A Meta-Analysis of Functional Group Responses to Forest Recovery Outside of the Tropics. Spake, R., Ezard, T. H. G., Martin, P. A., Newton, A. C., & Doncaster, C. P. 29(6):1695–1703.
A Meta-Analysis of Functional Group Responses to Forest Recovery Outside of the Tropics [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Both active and passive forest restoration schemes are used in degraded landscapes across the world to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. Restoration is increasingly also being implemented in biodiversity offset schemes as compensation for loss of natural habitat to anthropogenic development. This has raised concerns about the value of replacing old-growth forest with plantations, motivating research on biodiversity recovery as forest stands age. Functional diversity is now advocated as a key metric for restoration success, yet it has received little analytical attention to date. We conducted a meta-analysis of 90 studies that measured differences in species richness for functional groups of fungi, lichens, and beetles between old-growth control and planted or secondary treatment forests in temperate, boreal, and Mediterranean regions. We identified functional-group-specific relationships in the response of species richness to stand age after forest disturbance. Ectomycorrhizal fungi averaged 90 years for recovery to old-growth values (between 45 years and unrecoverable at 95\,% prediction limits), and epiphytic lichens took 180 years to reach 90\,% of old-growth values (between 140 years and never for recovery to old-growth values at 95\,% prediction limits). Non-saproxylic beetle richness, in contrast, decreased as stand age of broadleaved forests increased. The slow recovery by some functional groups essential to ecosystem functioning makes old-growth forest an effectively irreplaceable biodiversity resource that should be exempt from biodiversity offsetting initiatives. [Excerpt: Recovery of Species Richness of Functional Groups] We found functional-group-specific relationships between species richness and stand age following forest disturbance. Lichen, ectomycorrhizal fungi, and saproxylic beetle richness was much lower in early successional or young planted forest than undisturbed old-growth forest [...]. Recovery to old-growth values of species richness required 90 years for ectomycorrhizal fungi, 60 years for saproxylic beetles, and $>$100 years for lichens. Non-saproxylic broadleaved beetle communities benefited from major disturbance; early successional forest contained around twice the species richness of undisturbed forest [...]. Our result of functional group-specific responses to stand age extended this pattern from tropical multi-taxon syntheses. [...] [Knowledge Gaps] Our systematic review yielded just 33 publications (90 individual studies) in which old-growth was compared with planted or secondary forests in a statistically robust way. For some functional groups, this led to small sample sizes and low precision in lnR values [...]. The small number of publications suggests a continuing lacuna of empirical data for evaluating biodiversity indicators. Sustainable forest management requires effective biodiversity indicators for monitoring (Lindenmayer et al. 2000), and there is therefore an urgent need for more carefully designed studies to identify and evaluate such indicators. Of the 90 suitable studies, 79\,% were conducted in coniferous forest. More data are needed from broadleaved successional chronosequences, which are underrepresented in the literature. [Conservation Implications] The primary goal of biodiversity offsetting is to achieve no net loss of biodiversity. Our results show that through restoration offsetting, this goal is unachievable within a reasonable time frame. Functional groups in secondary forest require over a century for lichens and almost a century for ectomycorrhizal fungi to recover species richness values equivalent to old-growth forest [...]. The slow recovery of species richness for some functional groups essential to ecosystem functioning makes old-growth forest an effectively irreplaceable biodiversity resource that should be exempted from restoration offset initiatives. Interim losses of old-growth forest from landscapes over century-long time scales disable their function as biodiversity donors to developing forests, lead to the loss of functional groups, and jeopardize ecosystem function (Wardle & Zackrisson 2005). [\n] Our results support the findings of Curran et al. (2014), who also demonstrated long recovery times in their global analysis across broad taxonomic groupings in secondary forests. They found that species richness converges to old-growth reference values within a century, species similarity takes about twice as long, whilst assemblage composition takes up to an order of magnitude longer (hundreds to thousands of years). Our finer-scale analysis showed significant differences in the responses of different functional groups within broad taxonomic groupings and century-long recovery times for some functional groups. [\n] These results support the value of protecting old-growth forest through reserve creation, set-aside of overmature stands for biodiversity conservation, and implementation of schemes that extend rotation-length of secondary forests within production forest landscapes. [...]
@article{spakeMetaanalysisFunctionalGroup2015,
  title = {A Meta-Analysis of Functional Group Responses to Forest Recovery Outside of the Tropics},
  author = {Spake, Rebecca and Ezard, Thomas H. G. and Martin, Philip A. and Newton, Adrian C. and Doncaster, C. Patrick},
  date = {2015-12},
  journaltitle = {Conservation Biology},
  volume = {29},
  pages = {1695--1703},
  issn = {1523-1739},
  doi = {10.1111/cobi.12548},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12548},
  abstract = {Both active and passive forest restoration schemes are used in degraded landscapes across the world to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. Restoration is increasingly also being implemented in biodiversity offset schemes as compensation for loss of natural habitat to anthropogenic development. This has raised concerns about the value of replacing old-growth forest with plantations, motivating research on biodiversity recovery as forest stands age. Functional diversity is now advocated as a key metric for restoration success, yet it has received little analytical attention to date. We conducted a meta-analysis of 90 studies that measured differences in species richness for functional groups of fungi, lichens, and beetles between old-growth control and planted or secondary treatment forests in temperate, boreal, and Mediterranean regions. We identified functional-group-specific relationships in the response of species richness to stand age after forest disturbance. Ectomycorrhizal fungi averaged 90 years for recovery to old-growth values (between 45 years and unrecoverable at 95\,\% prediction limits), and epiphytic lichens took 180 years to reach 90\,\% of old-growth values (between 140 years and never for recovery to old-growth values at 95\,\% prediction limits). Non-saproxylic beetle richness, in contrast, decreased as stand age of broadleaved forests increased. The slow recovery by some functional groups essential to ecosystem functioning makes old-growth forest an effectively irreplaceable biodiversity resource that should be exempt from biodiversity offsetting initiatives. 

[Excerpt: Recovery of Species Richness of Functional Groups]

We found functional-group-specific relationships between species richness and stand age following forest disturbance. Lichen, ectomycorrhizal fungi, and saproxylic beetle richness was much lower in early successional or young planted forest than undisturbed old-growth forest [...]. Recovery to old-growth values of species richness required 90 years for ectomycorrhizal fungi, 60 years for saproxylic beetles, and {$>$}100 years for lichens. Non-saproxylic broadleaved beetle communities benefited from major disturbance; early successional forest contained around twice the species richness of undisturbed forest [...]. Our result of functional group-specific responses to stand age extended this pattern from tropical multi-taxon syntheses. [...]

[Knowledge Gaps]

Our systematic review yielded just 33 publications (90 individual studies) in which old-growth was compared with planted or secondary forests in a statistically robust way. For some functional groups, this led to small sample sizes and low precision in lnR values [...]. The small number of publications suggests a continuing lacuna of empirical data for evaluating biodiversity indicators. Sustainable forest management requires effective biodiversity indicators for monitoring (Lindenmayer et al. 2000), and there is therefore an urgent need for more carefully designed studies to identify and evaluate such indicators. Of the 90 suitable studies, 79\,\% were conducted in coniferous forest. More data are needed from broadleaved successional chronosequences, which are underrepresented in the literature.

[Conservation Implications]

The primary goal of biodiversity offsetting is to achieve no net loss of biodiversity. Our results show that through restoration offsetting, this goal is unachievable within a reasonable time frame. Functional groups in secondary forest require over a century for lichens and almost a century for ectomycorrhizal fungi to recover species richness values equivalent to old-growth forest [...]. The slow recovery of species richness for some functional groups essential to ecosystem functioning makes old-growth forest an effectively irreplaceable biodiversity resource that should be exempted from restoration offset initiatives. Interim losses of old-growth forest from landscapes over century-long time scales disable their function as biodiversity donors to developing forests, lead to the loss of functional groups, and jeopardize ecosystem function (Wardle \& Zackrisson 2005).

[\textbackslash n] Our results support the findings of Curran et al. (2014), who also demonstrated long recovery times in their global analysis across broad taxonomic groupings in secondary forests. They found that species richness converges to old-growth reference values within a century, species similarity takes about twice as long, whilst assemblage composition takes up to an order of magnitude longer (hundreds to thousands of years). Our finer-scale analysis showed significant differences in the responses of different functional groups within broad taxonomic groupings and century-long recovery times for some functional groups.

[\textbackslash n] These results support the value of protecting old-growth forest through reserve creation, set-aside of overmature stands for biodiversity conservation, and implementation of schemes that extend rotation-length of secondary forests within production forest landscapes. [...]},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-13911597,~to-add-doi-URL,anthropocene,anthropogenic-changes,anthropogenic-impacts,biodiversity,conservation,ecosystem,ecosystem-services,mature-forests,meta-analysis,species-richness},
  number = {6}
}
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