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Plantation Forests and Biodiversity: Oxymoron or Opportunity? pp 203–224Cite as

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

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Part of the book series: Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation ((TOBC,volume 9))

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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Author information

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

    Stephen M. Pawson & Eckehard G. Brockerhoff

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

    Esther D. Meenken

Authors
  1. Stephen M. Pawson
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  2. Eckehard G. Brockerhoff
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  3. Esther D. Meenken
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  4. Raphael K. Didham
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen M. Pawson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Scion (New Zealand Forest Research Institute), PO Box 29237, 8540, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Eckehard G. Brockerhoff

  2. INRA, 69 route d’Arcachon, Cestas Cedex, 33612, France

    Hervé Jactel

  3. U.S. Forest Service Research & Development, 1601 N. Kent Street, Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

    John A. Parrotta

  4. Forest Research Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9SY, United Kingdom

    Christopher P. Quine

  5. IUCN The World Conservation Union Forest Conservation, rue Mauverney 28, 1196, Gland, Switzerland

    Jeffrey Sayer

  6. Dept. Biología Vegetal II, Universidad Complutense Fac. Farmacia, Plaza Ramon y Cajal, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    David L. Hawksworth

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Pawson, S.M., Brockerhoff, E.G., Meenken, E.D., Didham, R.K. (2008). Non-native plantation forests as alternative habitat for native forest beetles in a heavily modified landscape. In: Brockerhoff, E.G., Jactel, H., Parrotta, J.A., Quine, C.P., Sayer, J., Hawksworth, D.L. (eds) Plantation Forests and Biodiversity: Oxymoron or Opportunity? . Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2807-5_11

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