Diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filtering
Background: Gradients in local environmental characteristics may favour the abundance of species with particular traits, while other species decline, or favour species with different traits at the same time, without an increase in average species abundances. Therefore, we asked: do variations in spe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Forest Ecosystems |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2197562023000052 |
| _version_ | 1797382893906952192 |
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| author | Marco Basile Francesco Parisi Roberto Tognetti Saverio Francini Fabio Lombardi Marco Marchetti Davide Travaglini Elena De Santis Gherardo Chirici |
| author_facet | Marco Basile Francesco Parisi Roberto Tognetti Saverio Francini Fabio Lombardi Marco Marchetti Davide Travaglini Elena De Santis Gherardo Chirici |
| author_sort | Marco Basile |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Gradients in local environmental characteristics may favour the abundance of species with particular traits, while other species decline, or favour species with different traits at the same time, without an increase in average species abundances. Therefore, we asked: do variations in species and traits differ along gradients of deadwood variables? Do species abundance and trait occurrence change with species richness within or between functional groups? Thus, we analysed the beetle assemblages of five forest sites located in Italy, along the Apennines mountains. Methods: From 2012 to 2018 we sampled beetles and five deadwood types in 193 plots to characterise the deadwood gradient: standing dead trees, snags, dead downed trees, coarse woody debris, and stumps. We modelled beetle species relative abundances and trophic traits occurrences against the deadwood variables using joint species distribution models. Results: Out of 462 species, only 77 showed significant responses to at least one deadwood type, with a weak mean response across species. Trophic groups showed mostly negative responses to deadwood variables. Species abundance increased with species richness among sites only for phytophagous and saproxylophagous. Trait occurrence did not increase with species richness among sites, except for phytophagous and saproxylophagous. However, trait occurrence changed significantly with species richness of several trophic groups within some sites. We found that increases in species richness do not result in decreases in species abundance of a given trophic group, but rather null or positive relationships were found suggesting low interspecific competition. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that in Mediterranean mountain forests there is still room for increasing the level of naturalness, at least for what concerns deadwood management. On one side, our findings suggest that competition for deadwood substrates is still low, on the other side they indicate that increasing deadwood volume and types to improve overall beetle richness may increase also beetle abundances. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:12:00Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2197-5620 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:12:00Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forest Ecosystems |
| spelling | doaj.art-0adcc417f1d04ba5846f798757f58bc42023-12-22T05:32:26ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Forest Ecosystems2197-56202023-01-0110100090Diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filteringMarco Basile0Francesco Parisi1Roberto Tognetti2Saverio Francini3Fabio Lombardi4Marco Marchetti5Davide Travaglini6Elena De Santis7Gherardo Chirici8Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Swiss Ornithological Institute, Seerose 1, 6204, Sempach, Switzerland; Corresponding author. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.GeoLAB - Laboratory of Forest Geomatics, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, ItalyDipartimento Agricoltura, Ambiente e Alimenti, Università degli Studi del Molise, Via De Sanctis, 86100, Campobasso, ItalyGeoLAB - Laboratory of Forest Geomatics, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy; Fondazione per il Futuro delle Città, Firenze, ItalyDipartimento di Agraria, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Località di Feo di Vito, Reggio Calabria, 89122, ItalyDipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, Contrada Fonte Lappone, 86090, Pesche, ItalyGeoLAB - Laboratory of Forest Geomatics, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, ItalyGeoLAB - Laboratory of Forest Geomatics, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, ItalyGeoLAB - Laboratory of Forest Geomatics, Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy; Fondazione per il Futuro delle Città, Firenze, ItalyBackground: Gradients in local environmental characteristics may favour the abundance of species with particular traits, while other species decline, or favour species with different traits at the same time, without an increase in average species abundances. Therefore, we asked: do variations in species and traits differ along gradients of deadwood variables? Do species abundance and trait occurrence change with species richness within or between functional groups? Thus, we analysed the beetle assemblages of five forest sites located in Italy, along the Apennines mountains. Methods: From 2012 to 2018 we sampled beetles and five deadwood types in 193 plots to characterise the deadwood gradient: standing dead trees, snags, dead downed trees, coarse woody debris, and stumps. We modelled beetle species relative abundances and trophic traits occurrences against the deadwood variables using joint species distribution models. Results: Out of 462 species, only 77 showed significant responses to at least one deadwood type, with a weak mean response across species. Trophic groups showed mostly negative responses to deadwood variables. Species abundance increased with species richness among sites only for phytophagous and saproxylophagous. Trait occurrence did not increase with species richness among sites, except for phytophagous and saproxylophagous. However, trait occurrence changed significantly with species richness of several trophic groups within some sites. We found that increases in species richness do not result in decreases in species abundance of a given trophic group, but rather null or positive relationships were found suggesting low interspecific competition. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that in Mediterranean mountain forests there is still room for increasing the level of naturalness, at least for what concerns deadwood management. On one side, our findings suggest that competition for deadwood substrates is still low, on the other side they indicate that increasing deadwood volume and types to improve overall beetle richness may increase also beetle abundances.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2197562023000052AbundanceForestItalyJoint species distribution modelSaproxylicTrophic group |
| spellingShingle | Marco Basile Francesco Parisi Roberto Tognetti Saverio Francini Fabio Lombardi Marco Marchetti Davide Travaglini Elena De Santis Gherardo Chirici Diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filtering Forest Ecosystems Abundance Forest Italy Joint species distribution model Saproxylic Trophic group |
| title | Diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filtering |
| title_full | Diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filtering |
| title_fullStr | Diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filtering |
| title_full_unstemmed | Diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filtering |
| title_short | Diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filtering |
| title_sort | diversity of beetle species and functional traits along gradients of deadwood suggests weak environmental filtering |
| topic | Abundance Forest Italy Joint species distribution model Saproxylic Trophic group |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2197562023000052 |
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