Non‐random extinctions dominate plant community changes in abandoned coppices

Abstract

Summary1. The plant community structure of European lowland forests has changed dramatically in the twentieth century, leading to biodiversity decline at various spatial scales. However, due to methodological difficulties associated with simultaneous changes in species diversity and composition, ecological processes behind the changes are still poorly understood. 2. We analysed temporal changes in forest plant community after the mid-twentieth-century abandonment of coppicing in a typical Central European forest, which had been managed as coppice for centuries. We used 122 semi-permanent plots first surveyed in the 1950s shortly after the last coppicing and again in the 2000s after half a century of natural succession. We used a novel temporal nestedness analysis to disentangle the immigration and extinction processes underlying temporal changes in community structure and tested whether species gains and losses were ecologically random. 3. The studied vegetation has shifted from the species-rich assemblages of a relatively open and low-nutrient forest towards the impoverished flora of a closed-canopy forest dominated by a few shade-adapted species. The significant reduction in beta diversity, that is, compositional heterogeneity among plots, indicated taxonomic homogenization of the forest understorey. Temporal species turnover was only a minor component of the community change, and recent assemblages are nested subsets of the former ones. Ecologically non-random extinctions dominated these changes. Light-demanding species with a persistent seed bank were the most prone to extinction, while species with high specific leaf area substantially increased in frequency. 4. Synthesis and applications. The dominant process after the abandonment of coppicing was the ecologically non-random extinction of light-demanding species, leading to an impoverished, temporally nested plant community structure. This development is typical for many abandoned coppices and poses a significant threat to forest biodiversity in Europe. If forestry and conservation policies continue to prefer closed-canopy stands, many endangered species are likely to pay their extinction debts. To restore declining or even locally extinct species, canopy opening in abandoned coppices is urgently needed.

Integrating conservation objectives into forest management: coppice management and forest habitats in Natura 2000 sites

“…Besides leading to a convergence in forest structure, the high forest strategy, much as coppice abandonment, might lead to a dominance, at the landscape level, of senescent woodlands and the loss of the earlier successional stages of forest ecosystems. Heterogeneity of forest stand development stages, including coppice woodlands, at different ecosystem organisation levels, has been advocated for many years in connection with the maintenance of high levels of beta-diversity (Hunter 1990, Buckley 1992, Fuller & Warren 1993, Mairota et al 2006, Chiarucci et al 2008, Garadnai et al 2010, Kopecký et al 2013, Buckley & Mills 2015.…”

Impact of applied silvicultural systems on spatial pattern of hornbeam-oak forests

“…Coppices were used as a wood source until the second half of the 19 th century (Peterken 1993). Since then, coppices have practically disappeared (Kopecký et al 2013) because of gradual conversion of low forests to high forests, especially in central and northwestern Europe (Matthews 1991;Peterken 1993). The main reason for forest conversion was increasing demand for timber of higher quality (Hédl et al 2010) and policy of nature conservation that considered the low forest system as undesirable at that time (Szabó 2010).…”

“…The main reason for forest conversion was increasing demand for timber of higher quality (Hédl et al 2010) and policy of nature conservation that considered the low forest system as undesirable at that time (Szabó 2010). On the contrary, the abandonment of this system can cause a reduction in species diversity (Spitzer et al 2008) because of structure homogenization that limits mainly light-demanding species (Kopecký et al 2013). Such a trend was proved by Vanhellemont et al (2014), who demonstrated a decrease in the representation of light-demanding species and an increase in maple (Acer platanoides L.) and hazel (Corylus avellana L.).…”

“…Nowadays we see an increasing interest for coppicing (Mason & MacDonald 2002;Müllerová et al 2015), which has three main reasons: i) increasing demand for firewood (Šplíchalová et al 2012), ii) increasing interest in nature protection, biodiversity and landscaping (Fuller 1992;Gurnell et al 1992;Spitzer et al 2008;Kopecký et al 2013), iii) small forest owners consider this form of forest management as more suitable for their properties. Even though the interest in coppicing has increased, there is still a lack of information on the influence of silvicultural systems of forests on their ecological characteristics, properties of tree species growth and their structure of 67.64 ha in size (Table 1).…”

The influence of stand structure in submontane acidophilous oak forests on the presence of the wild service tree and sword-leaved helleborine

“…On the other hand, since 1945, a decline in the share of the wild service tree in oak forests has been mainly caused by abandoning management with the use of the coppice-with-standard system (Szymura 2012). According to Kopecký et al (2013), cessation of coppicing in the 1900s has gradually lead to the extinction of many photophilous species representative for forest communities in Europe's lowlands.…”