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Non-native plantation forests as alternative habitat for native forest beetles in a heavily modified landscape

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Abstract

The once extensive native forests of New Zealand’s central North Island are heavily fragmented, and the scattered remnants are now surrounded by a matrix of exotic pastoral grasslands and Pinus radiata plantation forests. The importance of these exotic habitats for native biodiversity is poorly understood. This study examines the utilisation of exotic plantation forests by native beetles in a heavily modified landscape. The diversity of selected beetle taxa was compared at multiple distances across edge gradients between each of the six possible combinations of adjacent pastoral, plantation, clearfell and native forest land-use types. Estimated species richness (Michaelis–Menten) was greater in production habitats than native forest; however this was largely due to the absence of exotic species in native forest. Beetle relative abundance was highest in clearfell-harvested areas, mainly due to colonisation by open-habitat, disturbance-adapted species. More importantly, though, of all the non-native habitats sampled, beetle species composition in mature P. radiata was most similar to native forest. Understanding the influence of key environmental factors and stand level management is important for enhancing biodiversity values within the landscape. Native habitat proximity was the most significant environmental correlate of beetle community composition, highlighting the importance of retaining native remnants within plantation landscapes. The proportion of exotic beetles was consistently low in mature plantation stands, however it increased in pasture sites at increasing distances from native forest. These results suggest that exotic plantation forests may provide important alternative habitat for native forest beetles in landscapes with a low proportion of native forest cover.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Amy Leighton, Sylvia McLaren, Jo Schaab, Cleland Wallace, Carl Wardhaugh, Michael Watson and Marijn deZwart for assistance with field work and beetle sorting, and David Norton for organising the vegetation sampling, and commenting on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Barbara Hock (Scion) kindly provided an analysis of the proportion of native and exotic habitat around each trap. Simon Grove kindly gave comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. This work was funded by the University of Canterbury, Scion (via NZ Foundation for Research, Science and Technology contract C04X0304 and associated NSOF), and a Tertiary Education Commission Enterprise scholarship in conjunction with Fletcher Challenge Forests (Dave Lowry), with additional assistance from Kaingaroa Timberlands Ltd (Colin Maunder).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Stephen M. Pawson & Raphael K. Didham

  2. Scion, P.O. Box 29237, Fendalton, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Stephen M. Pawson & Eckehard G. Brockerhoff

  3. Crop and Food Research, Private Bag 4704, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Esther D. Meenken

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  1. Stephen M. Pawson
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Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Average catch per 100 trap days of individual beetle taxa sampled at different distances from the habitat edge into clearfelled plantation forest, mature P. radiata forest, native forest, and pasture

Species

Clearfell (1 yr)

P. radiata 26 yr

Native forest

Pasture

5 m

25 m

125 m

5 m

25 m

125 m

5 m

25 m

125 m

5 m

25 m

125 m

Exotic

    Carabidae

        Anisodactylus binotatus

0.07

0.06

 

0.03

 

0.02

   

0.07

  

        Anomotarsus illawarrae

   

0.02

        

        Hypharpax australasiae

0.12

 

0.25

      

0.05

0.05

0.19

        Hypharpax australis

0.97

0.37

0.68

0.21

0.06

0.18

   

0.04

  

        Lecanomerus verticalis

0.05

0.28

0.37

0.02

0.05

0.05

   

0.34

 

0.24

        Lecanomerus vestigialis

0.24

0.55

0.25

0.05

0.09

0.25

    

0.07

0.04

        Rhytisternis miser

1.06

2.46

2.41

0.08

0.08

0.47

   

2.03

2.64

2.11

    Scolytinae

        Hylastes ater

3.02

4.78

2.36

3.02

2.32

2.12

0.05

 

0.05

0.60

  

        Hylurgus ligniperda

0.64

1.30

0.69

0.60

0.19

0.19

   

0.06

0.06

 

    Scarabaeidae

        Acrossidius tasmaniae

          

2.74

 

Native

    Carabidae

        Allocinopus sculpticollis

 

0.05

  

0.02

    

0.12

  

        Amarotypus edwardsii

0.05

0.24

0.40

0.19

0.08

0.09

0.37

0.07

 

0.33

0.12

 

        Aulacopodus calathoides

0.52

1.16

1.26

0.38

0.34

0.42

0.99

1.51

0.29

0.73

0.41

1.09

        Cicindela parryi

6.94

7.34

2.23

1.28

16.28

0.37

2.27

0.14

 

1.97

0.10

 

        Cicindela tuberculata

88.98

105.60

136.40

0.09

2.28

0.92

 

0.08

 

22.77

0.48

0.42

        Ctenognathus adamsi

0.18

0.91

1.76

0.09

0.40

0.40

1.04

1.79

1.10

1.32

0.57

1.84

        Ctenognathus bidens

0.13

0.45

0.18

0.18

0.19

0.13

6.18

1.46

1.39

0.50

0.64

0.26

        Demetrida natsuda

  

0.05

         

        Dichrochile maura

 

0.06

 

0.06

 

0.06

0.23

0.71

0.24

0.16

0.16

0.10

        Holcaspis mordax

1.53

1.47

1.03

2.93

1.68

1.57

1.94

3.27

2.69

2.30

1.72

2.94

        Holcaspis mucronata

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.11

0.15

0.15

      

        Lecanomerus sharpi

0.11

0.10

0.05

   

0.26

0.37

    

        Mecodema occiputale

2.91

1.57

0.80

3.73

3.06

2.06

4.33

3.40

2.94

0.81

0.97

0.05

        Mecyclothorax rotundicollis

0.40

1.19

2.26

 

0.05

0.23

   

0.51

1.42

1.39

        Notagonum submetallicum

           

0.07

        Pentagonica vittipennis

 

0.06

 

0.18

0.32

0.37

      

        Platynus macropterus

0.34

1.21

14.16

 

0.09

0.15

    

0.06

0.12

        Scopodes edwardsi

0.06

           

        Scopodes multipunctatus

0.07

0.05

          

        Scopodes prasinus

0.32

1.14

0.10

  

0.05

0.06

0.12

    

        Syllectus anomalus

 

0.15

 

0.07

0.02

   

0.05

   

    Scolytinae

        Pachycotes peregrinus

1.12

0.66

0.38

0.54

0.73

0.49

0.04

  

0.04

  

    Scarabaeidae

        Ataenius brouni

     

0.03

      

        Costelytra sp. A

0.89

0.30

0.16

0.05

1.36

0.19

      

        Costelytra zealandica

0.88

0.71

0.16

0.88

0.51

0.05

0.41

0.07

 

7.35

2.31

6.86

        Odontria magnum

   

0.03

0.03

0.05

0.13

0.07

   

0.10

        Odontria piciceps

2.58

1.36

0.74

2.09

4.84

1.44

1.11

0.55

0.63

1.31

0.72

1.03

        Odontria sylvatica

0.75

0.30

0.56

0.14

0.02

0.02

0.86

0.52

0.12

0.27

0.24

0.10

        Pyronota "red form"

   

0.05

0.02

    

0.25

0.21

1.20

        Pyronota festiva

0.13

0.44

0.06

0.46

0.15

0.08

1.17

0.62

0.17

1.35

0.58

0.31

        Saphobius squamulosus

0.24

1.07

0.51

0.56

0.49

0.49

1.93

3.70

2.43

   

        Saphobius sp.

      

0.42

 

0.05

0.15

  

        Stethaspis longicornis

0.12

0.13

0.06

0.03

0.02

 

0.06

0.05

0.11

   

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Pawson, S.M., Brockerhoff, E.G., Meenken, E.D. et al. Non-native plantation forests as alternative habitat for native forest beetles in a heavily modified landscape. Biodivers Conserv 17, 1127–1148 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9363-y

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