@article{MaihoffFriessHoissetal.2023, author = {Maihoff, Fabienne and Friess, Nicolas and Hoiss, Bernhard and Schmid-Egger, Christian and Kerner, Janika and Neumayer, Johann and Hopfenm{\"u}ller, Sebastian and B{\"a}ssler, Claus and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Classen, Alice}, title = {Smaller, more diverse and on the way to the top: Rapid community shifts of montane wild bees within an extraordinary hot decade}, series = {Diversity and Distributions}, volume = {29}, journal = {Diversity and Distributions}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1111/ddi.13658}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312126}, pages = {272-288}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Aim Global warming is assumed to restructure mountain insect communities in space and time. Theory and observations along climate gradients predict that insect abundance and richness, especially of small-bodied species, will increase with increasing temperature. However, the specific responses of single species to rising temperatures, such as spatial range shifts, also alter communities, calling for intensive monitoring of real-world communities over time. Location German Alps and pre-alpine forests in south-east Germany. Methods We empirically examined the temporal and spatial change in wild bee communities and its drivers along two largely well-protected elevational gradients (alpine grassland vs. pre-alpine forest), each sampled twice within the last decade. Results We detected clear abundance-based upward shifts in bee communities, particularly in cold-adapted bumble bee species, demonstrating the speed with which mobile organisms can respond to climatic changes. Mean annual temperature was identified as the main driver of species richness in both regions. Accordingly, and in large overlap with expectations under climate warming, we detected an increase in bee richness and abundance, and an increase in small-bodied species in low- and mid-elevations along the grassland gradient. Community responses in the pre-alpine forest gradient were only partly consistent with community responses in alpine grasslands. Main Conclusion In well-protected temperate mountain regions, small-bodied bees may initially profit from warming temperatures, by getting more abundant and diverse. Less severe warming, and differences in habitat openness along the forested gradient, however, might moderate species responses. Our study further highlights the utility of standardized abundance data for revealing rapid changes in bee communities over only one decade.}, language = {en} } @article{DoerflerCadotteWeisseretal.2020, author = {Doerfler, Inken and Cadotte, Marc W. and Weisser, Wolfgang W. and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Gossner, Martin M. and Heibl, Christoph and B{\"a}ssler, Claus and Thorn, Simon and Seibold, Sebastian}, title = {Restoration-oriented forest management affects community assembly patterns of deadwood-dependent organisms}, series = {Journal of Applied Ecology}, volume = {57}, journal = {Journal of Applied Ecology}, number = {12}, doi = {10.1111/1365-2664.13741}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-217918}, pages = {2429 -- 2440}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Land-use intensification leads to loss and degradation of habitats and is thus a major driver of biodiversity loss. Restoration strategies typically focus on promoting biodiversity but often neglect that land-use intensification could have changed the underlying mechanisms of community assembly. Since assembly mechanisms determine the diversity and composition of communities, we propose that evaluation of restoration strategies should consider effects of restoration on biodiversity and community assembly. Using a multi-taxon approach, we tested whether a strategy that promotes forest biodiversity by restoring deadwood habitats also affects assembly patterns. We assessed saproxylic (i.e. deadwood-dependent) beetles and fungi, as well as non-saproxylic plants and birds in 68 beech forest plots in southern Germany, 8 years after the commencement of a restoration project. To assess changes in community assembly, we analysed the patterns of functional-phylogenetic diversity, community-weighted mean (CWM) traits and their diversity. We hypothesized that restoration increases habitat amount and heterogeneity of deadwood and reduces canopy cover and thereby decreases the strength of environmental filters imposed by past silvicultural intensification, such as a low amount in deadwood. With the restoration of deadwood habitats, saproxylic beetle communities became less functionally-phylogenetically similar, whereas the assembly patterns of saproxylic fungi and non-saproxylic taxa remained unaffected by deadwood restoration. Among the traits analysed, deadwood diameter niche position of species was most strongly affected indicating that the enrichment of large deadwood objects led to lower functional-phylogenetical similarity of saproxylic beetles. Community assembly and traits of plants were mainly influenced by microclimate associated with changes in canopy cover. Synthesis and applications. Our results indicate that the positive effects of deadwood restoration on saproxylic beetle richness are associated with an increase in deadwood amount. This might be linked to an increase in deadwood heterogeneity, and therefore decreasing management-induced environmental filters. Deadwood enrichment can thus be considered an effective restoration strategy which reduces the negative effects of intense forest management on saproxylic taxa by not only promoting biodiversity but also by decreasing the environmental filters shaping saproxylic beetle communities, thus allowing the possibly for more interactions between species and a higher functional diversity.}, language = {en} } @article{ThornChaoBernhardtRoemermannetal.2020, author = {Thorn, Simon and Chao, Anne and Bernhardt-R{\"o}mermann, Markus and Chen, Yan-Han and Georgiev, Kostadin B. and Heibl, Christoph and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Sch{\"a}fer, Hanno and B{\"a}ssler, Claus}, title = {Rare species, functional groups, and evolutionary lineages drive successional trajectories in disturbed forests}, series = {Ecology}, volume = {101}, journal = {Ecology}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1002/ecy.2949}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-212378}, pages = {e02949}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Following natural disturbances, additional anthropogenic disturbance may alter community recovery by affecting the occurrences of species, functional groups, and evolutionary lineages. However, our understanding of whether rare, common, or dominant species, functional groups, or evolutionary lineages are most strongly affected by an additional disturbance, particularly across multiple taxa, is limited. Here, we used a generalized diversity concept based on Hill numbers to quantify the community differences of vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, wood-inhabiting fungi, saproxylic beetles, and birds in a storm-disturbed, experimentally salvage logged forest. Communities of all investigated species groups showed dissimilarities between logged and unlogged plots. Most species groups showed no significant changes in dissimilarities between logged and unlogged plots over the first seven years of succession, indicating a lack of community recovery. In general, the dissimilarities of communities were mainly driven by rare species. Convergence of dissimilarities occurred more often than divergence during the early stages of succession for rare species, indicating a major role in driving decreasing taxonomic dissimilarities between logged and unlogged plots over time. Trends in species dissimilarities only partially match the trends in dissimilarities of functional groups and evolutionary lineages, with little significant changes in successional trajectories. Nevertheless, common and dominant species contributed to a convergence of dissimilarities over time in the case of the functional dissimilarities of wood-inhabiting fungi. Our study shows that salvage logging following disturbances can alter successional trajectories in early stages of forest succession following natural disturbances. However, community changes over time may differ remarkably in different taxonomic groups and are best detected based on taxonomic, rather than functional or phylogenetic dissimilarities.}, language = {en} } @article{MuellerUlyshenSeiboldetal.2020, author = {M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Ulyshen, Mike and Seibold, Sebastian and Cadotte, Marc and Chao, Anne and B{\"a}ssler, Claus and Vogel, Sebastian and Hagge, Jonas and Weiß, Ingmar and Baldrian, Petr and Tl{\´a}skal, Vojtěch and Thorn, Simon}, title = {Primary determinants of communities in deadwood vary among taxa but are regionally consistent}, series = {Oikos}, volume = {129}, journal = {Oikos}, number = {10}, doi = {10.1111/oik.07335}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-228201}, pages = {1579 -- 1588}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The evolutionary split between gymnosperms and angiosperms has far-reaching implications for the current communities colonizing trees. The inherent characteristics of dead wood include its role as a spatially scattered habitat of plant tissue, transient in time. Thus, local assemblages in deadwood forming a food web in a necrobiome should be affected not only by dispersal ability but also by host tree identity, the decay stage and local abiotic conditions. However, experiments simultaneously manipulating these potential community drivers in deadwood are lacking. To disentangle the importance of spatial distance and microclimate, as well as host identity and decay stage as drivers of local assemblages, we conducted two consecutive experiments, a 2-tree species and 6-tree species experiment with 80 and 72 tree logs, respectively, located in canopy openings and under closed canopies of a montane and a lowland forest. We sampled saproxylic beetles, spiders, fungi and bacterial assemblages from logs. Variation partitioning for community metrics based on a unified framework of Hill numbers showed consistent results for both studies: host identity was most important for sporocarp-detected fungal assemblages, decay stage and host tree for DNA-detected fungal assemblages, microclimate and decay stage for beetles and spiders and decay stage for bacteria. Spatial distance was of minor importance for most taxa but showed the strongest effects for arthropods. The contrasting patterns among the taxa highlight the need for multi-taxon analyses in identifying the importance of abiotic and biotic drivers of community composition. Moreover, the consistent finding of microclimate as the primary driver for saproxylic beetles compared to host identity shows, for the first time that existing evolutionary host adaptions can be outcompeted by local climate conditions in deadwood.}, language = {en} } @article{HeidrichPinkertBrandletal.2021, author = {Heidrich, Lea and Pinkert, Stefan and Brandl, Roland and B{\"a}ssler, Claus and Hacker, Hermann and Roth, Nicolas and Busse, Annika and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Friess, Nicolas}, title = {Noctuid and geometrid moth assemblages show divergent elevational gradients in body size and color lightness}, series = {Ecography}, volume = {44}, journal = {Ecography}, number = {8}, doi = {10.1111/ecog.05558}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-256694}, pages = {1169-1179}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Previous macroecological studies have suggested that larger and darker insects are favored in cold environments and that the importance of body size and color for the absorption of solar radiation is not limited to diurnal insects. However, whether these effects hold true for local communities and are consistent across taxonomic groups and sampling years remains unexplored. This study examined the variations in body size and color lightness of the two major families of nocturnal moths, Geometridae and Noctuidae, along an elevational gradient of 700 m in Southern Germany. An assemblage-based analysis was performed using community-weighted means and a fourth-corner analysis to test for variations in color and body size among communities as a function of elevation. This was followed by a species-level analysis to test whether species occurrence and abundance along an elevation gradient were related to these traits, after controlling for host plant availability. In both 2007 and 2016, noctuid moth assemblages became larger and darker with increasing elevation, whereas geometrids showed an opposite trend in terms of color lightness and no clear trend in body size. In single species models, the abundance of geometrids, but not of noctuids, was driven by habitat availability. In turn, the abundance of dark-colored noctuids, but not geometrids increased with elevation. While body size and color lightness affect insect physiology and the ability to cope with harsh conditions, divergent trait-environment relationships between both families underline that findings of coarse-scale studies are not necessarily transferable to finer scales. Local abundance and occurrence of noctuids are shaped by morphological traits, whereas that of geometrids are rather shaped by local habitat availability, which can modify their trait-environment-relationship. We discuss potential explanations such as taxon-specific flight characteristics and the effect of microclimatic conditions.}, language = {en} } @article{LeonhardtHoppeStengeletal.2019, author = {Leonhardt, Sabrina and Hoppe, Bj{\"o}rn and Stengel, Elisa and Noll, Lisa and Moll, Julia and B{\"a}ssler, Claus and Dahl, Andreas and Buscot, Francois and Hofrichter, Martin and Kellner, Harald}, title = {Molecular fungal community and its decomposition activity in sapwood and heartwood of 13 temperate European tree species}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {14}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0212120}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236469}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Deadwood is an important structural component in forest ecosystems and plays a significant role in global carbon and nutrient cycling. Relatively little is known about the formation and decomposition of CWD by microbial communities in situ and about the factors controlling the associated processes. In this study, we intensively analyzed the molecular fungal community composition and species richness in relation to extracellular enzyme activity and differences in decomposing sapwood and heartwood of 13 temperate tree species (four coniferous and nine deciduous species, log diameter 30-40 cm and 4 m long) in an artificial experiment involving placing the logs on the forest soil for six years. We observed strong differences in the molecular fungal community composition and richness among the 13 tree species, and specifically between deciduous and coniferous wood, but unexpectedly no difference was found between sapwood and heartwood. Fungal species richness correlated positively with wood extractives and negatively with fungal biomass. A distinct fungal community secreting lignocellulolytic key enzymes seemed to dominate the decomposition of the logs in this specific phase. In particular, the relative sequence abundance of basidiomycetous species of the Meruliaceae (e.g. Bjerkandera adusta) correlated with ligninolytic manganese peroxidase activity. Moreover, this study reveals abundant white-rot causing Basidiomycota and soft-rot causing Ascomycota during this phase of wood decomposition.}, language = {en} } @article{MuellerNossThornetal.2019, author = {M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Noss, Reed F. and Thorn, Simon and B{\"a}ssler, Claus and Leverkus, Alexandro B. and Lindenmayer, David}, title = {Increasing disturbance demands new policies to conserve intact forest}, series = {Conservation Letters}, volume = {12}, journal = {Conservation Letters}, doi = {10.1111/conl.12449}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-224256}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Ongoing controversy over logging the ancient Białowieża Forest in Poland symbolizes a global problem for policies and management of the increasing proportion of the earth's intact forest that is subject to postdisturbance logging. We review the extent of, and motivations for, postdisturbance logging in protected and unprotected forests globally. An unprecedented level of logging in protected areas and other places where green-tree harvest would not normally occur is driven by economic interests and a desire for pest control. To avoid failure of global initiatives dedicated to reducing the loss of species, five key policy reforms are necessary: (1) salvage logging must be banned from protected areas; (2) forest planning should address altered disturbance regimes for all intact forests to ensure that significant areas remain undisturbed by logging; (3) new kinds of integrated analyses are needed to assess the potential economic benefits of salvage logging against its ecological, economic, and social costs; (4) global and regional maps of natural disturbance regimes should be created to guide better spatiotemporal planning of protected areas and undisturbed forests outside reserves; and (5) improved education and communication programs are needed to correct widely held misconceptions about natural disturbances.}, language = {en} } @article{BaesslerBrandlMuelleretal.2021, author = {B{\"a}ssler, Claus and Brandl, Roland and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Krah, Franz S. and Reinelt, Arthur and Halbwachs, Hans}, title = {Global analysis reveals an environmentally driven latitudinal pattern in mushroom size across fungal species}, series = {Ecology Letters}, volume = {24}, journal = {Ecology Letters}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1111/ele.13678}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-239808}, pages = {658 -- 667}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Although macroecology is a well-established field, much remains to be learned about the large-scale variation of fungal traits. We conducted a global analysis of mean fruit body size of 59 geographical regions worldwide, comprising 5340 fungal species exploring the response of fruit body size to latitude, resource availability and temperature. The results showed a hump-shaped relationship between mean fruit body size and distance to the equator. Areas with large fruit bodies were characterised by a high seasonality and an intermediate mean temperature. The responses of mutualistic species and saprotrophs were similar. These findings support the resource availability hypothesis, predicting large fruit bodies due to a seasonal resource surplus, and the thermoregulation hypothesis, according to which small fruit bodies offer a strategy to avoid heat and cold stress and therefore occur at temperature extremes. Fruit body size may thus be an adaptive trait driving the large-scale distribution of fungal species.}, language = {en} } @article{KrahBuentgenSchaeferetal.2019, author = {Krah, Franz-Sebastian and B{\"u}ntgen, Ulf and Schaefer, Hanno and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and Andrew, Carrie and Boddy, Lynne and Diez, Jeffrey and Egli, Simon and Freckleton, Robert and Gange, Alan C. and Halvorsen, Rune and Heegaard, Einar and Heideroth, Antje and Heibl, Christoph and Heilmann-Clausen, Jacob and H{\o}iland, Klaus and Kar, Ritwika and Kauserud, H{\aa}vard and Kirk, Paul M. and Kuyper, Thomas W. and Krisai-Greilhuber, Irmgard and Norden, Jenni and Papastefanou, Phillip and Senn-Irlet, Beatrice and B{\"a}ssler, Claus}, title = {European mushroom assemblages are darker in cold climates}, series = {Nature Communications}, volume = {10}, journal = {Nature Communications}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-019-10767-z}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-224815}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Thermal melanism theory states that dark-colored ectotherm organisms are at an advantage at low temperature due to increased warming. This theory is generally supported for ectotherm animals, however, the function of colors in the fungal kingdom is largely unknown. Here, we test whether the color lightness of mushroom assemblages is related to climate using a dataset of 3.2 million observations of 3,054 species across Europe. Consistent with the thermal melanism theory, mushroom assemblages are significantly darker in areas with cold climates. We further show differences in color phenotype between fungal lifestyles and a lifestyle differentiated response to seasonality. These results indicate a more complex ecological role of mushroom colors and suggest functions beyond thermal adaption. Because fungi play a crucial role in terrestrial carbon and nutrient cycles, understanding the links between the thermal environment, functional coloration and species' geographical distributions will be critical in predicting ecosystem responses to global warming.}, language = {en} } @article{ThornChaoGeorgievetal.2020, author = {Thorn, Simon and Chao, Anne and Georgiev, Konstadin B. and M{\"u}ller, J{\"o}rg and B{\"a}ssler, Claus and Campbell, John L. and Jorge, Castro and Chen, Yan-Han and Choi, Chang-Yong and Cobb, Tyler P. and Donato, Daniel C. and Durska, Ewa and Macdonald, Ellen and Feldhaar, Heike and Fontaine, Jospeh B. and Fornwalt, Paula J. and Hern{\´a}ndez Hern{\´a}ndez, Raquel Mar{\´i}a and Hutto, Richard L. and Koivula, Matti and Lee, Eun-Jae and Lindenmayer, David and Mikusinski, Grzegorz and Obrist, Martin K. and Perl{\´i}k, Michal and Rost, Josep and Waldron, Kaysandra and Wermelinger, Beat and Weiß, Ingmar and Zmihorski, Michal and Leverkus, Alexandro B.}, title = {Estimating retention benchmarks for salvage logging to protect biodiversity}, series = {Nature Communications}, volume = {11}, journal = {Nature Communications}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-18612-4}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230512}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Forests are increasingly affected by natural disturbances. Subsequent salvage logging, a widespread management practice conducted predominantly to recover economic capital, produces further disturbance and impacts biodiversity worldwide. Hence, naturally disturbed forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world, with consequences for their associated biodiversity. However, there are no evidence-based benchmarks for the proportion of area of naturally disturbed forests to be excluded from salvage logging to conserve biodiversity. We apply a mixed rarefaction/extrapolation approach to a global multi-taxa dataset from disturbed forests, including birds, plants, insects and fungi, to close this gap. We find that 757\% (mean +/- SD) of a naturally disturbed area of a forest needs to be left unlogged to maintain 90\% richness of its unique species, whereas retaining 50\% of a naturally disturbed forest unlogged maintains 73 +/- 12\% of its unique species richness. These values do not change with the time elapsed since disturbance but vary considerably among taxonomic groups. Salvage logging has become a common practice to gain economic returns from naturally disturbed forests, but it could have considerable negative effects on biodiversity. Here the authors use a recently developed statistical method to estimate that ca. 75\% of the naturally disturbed forest should be left unlogged to maintain 90\% of the species unique to the area.}, language = {en} }