Compositional attributes of invaded forests drive the diversity of insect functional groups

Traylor, Clayton R.; Ulyshen, Michael D.; Wallace, D.; Loudermilk, E. Louise; Ross, C. A.; Hawley, Christie; Atchison, Rachel; Williams, John A.; McHugh, Joseph V.

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02092

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Although a complete accounting of this topic is beyond the scope of this review, it is worth briefly summarizing broad patterns likely to affect the relationship between forest cover and pollinator diversity. First, the diversity and composition of tree species is known to affect forest pollinator diversity (Jha & Vandermeer, 2010; Traylor et al ., 2022) and closed‐canopy forests dominated by conifers are typically of lower value to pollinators than forests consisting of diverse combinations of flowering trees (Tscheulin et al ., 2011; Wray & Elle, 2015; Mola et al ., 2021). Such patterns suggest that forest cover may be more important to pollinators in some regions than others, a notion consistent with work showing that the responses of bee communities to land‐use change varies significantly among geographic regions (De Palma et al ., 2016).…”

Section: Local Effects Of Forest Cover Are Scale Taxon and Context De...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Forests are critically important to global pollinator diversity and enhance pollination in adjacent crops

et al. 2023

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Although the importance of natural habitats to pollinator diversity is widely recognized, the value of forests to pollinating insects has been largely overlooked in many parts of the world. In this review, we (i) establish the importance of forests to global pollinator diversity, (ii) explore the relationship between forest cover and pollinator diversity in mixed‐use landscapes, and (iii) highlight the contributions of forest‐associated pollinators to pollination in adjacent crops. The literature shows unambiguously that native forests support a large number of forest‐dependent species and are thus critically important to global pollinator diversity. Many pollinator taxa require or benefit greatly from resources that are restricted to forests, such as floral resources provided by forest plants (including wind‐pollinated trees), dead wood for nesting, tree resins, and various non‐floral sugar sources (e.g. honeydew). Although landscape‐scale studies generally support the conclusion that forests enhance pollinator diversity, findings are often complicated by spatial scale, focal taxa, landscape context, temporal context, forest type, disturbance history, and external stressors. While some forest loss can be beneficial to pollinators by enhancing habitat complementarity, too much can result in the near‐elimination of forest‐associated species. There is strong evidence from studies of multiple crop types that forest cover can substantially increase yields in adjacent habitats, at least within the foraging ranges of the pollinators involved. The literature also suggests that forests may have enhanced importance to pollinators in the future given their role in mitigating the negative effects of pesticides and climate change. Many questions remain about the amount and configuration of forest cover required to promote the diversity of forest‐associated pollinators and their services within forests and in neighbouring habitats. However, it is clear from the current body of knowledge that any effort to preserve native woody habitats, including the protection of individual trees, will benefit pollinating insects and help maintain the critical services they provide.

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Section: Local Effects Of Forest Cover Are Scale Taxon and Context De...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Forests are critically important to global pollinator diversity and enhance pollination in adjacent crops

et al. 2023

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“…Thirty-one of those species were collected in our urban/suburban study, representing almost half of the forest bee species collected in that previous study. More recently, Traylor et al (2022) caught 111 species of bees in forests within the boundaries of Clarke Co., Georgia, the same area investigated in the current study. Similarly, Urban-Mead et al (2021) emphasize the importance of forest canopy for bee conservation reporting that 20% of New York's 417 bee species were active in the springtime canopy, especially female wood-nesting and female social bees.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scale-dependent effects of landscape context on urban bee diversity

et al. 2022

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As urbanization continues throughout much of the world, there is great interest in better understanding the value of urban and residential environments to pollinators. We explored how landscape context affects the abundance and diversity of bees on 50 residential properties in northern Georgia, USA, primarily in and around Athens, GA. Over 2 years of pan trap sampling we collected 4938 bees representing 111 species, from 28 genera in five families, constituting 20% of the species reported for the state. Development correlated positively with bee diversity at small (< 2.5 square km) scales, and positively with six of eight individual bee species’ abundances. Agriculture often correlated positively with bee diversity at larger spatial scales (> 2.5 square km), and negatively at smaller spatial scales. Forest cover correlated negatively with bee diversity at small spatial scales, but positively at larger scales. This trend was also largely true for individual bee species abundances. Bee communities differed between sites by predominant land cover types (agriculture, forest and development). Simper and indicator species analysis revealed which species contributed heavily to the observed patterns and helped to determine group distinctions. Implications for insect conservation Our results show that residential landscapes can support high bee diversity and that this diversity is sensitive to landscape context at different scales. Although development appears to have a negative effect on bee diversity overall, some bee species are favored by the open conditions characteristic of developed areas. Moreover, forest remnants appear to be valuable habitats for many species and are thus important to regional bee diversity. Urban planning that prioritizes and incorporates forest remnant conservation will promote bee abundance and diversity.

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“…birds; Barrett et al, 2008), though the responses of individual species or guilds with specific habitat requirements (e.g. woodboring beetles; Traylor et al, 2022) can be more complex and shaped by abiotic factors (Seibold et al, 2016). Nonlinear and/or negative relationships between faunal diversity and VSC can also arise as a result of decreased average population size or habitat area (and thus greater risk of stochastic extinction) in complex environments (Heidrich et al, 2020).…”

Section: Ecological Effects Of Vscmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling the relationship between plant diversity and vegetation structural complexity: A review and theoretical framework

Coverdale

Davies

2023

Journal of Ecology

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Vegetation structural complexity (VSC)—the three‐dimensional distribution of plants within an ecosystem—is an important ecological trait. To date, research has focused primarily on the effects of VSC on ecological patterns and processes, but comparatively little is known about what drives variation in VSC. Recent advances in active remote sensing technology, particularly light detection and ranging and radio detection and ranging, have allowed the measurement of VSC at unprecedented spatial scales and resolutions. Out of this and earlier work has emerged evidence that VSC is typically associated with greater ecosystem functioning (especially microclimate regulation, productivity, faunal diversity and habitat provisioning), making restoration of vegetation complexity a potentially powerful restoration tool. Recent studies of VSC across natural and experimental gradients of plant diversity have also revealed that more diverse plant communities tend to be more structurally complex. However, the shape and generality of this relationship—and the mechanism(s) by which phytodiversity might contribute to structural complexity—remain poorly understood. Here, we review how active remote sensing has facilitated recent VSC research and shaped our understanding of the relationship between vegetation complexity and ecosystem function. We then present a theoretical framework for the relationship between phytodiversity and VSC based on classic biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning principles. Finally, we evaluate the evidence for the notion that diverse plant assemblages tend to be more structurally complex and explore the shape of the relationship between phytodiversity and VSC using data from 13 recent remote sensing studies. Synthesis. The relationship between phytodiversity and VSC appears to be almost universally positive. Preliminary evidence further suggests that the most common relationships between phytodiversity and VSC are linear or saturating, indicating that the extent of functional redundancy between species varies across plant communities and ecosystems. In contrast, we find little evidence for exponential or negative relationships between plant diversity and VSC, suggesting that even modest increases in plant diversity could markedly increase structural complexity. Additional investigations of phytodiversity‐VSC relationships are necessary to establish whether the observed positive relationships are causal (and, if so, in which direction) and to clarify the potential impact of plant community restoration on structural complexity and broader ecosystem function.

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Compositional attributes of invaded forests drive the diversity of insect functional groups

Cited by 11 publications

References 80 publications

Forests are critically important to global pollinator diversity and enhance pollination in adjacent crops

Forests are critically important to global pollinator diversity and enhance pollination in adjacent crops

Scale-dependent effects of landscape context on urban bee diversity

Unravelling the relationship between plant diversity and vegetation structural complexity: A review and theoretical framework

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