Coppice-with-standards with an overmature coppice component enhance saproxylic beetle biodiversity: A case study in French deciduous forests

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.11.016

Forest Ecology and Management

Volume 266, 15 February 2012, Pages 273-285

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2011.11.016 Get rights and content

Abstract

Until its replacement by high forest systems in the 19th centuries, coppicing had been practiced in the deciduous broad-leaved forests of Central Europe for many centuries, serving as a source of fuel wood, charcoal and tan-bark for the local populations. Nowadays, some coppice-with-standards (CWS) stands have been converted to high forest by singling (sprout thinning), but many others were simply abandoned, resulting in CWS stands with an overmature coppice component. Little knowledge exists on the biodiversity hosted by such abandoned CWS.

In this study, we compared stand features and saproxylic beetle biodiversity in CWS stands with a mature (20-year-old) coppice component to those in stands with an overmature (60-year-old) coppice component. For our study area, we selected 29 plots in 12 oak-hornbeam forests in five regions in northern France.

We show that extending rotation age increases the amount of woody debris and alters the deadwood profile. The older the trees and the stands, the more coarse woody debris was created; this includes debris resulting from natural disturbance events. We demonstrated that overmature CWS stands have a higher saproxylic beetle richness than mature CWS. Moreover, even though we found few red-listed beetle species, their number tended to increase in the overmature CWS stands. These results are in line with the observed shift in deadwood profile. Indeed, the increase in deadwood volume along the maturity gradient seems to positively affect saproxylic beetle diversity. Consequently, we conclude that conserving CWS stands with an overmature coppice component can be a useful tool in biodiversity restoration management, in addition to set aside areas.

Highlights

► We studied the effects of overmature coppice on saproxylic beetle diversity. ► Overmature coppice stands have a higher saproxylic beetle richness. ► Few red-listed beetle species, but tends to increase in the overmature coppice. ► Results in line with the observe shift in deadwood profile. ► Conserving overmature coppice can be a useful tool in biodiversity restoration management.

Introduction

Coppicing is a management technique in which the coppice is harvested in short rotations (10–25 years) to mainly produce firewood or charcoal. Trees are cut to the ground purposefully to stimulate resprouting from stumps and roots (Spitzer et al., 2008). Coppice-with-standards (CWS) is a silvicultural system where some trees among the coppice, called “standards”, are left to grow to a larger timber size. This traditional two-story woodland management system was developed over the past thousand years in Western and Northern Europe to sustain both permanent forest cover and a continuous flow of a wide range of forest products (construction timber, fencing and furniture parts, fruits and wild game). More recently, mainly during the 19th century, CWS have progressively been converted to high forests, e.g., by selecting the most vigorous coppice shoots in order to achieve a structure akin to generative high forest. Yet, even today, traditionally-managed CWS still represent a large part of the forested surface area in France (about 30%, (National Forest Inventory (NFI)). However, some of these stands have been abandoned and the coppice component unmanaged for decades, especially in private forests. This is due to several reasons: fragmented ownership and the cost of felling operations, the decrease in firewood demand due to the development of fossil fuels, and declining timber prices (Coppini and Hermanin, 2007). In these abandoned forests, also called “overmature CWS stands”, the ordinary rotation age of the coppice component has been exceeded and changes in stand structure and biodiversity have potentially occurred.

Recent changes in forest management perspectives and a heavier emphasis on increasing profitable harvesting tend to favor the development of multifunctional forests and the structural diversification of stands (Wohlgemuth et al., 2002). Indeed, current energy use projections for Europe, and more specifically for France, predict that woody biomass will be an important source of renewable energy in the forthcoming decades. Depending on the location, the forestry and the dominant tree species, changes in forestry practices to provide fuelwood will imply (i) an extension of traditional fuelwood collection, (ii) the development of specialized forestry practices (whole-tree extraction, harvesting logging residues and stumps) and (iii) mono-specific plantations or short-rotation coppices of fast-growing species (Bouget et al., submitted for publication). A resurgence in the interest for coppices and CWS may bring about the felling of previously unmanaged woodlots and a broad-scale increase in cutting.

Though the effects of coppicing on biodiversity have been explored in previous studies (Key, 1990, Fuller and Warren, 1993, Van Calster et al., 2008), the influence of overmature CWS stands in particular has not yet been investigated. The ecological value of overmature CWS is not known.

Longer coppicing rotations cause changes in the forest structure over the years as a result of forest growth. Globally, habitat conditions such as spatial structure, structural density, vegetation complexity, shade and humidity and deadwood profiles change as the CWS stands age from mature to overmature and these changes subsequently impact forest biodiversity. Young managed CWS are expected to have a high number of small stems and low amounts of dead wood, particularly of large-diameter logs or snags (Kirby et al., 1991). Deadwood-associated species may respond to changes in micro-climate and deadwood substrate availability along the maturity gradient of CWS. Saproxylic beetle assemblages, for instance, are known to be driven by deadwood volume (Müller et al., 2007, Lassauce et al., 2011) and by deadwood type quality, e.g., in terms of dimension (Brin et al., 2011).

Consequently, our study compared CWS with mature and overmature coppices in terms of stand features and saproxylic beetle diversity. We endeavored to answer the following questions: Does overageing in CWS induce significant changes in stand structure, especially as regards the deadwood profile? Do these potential changes impact saproxylic biodiversity? Are saproxylic assemblages more original or richer in overmature than in mature CWS? We also discuss the possible loss of biodiversity associated with coppice harvesting operations, and the potential benefits of preserving some of these overmature CWS as set-aside areas.

Section snippets

Study area, sample plots and stand characteristics

The study was conducted in northern France, i.e., in the central part of the European temperate forest zone. Twenty-nine study plots (1 plot = 1 stand) were established in 2009 in 12 forests in five regions (Fig. 1). The selected stands (higher than 3–5 ha in area) were oak–hornbeam forests (Quercus petrea (Matt.), Quercus robur (L.); Carpinus betulus (L.)), accompanied by beech (Fagus sylvatica (L.)), birch (Betula pendula (L.)) and aspen (Populus tremulus (L.)). Oak (Q. petrea (Matt.) or/and Q.

Results

A total of 24,305 specimens corresponding to 247 species was recorded. This includes 1695 red-listed individuals belonging to 30 red-listed species. The most abundant species were: Xyleborus dispar (Scolytidae) (25% of the catches), Xyleborinus saxesenii (Scolytidae) (18%) and Isorhipis marmotanni (Eucnemidae) (6%).

Structural changes in CWS with an overmature coppice component

Our study shows how the CWS structure evolves from mature (i.e., “harvestable”) to overmature stands. Indeed, as already found in previous studies focusing on coppices (Kirby et al., 1998, Coppini and Hermanin, 2007), the 60-year-old coppices were characterized by higher volumes of small and total lying deadwood as well as standing deadwood compared to the younger 20-year-old coppices. This increase is related to the self-thinning process, which decreases the number of living sprouts per stump.

Acknowledgements

We thank Carl Moliard for his technical assistance, and Yoan Paillet for his advice. We are also grateful to Benoit Nusillard, Thierry Noblecourt, Olivier Rose and Jacques Chassain for their help with species identification and lab work, and Victoria Moore for checking the English language. Two anonymous reviewers significantly helped to improve the manuscript. This work was funded by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency and the Cemagref. Considerable assistance was provided by

References (50)

B.M. Bolker et al.
Generalized linear mixed models: a practical guide for ecology and evolution
Trends Ecol. Evol.
(2009)
M. Coppini et al.
Restoration of selective beech coppices: a case study in the Apennines (Italy)
For. Ecol. Manage.
(2007)
M.E. Harmon et al.
Ecology of coarse woody debris in temperate ecosystems
Adv. Ecol. Res.
(1986)
J. Heilmann-Clausen et al.
Does size matter? On the importance of various dead wood fractions for fungal diversity in Danish beech forests
For. Ecol. Manage.
(2004)
P. Jansen et al.
Double green energy from traditional coppice stands in the Netherlands
Biomass Bioener.
(2004)
A.C. Joys et al.
Influences of deer browsing, coppice history, and standard trees on the growth and development of vegetation structure in coppiced woods in lowland England
For. Ecol. Manage.
(2004)
K.J. Kirby et al.
Effects of forest management on stand structure and the quantity of fallen dead wood: some British and Polish examples
For. Ecol. Manage.
(1991)
A. Lassauce et al.
Deadwood as a surrogate for forest biodiversity: meta-analysis of correlations between deadwood volume and species richness of saproxylic organisms
Ecol. Indicators
(2011)
P. Martikainen et al.
Species richness of Coleoptera in mature managed and old-growth boreal forests in southern Finland
Biol. Conserv.
(2000)
P. Meyer et al.
Accumulation of dead wood in abandoned beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests in northwestern Germany
For. Ecol. Manage.
(2011)

C. Moning et al.

Environmental key factors and their thresholds for the avifauna of temperate montane forests

For. Ecol. Manage.

(2008)

J. Müller et al.

Long-term effects of logging intensity on structures, birds, saproxylic beetles and wood-inhabiting fungi in stands of European beech Fagus sylvatica L

For. Ecol. Manage.

(2007)

L. Spitzer et al.

Does closure of traditionally managed open woodlands threaten epigeic invertebrates? Effects of coppicing and high deer densities

Biol. Conserv.

(2008)

B.R. Sturtevant et al.

Temporal and spatial dynamics of boreal forest structure in western Newfoundland: silvicultural implications for marten habitat management

For. Ecol. Manage.

(1996)

M.D. Ulyshen et al.

Habitat associations of saproxylic beetles in the southeastern United States: a comparison of forest types, tree species and wood postures

For. Ecol. Manage.

(2009)

H. Van Calster et al.

Diverging effects of overstorey conversion scenarios on the understorey vegetation in a former coppice-with-standards forest

For. Ecol. Manage.

(2008)

M.S. Warren

A review of butterfly conservation in central Southern Britain: 1. Protection, evaluation, and extinction on prime sites

Biol. Conserv.

(1993)

T. Wohlgemuth et al.

Dominance reduction of species through disturbance – a proposed management principle for central European forests

For. Ecol. Manage.

(2002)

M.J. Anderson et al.

Canonical analysis of principal coordinates: a useful method of constrained ordination for ecology

Ecology

(2003)

J.E. Ash et al.

Changes and variability in the field layer of a coppiced woodland in Norfolk

Engl. J. Ecol.

(1976)

S. Barbalat

Influence of forest management on three wood-eating Beetles families in the Areuse Gorges (Canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland)

Rev. Suisse Zool.

(1996)

J.P. Barkham

The effects of coppicing and neglect on the performance of the perennial ground flora

Barton, K., 2009. MuMIn: multi-model inference. In, R package:...

Bates, D., Maechler, M., 2009. lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using S4 classes [Computer software manual]. In,...

C. Bouget et al.

Evaluation of window flight traps for effectiveness at monitoring dead wood-associated beetles: the effect of ethanol lure under contrasting environmental conditions

Agric. For. Entomol.

(2009)

Cited by (41)

A system lock-in blocks the uptake of mixed sustainable Eucalyptus plantations in Brazil
2023, Land Use Policy
Forest plantation areas across the globe are increasing in size and in 2019 Eucalyptus monocultures in Brazil covered 6.97 million hectares (0.8%). These monocultures hardly provide ecosystem services and do not support wildlife habitats. A transition towards more sustainable Eucalyptus plantations is urgently needed to support the provisioning of ecosystem services and conserve biodiversity. This transition requires the development of sustainable business models. We studied the upscaling of sustainable Eucalyptus plantation alternatives in Brazil, by analysing the potential barriers that need to be overcome using the Technological Innovation Systems perspective and semi-structured interviews of relevant stakeholders across the Eucalyptus value chain. Although the provisioning of ecosystem services is improved by alternative plantation management, we identified four blocking mechanisms that inhibit the functioning of the innovation system and as such hamper upscaling; 1) the productivist approach by incumbent actors on plantation management that is focussing only on short-term profit maximisation and results in a strong resistance to change current practices, 2) the weak societal and governmental vision that does not put sufficient pressure to change practices, 3) additional certification to support alternatives is in its infacy to develop niche markets which also hampers the development of financial support, and 4) failed demonstration projects in the past that have led to a lack of proof of concept for further experimentation and knowledge development. These barriers combined lead to a system lock-in, resistant to change and not capable for a diffusion of sustainable alternatives. We conclude that the directionality of a sustainability transformation should be enhanced by formulating long-term goals and strong commitment of public and private actors. We discuss how a mission oriented approach could foster such directionality for the urgently needed regime transformation in Eucalyptus paper and pulp production.
The changing perception of coppice with standards in German forestry literature up to the present day – From a universal solution to a defamed and overcome evil – and back?
2022, Trees, Forests and People
Today, coppice with standards are a highly valued object of nature conservation, even if they occupy a vanishingly small area of forests in Germany. The following paper aims to examine the nature conservation object "coppice with standards" with regard to its perception in German forestry and conservation literature from the 16th century until today. For this purpose, a corpus of approximately 500 forestry and nature conservation texts from German-speaking areas was examined, of which the most important tendencies are reproduced here. The coppice with standards silvicultural system can be regarded as a type of forest that has been demonstrably promoted by ruling authorities since the Middle Ages and was seen by forestry writers throughout the early modern period until the end of the 18th century as the solution to all economic problems. In the last third of the 18th century, however, more and more voices were raised, especially by cameralists and a few practical forestry writers, who advised against coppice with standards. Coppice with standards was relatively quickly written off as dead at the instigation of a few influential forestry writers and was thus irrecoverably lost in the long term from around 1830 onwards. From 1850 onwards it was increasingly seen as peasant, backward and old-fashioned type of forest management. A downright defamation campaign in which the coppice with standards system was portrayed as the root of numerous evils in the forest sealed its existence. Around 1900, apart from the methods for its conversion/abolition, it no longer played a role in forest science literature. It was not until the mid-1980s that coppice with standards and its advantages for biodiversity were discovered by German nature conservation, which at that time became increasingly geared to protecting species. Nevertheless, today in 2022 it seems that the trend of the reactivation of coppice with standards slowed down. They are not perceived as a realistic large-scale conservation option due to their problems related to today's economy and due to a stronger focus of forest nature conservation on process and deadwood conservation concepts. But perhaps not all hope is lost.
Dwindling coppice woods in Central Europe – Disappearing natural and cultural heritage
2021, Forest Ecology and Management
Coppicing has gradually declined in recent decades in many European countries after centuries of upswing. Although the abandonment of this traditional forest management method was forced by changes in social and economic conditions and is rational, it results in losses of many natural and cultural-historical values. Due to the speed of the decline, it is an appropriate time to appraise ancient coppice woodlands as a part of European cultural heritage, map their remnants, and try to save at least some of the most preserved and valuable ones.
Only 7.5% of the coppice woodland area in the Czech Republic remains when compared to the extent in the middle of the nineteenth century and currently, according to available data. Although research in the field shows that the current numbers are underestimated (56% of the real extent of coppice woods in the study area remain unnoticed in official reports, mostly because stored coppices are already marked as high forests), the majority of coppice woodland remnants face overmaturity, subsequent felling and replacement by high forests.
Considering that the locations of the remnants are unknown, it is useful to develop tools to make the search more effective. Predictive indices of the likelihood of coppice woodland occurrence, which were tested in the South Moravian Region, represent an example of such a tool. Additionally, the results of this study show even more effective and accessible predictors. Due to the long-term development of ancient coppice woodlands, resulting in man-made natural ecosystems with high ecological values, it is possible to target many valuable remnants with the help of habitat mapping data. Specifically, the spatial distribution of Acidophilous thermophilous oak forest habitat, Hercynian oak-hornbeam forest habitat and Dry acidophilous oak forest habitat proved to be the most useful in the study area.
As the example in the Czech Republic shows, some of the oldest and most valuable ancient coppice woods may still occur in areas where they are no longer listed in forest evidence as a coppice because of current neglect. The issue is that the time required to understand this phenomenon is limited.
Current plant ecological features reflect historical forest management systems in semi-arid oak forests
2021, Ecological Engineering
The influence of the type of management applied for centuries on vegetation understory has still been underexplored in semi-arid forests. We have studied how the vegetation composition, diversity and heterogeneity were influenced by two forest systems in mature semi-arid oak forests of western Iran: abandoned coppices with standards (CS) which were traditionally intensively used and old stands naturally regenerated from seeds or ‘standard system’ (SS). Woody and herbaceous species abundance and cover were measured in sixty plots distributed in the two forest systems. Vegetation data were used to produce Shannon's diversity, richness and Pielou's evenness indices as well as species abundance distribution (SAD) models. We found that richness and Shannon diversity values were higher in (SS) than in (CS) for both herbaceous species (43% and 27%, respectively) and woody species (27% and 52% respectively). The two main woody species of the study and several herbaceous species were present only in SS. These results emphasized the positive role played by the long-term stable conditions of SS on plant diversity. In contrast, legacy of past disturbances in CS still negatively influenced vegetation diversity although the recovery rate after the cessation of disturbances differed between the two growth forms (herbaceous and woody). This also explained a higher vegetation heterogeneity in CS than in SS for the herbaceous species, while there was no difference for the woody species. We also showed that the best SAD model for herbaceous species included the dominance decay model in CS indicating the decreased influence of the dominant oak species in CS compared to SS. In conclusion, we showed that even after more than half a century of abandonment, CS stands still differed from SS stands in terms of vegetation composition and sheltered a lower plant diversity and richness for both herbaceous and woody species. This finding highlights the need to use complementary management measures in CS to accelerate the recovery process in particular for woody species.
Positive impact of traditional coppicing restoration on biodiversity of ground-dwelling spiders in a protected lowland forest
2021, Forest Ecology and Management
Citation Excerpt :
In particular, populations and species richness of arthropods typical for open woodlands have declined significantly (Horak et al., 2014; Miklín and Čížek, 2014; Sebek et al., 2015). The negative impact of traditional forest management abandonment has been documented mainly in protected areas by several studies investigating vascular plants (Van Calster et al., 2008; Hédl et al., 2010; Kopecký et al., 2013), butterflies (Fartmann et al., 2013), saproxylic beetles (Lassauce et al., 2012), weevils (Stejskal et al., 2019), Diptera and Hemiptera (Hill et al., 1990), and birds (Hansson, 2001). As for spiders, there are two studies focused on the impact of wood pasture on spider communities (Spitzer et al., 2008; Gallé et al., 2017b) and the other one evaluating spider community changes along a canopy openness gradient caused by various disturbances in thermophilous oak forests (Košulič et al., 2016).
Lowland forests of Central Europe had been managed by diverse traditional practices for millennia. Such management helped to maintain heterogeneous habitat conditions suitable for a wide variety of arthropod species. Modern approaches to conservation, however, with their strategies of nonintervention, unintentionally caused an overall habitat homogenization within protected areas in many ecosystem types during the 20th century. As a result, the diversity of organisms, including several large groups of arthropods, has gradually declined. Active interventions that would diversify homogenized lowland forest reserves are increasingly being reintroduced. A question remains as to whether the traditional management restoration at various intensities will maintain conditions suitable for high diversity of functionally important groups of arthropods. Here, we studied the effect of canopy thinning, aimed at coppice restoration, on ground-dwelling spider assemblages. Sampling was based on experimental plots distributed equally in an abandoned coppice-with-standards among three canopy thinning intensities: strong thinning, moderate thinning, and nonintervention as a control. We recorded 116 species of spiders, including a high proportion of Red-listed and threatened species. The species richness and presence of rare and threatened species increased with the intensity of canopy thinning. The abundance of spiders was greater in plots with moderate thinning than in control plots. Functional richness was greatest in open habitats with strong canopy thinning, however functional traits were equally distributed across all habitats. Although ordination analyses revealed that species of conservation concern tended to be associated with open habitats, some conservation-valuable species had affinities also for nonintervention plots. Overall, our results indicated that the best silviculture practice for biodiversity conservation is a combination of various management intensities that would support functional groups ranging from open habitat specialists to species typical for dense and more humid forest patches. We demonstrated that returning to active coppicing management can be a successful strategy for biodiversity restoration in lowland forests.
The effect of coppicing on insect biodiversity. Small-scale mosaics of successional stages drive community turnover
2021, Forest Ecology and Management
Citation Excerpt :
Also, the coppice stools – representing probably a more important habitat for the beetles – are present in most of the stages, thus their effect might have suppressed the effect of small deadwood accumulation. In contrast to worked coppices, neglected coppices, protected old-growth forests, and, to a lesser degree, even managed high forests, generally provide a wider variety of deadwood objects (large logs, snags, dead branches) along the successional changes (Lassauce et al., 2012; Hardersen et al., 2020). The results of the present study show that all three insect groups profit from coppice management.
Most European temperate woodlands are managed as high forests by clear-cutting or selective cutting. Such forests are shady environments, providing limited opportunities for light-demanding woodland associated organisms. Coppicing has been identified as a suitable tool for biodiversity conservation, because it leads to a spatially and temporally dynamic mosaic of open and closed-canopy successional stages. However, the number of studies on insects is still limited in this respect, and cross-taxon comparisons are needed.
We analysed the effect of the successional stage of coppice (time since last felling of coppice layer) on butterflies, moths, and saproxylic beetles, in floodplain coppice-with-standards woods dominated by oak (Quercus robur) and ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) in Lower Austria. We compared species richness, community composition, and life-history traits of the target groups among four stages of coppice: (i) Freshly cut: stands in the first season after felling; (ii) Young coppice: stands 3–7 years after felling; (iii) Mid-aged: advanced stage in 10–15 years after felling with dense undergrowth and high canopy closure; and (iv) Mature: latest stage of coppice, 30–40 years old.
We found differences in species richness of butterflies and moths among the stages. Butterfly richness peaked in young coppice and was lowest in dense mid-aged stage. Moth richness was higher in late stages (mid-aged and mature) than in early ones (freshly cut and young). There was no effect on richness of saproxylic beetles. Species compositions of moths and beetles, however, differed among the stages, with the most pronounced difference between early and late stages. The successional stage affected composition of life-history traits of all study groups, showing that the particular stages are exploited by species with different functional/ecological associations to their habitat or by different trophic guilds.
The results show that the diversity of all three target groups profited from coppicing. The small-scale mosaic of successional stages created by coppicing supports the existence of diversified communities of insects with both light-demanding and shade-tolerant species. Conservation managers may set variable rotation lengths in order to support threatened species associated with particular stages. In order to further support diversity of saproxylic beetles, conservation management should prioritize maintaining coppice-with-standards woods over simple coppices, some of the standards should be retained to become potential veteran trees in the future, coppice stools should be kept relatively high, and some of the felled trees or larger branches may be left in place on the ground for decay.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Coppice-with-standards with an overmature coppice component enhance saproxylic beetle biodiversity: A case study in French deciduous forests

Abstract

Highlights

Introduction

Section snippets

Study area, sample plots and stand characteristics

Results

Structural changes in CWS with an overmature coppice component

Acknowledgements

Trends Ecol. Evol.

For. Ecol. Manage.

Adv. Ecol. Res.

For. Ecol. Manage.

Biomass Bioener.

For. Ecol. Manage.

For. Ecol. Manage.

Ecol. Indicators

Biol. Conserv.

For. Ecol. Manage.

For. Ecol. Manage.

For. Ecol. Manage.

Biol. Conserv.

For. Ecol. Manage.

For. Ecol. Manage.

For. Ecol. Manage.

Biol. Conserv.

For. Ecol. Manage.

Canonical analysis of principal coordinates: a useful method of constrained ordination for ecology

Ecology

Changes and variability in the field layer of a coppiced woodland in Norfolk

Engl. J. Ecol.

Influence of forest management on three wood-eating Beetles families in the Areuse Gorges (Canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland)

Rev. Suisse Zool.

The effects of coppicing and neglect on the performance of the perennial ground flora

Evaluation of window flight traps for effectiveness at monitoring dead wood-associated beetles: the effect of ethanol lure under contrasting environmental conditions

Agric. For. Entomol.