High ecosystem service delivery potential of small woodlands in agricultural landscapes

Abstract

1. Global forest loss and fragmentation have strongly increased the frequency of forest patches smaller than a few hectares. Little is known about the biodiversity and ecosystem service supply potential of such small woodlands in comparison to larger forests. As it is widely recognized that high biodiversity levels increase ecosystem functionality and the delivery of multiple ecosystem services, small, isolated woodlands are expected to have a lower potential for ecosystem service delivery than large forests hosting more species.2. We collected data on the diversity of six taxonomic groups covering invertebrates, plants and fungi, and on the supply potential of five ecosystem services and one disservice within 224 woodlands distributed across temperate Europe. We related their ability to simultaneously provide multiple ecosystem services (multiservice delivery potential) at different performance levels to biodiversity of all studied taxonomic groups (multidiversity), forest patch size and age, as well as habitat availability and connectivity within the landscape, while accounting for macroclimate, soil properties and forest structure.3. Unexpectedly, despite their lower multidiversity, smaller woodlands had the potential to deliver multiple services at higher performance levels per area than | 5Journal of Applied Ecology VALDÉS et AL.

Response to Comment on “Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming”

“…Forest ecologists are very much aware that many species benefit from canopy openings, and many of us have extensively worked on this topic (9)(10)(11). We also fully agree that at a landscape scale, biodiversity is enhanced by forest patches with deep shade and more open patches or edge habitat, as shown by many studies, including our own work (12,13). Environmental change affects forest understory plant communities in many ways, and we agree with the general remarks in Schall and Heinrichs' concluding paragraphs.…”

Multiscale drivers of carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages in small European woodlands

“…Therefore, patch-level biotic homogenization (i.e., loss of genetic, taxonomic and functional diversity of species assemblages) due to edge effects is generally observed, which increases in importance as patch size decreases (McKinney & Lockwood, 1999;Olden & Rooney, 2006). At the same time, forest edges can offer suitable conditions for a number of animal and plant generalist species originating from neighbouring, more open or/and disturbed habitats (e.g., Cousins & Eriksson, 2002;De Smedt et al, 2018;González et al, 2017), thereby potentially enhancing the delivery of multiple ecosystem services in small forest patches (Kütt et al, 2018;Valdés et al, 2020). Another consequence of forest loss and fragmentation is that remnant forest patches are increasingly distant from each other.…”

“…In addition to the degree of spatial connectivity, temporal connectivity through the age of forest patches has repeatedly been shown to influence community composition, with ancient forest patches (i.e., patches that have continuously existed for centuries) harbouring a higher number of forest-specialist species with limited dispersal abilities than recent forest patches (i.e., patches that have established on former agricultural lands in recent decades) (Debnár et al, 2016;Dekoninck et al, 2005;Desender et al, 2005;Lelli et al, 2019). Ancient forest patches usually support more diverse plant assemblages than recent ones, given their higher habitat heterogeneity (Brunet, 2007;Burrascano et al, 2018) and the longer time period available for accumulating forest specialist species (i.e., the species-time relationship; Almoussawi et al, 2020;Valdés et al, 2020). However, compared to plant species, arthropod species have received little attention with respect to species richness in ancient versus recent forest patches (Schowalter, 2017).…”

Hedging against biodiversity loss: Forest herbs’ performance in hedgerows across temperate Europe

“…carbon sequestration and pest control) and cultural (e.g. recreational activities) services (Valdés et al ., 2020). Forests harbour about two‐thirds of all terrestrial species on earth (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005).…”