealed differences among species groups. Gamma-diversity and alpha-diversity of forest associates in Douglas-fir and spruce stands were usually higher than in beech stands. Estimates of species diversity of mixed stands are intermediate between estimates for the respective pure stands. Differences in the diversity between the two study regions were highly taxon specific with no clear support for a general trend toward a higher or lower species diversity of forest associates depending on site quality. Abundance values show a pattern similar to our diversity estimates, but with a higher statistical uncertainty. Non-native Douglas-fir stands provided habitats to support associated species communities of equally high or higher diversity than stands of native beech or spruce. Mixed stands of non-native and native tree species may be a management option to achieve different goals, that is, to provide habitats for species that are strictly associated with beech and to increase resilience to climate change. However, the overall diversity of forest-floor-associated biota is not improved by cultivating Douglas-fir or spruce in mixture with beech.

AB - Cultivation of non-native tree species is a promising option to adapt managed forests to climate change. However, consequences of non-native tree species on flora, fauna, and microorganisms that occur in forest ecosystems (forest associates) need to be considered when managing forests. We lack a solid understanding of how cultivating non-native tree species in pure stands and in mixture with native tree species impacts abundance and species diversity of forest associates. We compared abundance, alpha-, beta- and gamma-diversity of eight forest-floor-associated taxa that are relevant for ecosystem functioning (including fungi, plants, arthropods, and small mammals) between different forest ecosystems. We addressed pure stands of non-native coniferous Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and two native species, broad-leaved European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and coniferous Norway spruce (Picea abies), as well as mixed stands of European beech with each conifer in two regions with differing site conditions in temperate Northwest Germany. Diversity indices revealed differences among species groups. Gamma-diversity and alpha-diversity of forest associates in Douglas-fir and spruce stands were usually higher than in beech stands. Estimates of species diversity of mixed stands are intermediate between estimates for the respective pure stands. Differences in the diversity between the two study regions were highly taxon specific with no clear support for a general trend toward a higher or lower species diversity of forest associates depending on site quality. Abundance values show a pattern similar to our diversity estimates, but with a higher statistical uncertainty. Non-native Douglas-fir stands provided habitats to support associated species communities of equally high or higher diversity than stands of native beech or spruce. Mixed stands of non-native and native tree species may be a management option to achieve different goals, that is, to provide habitats for species that are strictly associated with beech and to increase resilience to climate change. However, the overall diversity of forest-floor-associated biota is not improved by cultivating Douglas-fir or spruce in mixture with beech.

KW - adaptive management

KW - biodiversity

KW - Douglas-fir

KW - European beech

KW - mixed forest

KW - multidiversity

KW - Norway spruce

KW - Biology

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165499393&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/ecs2.4609

DO - 10.1002/ecs2.4609

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85165499393

VL - 14

JO - Ecosphere - An esa open access journal

JF - Ecosphere - An esa open access journal

SN - 2150-8925

IS - 7

M1 - e4609

ER -