Learning from a “benign neglect strategy” in a national park: Response of saproxylic beetles to dead wood accumulation

Increasing demands for firewood owing to rising energy costs have accelerated discussions about the amount of dead wood needed for conservation. A sharp increase in dead wood caused by bark beetles in a German national park provides lessons for management of commercial and protected forests. We investigated the effects of dead wood due to bark beetle infestation as well as tree senility on abundance and richness of saproxylic species of beetles. Increasing amounts of spruce dead wood and opening of the canopy by bark beetles had positive effects on the abundance of host-generalist, conifer-specialist, and red-listed saproxylic beetles. Broadleaf specialists were positively associated with the amount of broadleaf dead wood and negatively associated with canopy openness. Gradient analysis of beetle assemblages revealed two major environmental axes: canopy openness and amount of dead wood. We found a threshold for community divergence at a canopy openness of 23% (confidence interval CI: 11-49) and at an amount of dead wood of 64 m³ ha⁻¹ (CI: 35-160). Critically endangered species served as indicators of dense and open forests, but only when the amount of dead wood was high. Our results suggest that, to maintain saproxylic beetle assemblages, the amount of dead wood in commercial montane forests (at present ≈15 m³ ha⁻¹) needs to be tripled, with a focus on broadleaf wood in dense stands and spruce wood in open stands. For large protected areas in Europe, our data suggest that bark beetle infestation and senescence without active forest management improves habitat conditions for saproxylic beetles.     

The use of historical collections to estimate population trends: A case study using Swedish longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Long term data to estimate population trends among species are generally lacking. However, Natural History Collections (NHCs) can provide such information, but may suffer from biases due to varying sampling effort. To analyze population trends and range-abundance dynamics of Swedish longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), we used collections of 108 species stretching over 100 years. We controlled for varying sampling effort by using the total number of database records as a reference for non-red-listed species. Because the general frequency of red-listed species increased over time, a separate estimate of sampling effort was used for that group. We observed large interspecific variation in population changes, from declines of 60% to several hundred percent increases. Most species showed stable or increasing ranges, whereas few seemed to decline in range. Among increasing species, rare species seemed to expand their range more than common species did, but this pattern was not observed in declining species. Historically, rare species did not seem to be at larger risk of local extinction, and population declines were mostly due to lower population density and not loss of sub-populations. We also evaluated the species’ declines under IUCN red-list criterion A, and four currently not red-listed species meet the suggested threshold for Near Threatened (NT). The results also suggested that species’ declines may be overlooked if estimated only from changes in species range.     

Population declines of a long-lived salamander: a 20+-year study of hellbenders, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis

Accurate assessment of whether long-lived species are stable or declining is challenging. Life history characteristics such as delayed maturity result in relatively slow population responses to perturbations, so data should be collected across a relatively long time span. Because differential effects on age classes can be important, studies should also examine potential changes in the population's age structure. Moreover, multiple populations should be studied to indicate whether changes are regional or are restricted to local populations. We incorporated all three factors (long duration, multiple populations, age structure data) into our study of the conservation status of a long-lived aquatic salamander, the hellbender, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis. Over the 20+ years of this study, populations of hellbenders declined by an average of about 77%. This decline was characterized by a shift in size (age) structure, with a disproportionate decrease in numbers of young individuals. The change in density and age structure was consistent for populations in five rivers and for two subspecies (C. a. alleganiensis and C. a. bishopi), indicating that the decline is not restricted to one or two local populations. For the population with the most extensive data, the decline had clearly begun by the 1980s and there was a significant decrease in body condition over the period of the study. It is not known whether population declines for hellbenders have a single cause or whether each population has experienced independent declines.     

Soil organic carbon dynamics at the regional scale as influenced by land use history: a case study in forest soils from southern Belgium

Land use change (LUC) is known to have a large impact on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. However, at a regional scale, our ability to explain SOC dynamics is limited due to the variability generated by inconsistent initial conditions between sample points, poor spatial information on previous land use/land management history and scarce SOC inventories. This study combines the resampling in 2003–2006 of an extensive soil survey in 1950–1960 with exhaustive historical data on LUC (1868–2006) to explain observed changes in the SOC stocks of temperate forest soils in the Belgian Ardennes. Results from resampling showed a significant loss of SOC between the two surveys, associated with a decrease in variability. The mean carbon content decreased from 40.4 to 34.5 g C kg^?1 (10.6 to 9.6 kg C m^?2), with a mean rate of C change (ΔSOC) of ?0.15 g C kg^?1 year^?1 (?0.023 kg C m^?2 year^?1). Soils with high SOC content tended to loose carbon while conversely soils with low SOC tended to gain carbon. Land use change history explained a significant part of past and current SOC stocks as well as ΔSOC during the last 50 years. We show that the use of spatially explicit historical data can help to quantitatively explain changes in SOC content at the regional scale.