Eur. J. Entomol. 120: 35-41, 2023 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2023.005

Response of moth communities (Lepidoptera) to forest management strategies after disturbanceOriginal article

Britta UHL ORCID...1, Václav POUSKA ORCID...2, 3, Jaroslav ÈERVENKA ORCID...2, Peter KARASCH4, Claus BÄSSLER ORCID...1, 4
1 Institute for Ecology, Evolution, and Diversity, Conservation Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; e-mails: uhl@bio.uni-frankfurt.de, baessler@bio.uni-frankfurt.de
2 Department of Nature Protection, ©umava National Park Administration, 1. máje 260, 38501 Vimperk, Czech Republic; e-mails: vaclav.pouska@npsumava.cz, jaroslav.cervenka@npsumava.cz
3 Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16500 Praha 6 - Suchdol, Czech Republic
4 Bavarian Forest National Park, Freyunger Str. 2, 94481 Grafenau, Germany; e-mail: karasch@pilzteam-bayern.de

Spruce forests face many threats such as climate change and bark beetle outbreaks. Yet, bark beetle dynamics have a long co-evolutionary history strongly linked to spruce forest structural dynamics. Disturbed spruce forest sites resulting from bark beetle outbreaks therefore should not be regarded as degraded land, but as early successional stages following natural forest dynamics. Three post-bark-beetle disturbance sites and one closed-canopy site in the Bavarian Forest and ©umava National Parks were investigated with the focus on moth communities. The three disturbed sites had undergone different post-disturbance management regimes, with one being treated by salvage logging, while at the other two forest sites deadwood was kept in the forest. To avoid the spread of bark beetles, however, the bark of dead trees was either gouged or removed. The aim was to determine how many moths can be found at the undisturbed and disturbed forest sites and if differences in community composition can be explained by different management regimes. The results highlight that natural forest disturbance can increase moth diversity, especially by favouring species that are associated with open and shrub habitats. Many rare and endangered species benefit from bark beetle outbreaks, indicating that accepting natural forest dynamics is an important part of conservation management. Post-bark beetle management seems to have a minor effect on moth communities.

Keywords: Bark beetles, spruce forest, disturbance management, forest conservation, forest biodiversity, Central Europe

Received: November 9, 2022; Revised: January 24, 2023; Accepted: January 24, 2023; Published online: February 3, 2023  Show citation

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UHL, B., POUSKA, V., ÈERVENKA, J., KARASCH, P., & BÄSSLER, C. (2023). Response of moth communities (Lepidoptera) to forest management strategies after disturbance. EJE, 120, Article 35-41. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2023.005
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