Ecological mechanisms underpinning species diversity changes along land-use intensity in temperate forests - from trees to landscapes

Figure: The photo shows the treetops of a mixed forest at the beginning of autumn

Background

TreeScape investigates the effects of forest structure driven by land-use intensity on biodiversity in temperate forests to identify the main drivers of biodiversity in forests and the main mechanism behind species loss along land-use gradients in order to set a general framework for 3D structures and biodiversity. TreeScape aims to explore the relative influence of LiDAR (Light-Detection and Ranging) derived terrain topography, vegetation structure, floristic composition and landscape context metrics, on a range of eight taxonomical groups in the forest land-use gradients of the Biodiversity Exploratories and, in addition, in the Bavarian Forest National Park and Steigerwald.

To move beyond the level of species and provide comprehensive measures of biodiversity, we aim to compile phylogenies and traits for the eight taxonomic groups (fungi, birds, bats, beetles, true bugs, spiders, vascular plants and lichens) by expanding already published phylogenetic trees and trait lists and by creating new ones for some taxa.

Picture: The collage shows three photos of plants and four photos of animals in a row. photo 1 shows a grey lichen. photo 2 shows yellow flowers of a low growing green plant. photo 3 shows a bug on a tree trunk. photo 4 shows a beetle on a white background. photo 5 shows a spider on a white background. photo 6 shows a bird on a branch against a green background. photo 7 shows a bat in flight against a black background.

Methods

Over the last decade the ability of LiDAR remote sensing to penetrate forest canopy has proven to be an excellent tool for quantifying different aspects of forest complexity. Current airborne systems and processing algorithms enable identification of discrete objects, such as trees and deadwood units, offer further promise for certain sets of species dependent upon these niches. Parameters describing the heterogeneity of a forest on a local level can be basically divided in three sets of predictors: the floristic composition of the local habitat; the terrain surface heterogeneity; and the structural heterogeneity of the vegetation (physiognomy). Measures of the physiognomy of a forest on a local level based on LiDAR include, for instance, vegetation height, vegetation distribution ratio (vertical heterogeneity) or gap size distribution (horizontal heterogeneity).

Picture: The photo looking up shows a pine forest. Cross window traps are hung on some of the trees.

Goals

Our project aims to…

compile existing data in the Biodiversity Exploratories for the eight taxa,
expand and develop trait and phylogenetic dissimilarities for these taxa,
calculate a number of forest structure variables along the different axis of forest heterogeneity from airborne LiDAR,
scale important heterogeneity metrics to the regional landscape in which the plots are embedded with space-borne RADAR,
elucidate the influence of local plot and regional landscape structure on species diversity,
and expand this work to two other forest types (Bavarian Forest National Park and Steigerwald) representing unique long gradients of land-use intensity in montane to high montane forests and in colline beech forests in Central Europe.

Cooperations

We strive for deep cooperation with the several core projects of the Biodiversity Exploratories, namely Botany (PI Fischer), Arthropods (Blüthgen/Weisser), Instrumentation & remote sensing (PI Nauss/Kleinn) and Forest Structure (PI Ammer). Furthermore, we will cooperate with the contributing projects Funwood IV, ParaAves and Phylodiv. Additionally, to the Biodiversity Exploratories, we will cooperate with the Bavarian Forest National Park and the Terrestrial Ecology Chair of the TU Munich.

Publications

Effects of heterogeneity on functional, phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity of forest fauna

Heidrich L., Brandl R., Ammer C., Bae S., Bässler C., Doerfler I., Fischer M., Gossner M. M., Heurich M., Heibl C., Jung K., Krzystek P., Levick S., Magdon P., Schall P., Schulze E.-D., Seibold S., Simons N. K., Thorn S., Weisser W. W., Wöllauer S., Müller J. (2023): Effects of heterogeneity on functional, phylogenetic and taxonomic diversity of forest fauna. Basic And Applied Ecology, Special issue: Scales and Heterogeneity in Ecology - from basic research to application, 73, 72-79. doi: 10.1016/j.baae.2023.10.005

Functional structure of European forest beetle communities is enhanced by rare species

Burner R. C., Drag L., Stephan J. G., Birkemoe T., Wetherbee R., Müller J., Siitonen J., Snäll T., Skarpaas O., Potterf M., Doerfler I., Gossner M. M., Schall P., Weisser W. W., Sverdrup-Thygeson A. (2022): Functional structure of European forest beetle communities is enhanced by rare species. Biological Conservation 267, 109491. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109491

Dispersal ability, trophic position and body size mediate species turnover processes: Insights from a multi‐taxa and multi‐scale approach

Bae S., Heidrich L., Levick S. R., Gossner M. M., Seibold S., Weisser W. W., Magdon P., Serebryanyk A., Bässler C., Schäfer D., Schulze E.-D., Doerfler I., Müller J., Jung K., Heurich M., Fischer M., Roth N., Schall P., Boch S., Wöllauer S., Renner S. C., Müller J. (2021): Dispersal ability, trophic position and body size mediate species turnover processes: Insights from a multi‐taxa and multi‐scale approach. Diversity and Distributions 27 (3), 439-453. doi: 10.1111/ddi.13204

The effect of environmental heterogeneity on communities

Der Einfluss von Heterogenität in Umweltbedingungen auf Artgemeinschaften

Heidrich L. (2021): The effect of environmental heterogeneity on communities. Dissertation, University Würzburg

Heterogeneity–diversity relationships differ between and within trophic levels in temperate forests

Vielfältige Reaktionen von Biodiversität auf Heterogenität in Wäldern

Heidrich L., Bae S., Levick S., Seibold S., Weisser W. W., Krzystek P., Magdon P., Nauss T., Schall P., Serebryanyk A., Wöllauer S., Ammer C., Bässler C., Doerfler I., Fischer M., Gossner M. M., Heurich M., Hothorn T., Jung K., Kreft H., Schulze E.-D., Simons N., Thorn S., Müller J. (2020): Heterogeneity–diversity relationships differ between and within trophic levels in temperate forests. Nature Ecology & Evolution 4, 1204–1212. doi: 10.1038/s41559-020-1245-z

Radar vision in the mapping of forest biodiversity from space

Eine Radarsicht bei der Kartierung der biologischen Vielfalt von Wäldern aus dem Weltraum

Bae S., Levick S. R., Heidrich L., Magdon P., Leutner B. F., Wöllauer S., Serebryanyk A., Nauss T., Krzystek P., Gossner M. M., Schall P., Heibl C., Bässler C., Doerfler I. , Schulze E.-D., Krah F.-S., Culmsee H., Jung K., Heurich M., Fischer M., Seibold S., Thorn S., Gerlach T., Hothorn T., Weisser W. W., Müller J. (2019): Radar vision in the mapping of forest biodiversity from space. Nature Communications 10:4757. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12737-x