The effect of natural disturbances on forest biodiversity: an ecological synthesis
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Wiley
Materia
Natural disturbance Diversity-disturbance relationship Disturbance severity Disturbance extent Intermediate disturbance hypothesis Forest communities α-diversity β-diversity
Date
2022-07-08Referencia bibliográfica
Viljur, M.-L... [et al.] (2022), The effect of natural disturbances on forest biodiversity: an ecological synthesis. Biol Rev. [https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12876]
Sponsorship
British Ecological Society LRB20/1002; Junta de Andalucia; European Commission B-FQM-366-UGR20; Centro ANID Basal FB210015; Direccion de Investigacion Universidad de La Frontera DIUFRO DI20-0066; Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF); Max Planck Society; INCT Madeiras da Amazonia; Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF) 01LB1001A 01LK1602A; Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI/FINEP) 01.11.01248.00; Max Planck Society; Russian Science Foundation (RSF) 21-14-00227; Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports - Czech Republic Czech Republic Government LTC 20058; Czech Academy of Sciences RVO67985939; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) GR3/11743; Greek project POL-AEGIS, Program THALES MIS 376737; Projekt DEAL TH 2218/5-1Abstract
Disturbances alter biodiversity via their specific characteristics, including severity and extent in the landscape, which act
at different temporal and spatial scales. Biodiversity response to disturbance also depends on the community characteristics
and habitat requirements of species. Untangling the mechanistic interplay of these factors has guided disturbance
ecology for decades, generating mixed scientific evidence of biodiversity responses to disturbance. Understanding the
impact of natural disturbances on biodiversity is increasingly important due to human-induced changes in natural disturbance
regimes. In many areas, major natural forest disturbances, such as wildfires, windstorms, and insect outbreaks, are
becoming more frequent, intense, severe, and widespread due to climate change and land-use change. Conversely, the
suppression of natural disturbances threatens disturbance-dependent biota. Using a meta-analytic approach, we analysed
a global data set (with most sampling concentrated in temperate and boreal secondary forests) of species assemblages
of 26 taxonomic groups, including plants, animals, and fungi collected from forests affected by wildfires,
windstorms, and insect outbreaks. The overall effect of natural disturbances on α-diversity did not differ significantly
from zero, but some taxonomic groups responded positively to disturbance, while others tended to respond negatively. Disturbance was beneficial for taxonomic groups preferring conditions associated with open canopies
(e.g. hymenopterans and hoverflies), whereas ground-dwelling groups and/or groups typically associated with shady conditions
(e.g. epigeic lichens and mycorrhizal fungi) were more likely to be negatively impacted by disturbance. Across all
taxonomic groups, the highest α-diversity in disturbed forest patches occurred under moderate disturbance severity,
i.e. with approximately 55% of trees killed by disturbance. We further extended our meta-analysis by applying a unified
diversity concept based on Hill numbers to estimate α-diversity changes in different taxonomic groups across a gradient
of disturbance severity measured at the stand scale and incorporating other disturbance features. We found that
disturbance severity negatively affected diversity for Hill number q = 0 but not for q = 1 and q = 2, indicating that
diversity–disturbance relationships are shaped by species relative abundances. Our synthesis of α-diversity was extended
by a synthesis of disturbance-induced change in species assemblages, and revealed that disturbance changes the β-diversity
of multiple taxonomic groups, including some groups that were not affected at the α-diversity level (birds and woody
plants). Finally, we used mixed rarefaction/extrapolation to estimate biodiversity change as a function of the proportion
of forests that were disturbed, i.e. the disturbance extent measured at the landscape scale. The comparison of intact and
naturally disturbed forests revealed that both types of forests provide habitat for unique species assemblages, whereas species
diversity in the mixture of disturbed and undisturbed forests peaked at intermediate values of disturbance extent in the
simulated landscape. Hence, the relationship between α-diversity and disturbance severity in disturbed forest stands was
strikingly similar to the relationship between species richness and disturbance extent in a landscape consisting of both disturbed
and undisturbed forest habitats. This result suggests that both moderate disturbance severity and moderate disturbance
extent support the highest levels of biodiversity in contemporary forest landscapes.
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