Where are we now with European forest multi-taxon biodiversity and where can we head to?
Author(s)
Burrascano, Sabina
Chianucci, Francesco
Trentanovi, Giovanni
Kepfer-Rojas, Sebastian
Sitzia, Tommaso
Date Issued
2023
Type
article
Volume
284
Start Page
110176
Journal
Abstract
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 represented
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 developmental
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 strategies
in: (i) methodological harmonization and coordinated monitoring; (ii) definition and testing of SFM indicators
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.