Where are we now with European forest multi-taxon biodiversity and where can we head to?
Résumé
The European biodiversity and forest strategies rely on forest sustainable management (SFM) to conserve forest biodiversity. However, current sustainability assessments hardly account for direct biodiversity indicators. We focused on forest multi-taxon biodiversity to: i) gather and map the existing information; ii) identify knowledge and research gaps; iii) discuss its research potential. We established a research network to fit data on species, standing trees, lying deadwood and sampling unit description from 34 local datasets across 3591 sampling units. A total of 8724 species were represented, with the share of common and rare species varying across taxonomic classes: some included many species with several rare ones (e.g., Insecta); others (e.g., Bryopsida) were repre sented by few common species. Tree-related structural attributes were sampled in a subset of sampling units (2889; 2356; 2309 and 1388 respectively for diameter, height, deadwood and microhabitats). Overall, multitaxon studies are biased towards mature forests and may underrepresent the species related to other develop mental phases. European forest compositional categories were all represented, but beech forests were overrepresented as compared to thermophilous and boreal forests. Most sampling units (94%) were referred to a habitat type of conservation concern. Existing information may support European conservation and SFM stra tegies in: (i) methodological harmonization and coordinated monitoring; (ii) definition and testing of SFM in dicators and thresholds; (iii) data-driven assessment of the effects of environmental and management drivers on multi-taxon forest biological and functional diversity, (iv) multi-scale forest monitoring integrating in-situ and remotely sensed information.
Auteurs, date et publication :
Auteurs Sabina Burrascano , Francesco Chianucci , Giovanni Trentanovi , Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas , Tommaso Sitzia , Flóra Tinya , Inken Doerfler , Yoan Paillet , Thomas Andrew Nagel , Bozena Mitic , Lourdes Morillas , Silvana Munzi , Theo Van Der Sluis , Edoardo Alterio , Lorenzo Balducci , Rafael Barreto De Andrade , Christophe Bouget , Paolo Giordani , Thibault Lachat , Dinka Matosevic
Publication : Biological Conservation
Date : 2025
Volume : 284
Pages : 110176