Asbeck Thomas, Benneter Adam, Huber Alexander, Margaritis Damaris, Buse Jörn, Popa Flavius, Pyttel Patrick, Förschler Marc, Gärtner Stefanie, Bauhus Jürgen
Chair of Silviculture University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany.
Department of Ecological Monitoring, Research and Species Conservation Black Forest National Park Freudenstadt Germany.
Ecol Evol. 2023 Jan 9;13(1):e9732. doi: 10.1002/ece3.9732. eCollection 2023 Jan.
We report on a structural complexity enhancement (SCE) experiment that was designed to test ecological restoration measures in the Black Forest National Park, Germany. The main goal was to understand as to whether the creation of standing and downed deadwood within previously managed, single-layered Norway spruce ( L.) forests accelerates the development of forest structure, richness, and diversity of a range of taxonomic groups. Here we introduce the experimental design and describe the development of stand structure including abundance and richness of tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) within 5 years after initiation of the experiment in October 2016. To enhance structural complexity in treatment plots, 10 trees per plot were toppled using a skidder winch, and another 10 trees were ring barked at a height of around 60 cm above ground level with a chainsaw. To monitor stand structure, we collected data on common forest attributes such as diameter at breast height (DBH), tree height, and TreMs of all trees in the six experimental and six control plots measuring 0.25 ha in size before the treatments were carried out in 2016 and again in 2020/21. We analyzed the abundance and richness of TreMs using generalized linear mixed models with DBH and treatment vs. control as predictors. The SCE treatment resulted in a significant increase in deadwood volumes (4.2 vs. 439.5 m) as well as in TreM abundance and richness (increase of 0.74 TreMs per tree). This indicates that the SCE treatment was effective to increase biodiversity-relevant structures such as deadwood and TreMs, in previously managed Norway spruce-dominated stands. The ongoing monitoring of a range of taxonomic groups (birds, bats, small mammals, coleoptera, fungi, mosses, and vascular plants) in this experiment will demonstrate to what extent the enhancement in structural complexity will lead to an enrichment in species richness and diversity.
我们报告了一项旨在测试德国黑森林国家公园生态恢复措施的结构复杂性增强（SCE）实验。主要目标是了解在先前经营的单层挪威云杉（Picea abies (L.) Karst.）林中营造立木和倒木是否能加速森林结构的发育以及一系列分类群的丰富度和多样性。在此，我们介绍实验设计，并描述自2016年10月实验启动后的5年内林分结构的发展情况，包括与树木相关的微生境（TreMs）的丰度和丰富度。为了提高处理样地的结构复杂性，每个样地使用集材绞盘推倒10棵树，并用链锯在离地面约60厘米高处对另外10棵树进行环剥树皮处理。为了监测林分结构，我们在2016年处理前以及2020/21年，收集了六个实验样地和六个对照样地（每个样地面积为0.25公顷）中所有树木的常见森林属性数据，如胸径（DBH）、树高和TreMs。我们使用广义线性混合模型，以DBH以及处理组与对照组作为预测变量，分析TreMs的丰度和丰富度。SCE处理导致枯立木体积显著增加（4.2立方米对439.5立方米），以及TreM的丰度和丰富度显著增加（每棵树增加0.74个TreMs）。这表明SCE处理有效地增加了先前经营的以挪威云杉为主的林分中与生物多样性相关的结构，如枯立木和TreMs。在该实验中对一系列分类群（鸟类、蝙蝠、小型哺乳动物、鞘翅目昆虫、真菌、苔藓和维管植物）进行的持续监测，将证明结构复杂性的增强在多大程度上会导致物种丰富度和多样性的增加。
