Open forest successional stages and landscape heterogeneity promote wild bee diversity in temperate forests

Eckerter, Tristan; Braunisch, Veronika; Buse, Jörn; Klein, Alexandra M. (2022). Open forest successional stages and landscape heterogeneity promote wild bee diversity in temperate forests. Conservation science and practice, 4(12), e12843. Wiley 10.1111/csp2.12843

Preview

Text Eckerter_ConSciPra2022.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (4MB) | Preview

Recent studies have emphasized forests as crucial habitat for wild bees. In
Europe, most forests are managed following the principles of close-to-nature
silviculture, which combine timber production and nature conservation. How-
ever, open late and early successional stages within these forests are largely
missing, which could be important for wild bees. This highlights that close-to-
nature silviculture alone might not be sufficient to conserve bees within tem-
perate forests. Open structures such as canopy gaps and road verges in forests
could improve habitat for bees. To provide management recommendations for
wild bee conservation in temperate forests, we analyzed how components of
bee beta diversity varied between forest management types and tested how
open structures, namely clear-cuts, canopy gaps, and forest road verges influ-
enced bee abundance, richness, and diversity. In addition, we analyzed the
abundance and percent of red-listed bee species at different scales. Bees were
sampled using 90 pan traps on 45 (1 ha) plots in 2019 and 2020 in the Black
Forest, Germany. Plots were selected in 15 triplets each consisting of three
management types related to different successional stages: unmanaged, close-
to-nature, and small clear-cut. Beta diversity was not consistently nested
highlighting the importance of different management and successional stages
within the landscape to support bees in forests. Abundance, species richness,
and Shannon diversity of bees were highest on clear-cuts, compared to
unmanaged- and close-to-nature plots. At landscape scale, wild bee abundance
increased with canopy openness while wild bee diversity increased with land-
scape heterogeneity. Abundance- and percent of red-listed bee species
increased with the length of forest road verges. We advocate creating habitats
at local scales which offer flowering and nesting resources by providing canopy
gaps. At landscape scale, heterogeneity created through different forest succes-
sional stages is needed to conserve the entire community of wild bees.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

49 since deposited on 16 Mar 2023
35 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item