Impact of secondary forest management on ant assemblage composition in the temperate region in Japan

In Japan, the impacts of human disturbance on ant assemblages have been intensively studied mainly in suburban areas. In contrast, the impact on ant assemblages of long-term human management and abandonment of forests is not well studied even though forestry is viewed as a process that seriously impacts ant assemblages. Besides, the studies focused on the relationship between secondary forest management for producing the firewood and charcoal which is considered to be characteristic of Japan and ant assemblage is not well studied. Do the long-term impacts on the secondary forest alter the ant composition? The effects of forest management on ant assemblages were studied through comparisons of managed, unmanaged and clear cut forest plots in secondary tree stands that had been used previously for producing firewood and charcoal. Ant species richness did not differ among forest categories, but ant species composition varied among forest categories. The absence or presence of openland and woodland ant specialist species is considered a good indicator for secondary forest management.     

High plant species richness indicates management-related disturbances rather than the conservation status of forests

There is a wealth of smaller-scale studies on the effects of forest management on plant diversity. However, studies comparing plant species diversity in forests with different management types and intensity, extending over different regions and forest stages, and including detailed information on site conditions are missing. We studied vascular plants on 1500 20 m × 20 m forest plots in three regions of Germany (Schwäbische Alb, Hainich-Dün, Schorfheide-Chorin). In all regions, our study plots comprised different management types (unmanaged, selection cutting, deciduous and coniferous age-class forests, which resulted from clear cutting or shelterwood logging), various stand ages, site conditions, and levels of management-related disturbances. We analyzed how overall richness and richness of different plant functional groups (trees, shrubs, herbs, herbaceous species typically growing in forests and herbaceous light-demanding species) responded to the different management types. On average, plant species richness was 13% higher in age-class than in unmanaged forests, and did not differ between deciduous age-class and selection forests. In age-class forests of the Schwäbische Alb and Hainich-Dün, coniferous stands had higher species richness than deciduous stands. Among age-class forests, older stands with large quantities of standing biomass were slightly poorer in shrub and light-demanding herb species than younger stands. Among deciduous forests, the richness of herbaceous forest species was generally lower in unmanaged than in managed forests, and it was even 20% lower in unmanaged than in selection forests in Hainich-Dün. Overall, these findings show that disturbances by management generally increase plant species richness. This suggests that total plant species richness is not suited as an indicator for the conservation status of forests, but rather indicates disturbances.