Structures determining bryophyte species richness in a managed forest landscape in boreo-nemoral Europe |
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Authors: | Linda Mad?ule Guntis Brūmelis Didzis Tjarve |
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Institution: | (1) Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Kronvalda bulvaris 4, Riga, LV-1010, Latvia |
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Abstract: | Forest patches with high biological value are protected as woodland key habitats (WKH), which are identified by the presence
of forest structures and indicator species. However, management for conservation needs to consider also managed forests as
habitats for species. In this respect, there is a need to set quantitative targets for species and structures at different
landscape scales. Due to non-intensive methods of forest management used prior to 1940 in Latvia, it might be expected that
large areas of forest have developed structures that can support many species characteristic of natural forests. The aim of
the study was to create a model that best described the richness of bryophyte species that are characteristic of natural forests,
using forest structures as explanatory factors. The structures and bryophyte communities on living trees and coarse woody
debris (CWD) were described in plots along transects blindly placed in areas dominated by State forests under commercial management.
Explanatory variables related to tree species composition and tree size explained 54% of the variation in WKH indicator species
richness on living trees. The best explanatory factors were maximum diameter of deciduous tree species and CWD. Low richness
of total bryophyte and indicator species was found on dead wood, and the amount of variation in bryophyte species richness
on CWD explained by explanatory variables was low. The study indicates the importance of deciduous tree substrate in managed
forests in maintaining the spatial continuity of epiphytic species diversity. However, the forests in the managed forest landscape
did not support high diversity of epixylic species, even in the WKHs, due to low diversity of suitable dead wood substrate. |
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