Influence of Forest Management on the Species Richness and Composition of Wood-inhabiting Basidiomycetes in Swiss Forests

Abstract

In order to investigate the diversity of wood-inhabiting aphyllophoroid basidiomycetes in Swiss forests, 86 plots of 50 m 2 were established. They harboured a total of 3339 samples of woody debris, classified according to three categories (coarse, fine, and very fine woody debris), yielding 238 species of wood-inhabiting fungi. The selected sites cover the main forest types of Switzerland and various degrees of management intensity. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that substrate variation, i.e. differences in the quality of dead wood, including volume, age, degree of decomposition and host tree species, are the most important factors influencing diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi. In addition, a Principle Coordinate Analysis highlighted differences in the fungal communities in the different forest types. The greatest fungal species richness is found on thermophilic deciduous tree and woody shrub species. Fine and very fine woody debris, even present in intensively managed forests, often serve as important refuges for many species. Forests with a recent management intervention were found to be either species poor or species rich. Possible reasons for these differences may lay in forest size and landscape fragmentation, the distance to the nearest species pool or microclimatic factors. In Switzerland intensively managed forests harbour significantly less wood-inhabiting, aphyllophoroid fungi than non-managed or extensively managed forests. This is the case in both deciduous forests and in conifer forests. However, occasionally intensively managed forest will also harbour rare and endangered species.

Trade-Offs between Ecosystem Services in a Mountain Region

“…For example, we assumed that forests have a lower biodiversity value than extensively used meadows (Dullinger et al 2003). However, there are also forest types that provide a high value for biodiversity (Küffer andSenn-Irlet 2005, Spiecker 2003). In addition, recent work by Hanley et al (2012) showed that extensification is not necessarily a suitable indicator for every aspect of biodiversity in grassland.…”

Stand structure and deadwood amount influences saproxylic fungal biodiversity in Mediterranean mountain unmanaged forests

“…Likewise, high amounts of CWD, deadwood quality and the co-occurrence of diverse decay stages are among the ecological requirements of saproxylic fungal species, as demonstrated in a number of studies conducted in central and northern Europe (Renvall 1995, Dämon 2001, Nordén et al 2004, Küffer & Senn-Irlet 2005a. The deadwood volume was previously considered an important variable in predicting species richness of several groups of species associated with deadwood habitats (Penttilä et al 2004), but also a criterion to identify old-growth conditions ) and a tool to understand the evolution phase of forests with low anthropic disturbances (Marchetti & Lombardi 2006.…”

How to quantify forest management intensity in Central European forests

“…The management approach either directly quantifies the intensity of forest management operations in forest stands (Aguilar-Amuchastegui and Henebry 2007;Kueffer and Senn-Irlet 2005;Storaunet et al 2005;Uotila et al 2002;Sippola et al 2004;Zenner et al 2006;Arano and Munn 2006) or assesses the forest management regime applied in forest stands as a whole (Müller et al 2007a, b;Verwer et al 2008;Wulder et al 2007Duncker et al 2008Bell et al 2008). In contrast to the other two approaches, which Table 1 Overview of approaches characterizing forest management intensity grouped according to the main characteristics of land use (hemeroby/naturalness, disturbance, and management) and the address the effect or evidence of land use respectively, the management approach quantifies the intensity of management itself.…”