TY - JOUR

T1 - Short-Rotation Coppice Managed According to Ecological Guidelines

T2 - What Are the Benefits for Phytodiversity?

AU - Zitzmann, Felix

AU - Rode, Michael

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments We are grateful to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection for the funding of our research. Furthermore, we thank K. Grobe, C. Meiser, J. Nöhren and G. Wienrich for their assistance in field work and L. von Falkenhayn for proofreading the English manuscript. We are also grateful to S. Budig, F. Schaarschmidt and A. Grobe for advice on the statistical analysis and for their help with some statistical analyses using the programme R. The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of Leibniz University Hannover. Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection [Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Ver-braucherschutz], grant number 105.2-3234/1-13-4. The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of Leibniz University Hannover.

PY - 2021/5/19

Y1 - 2021/5/19

N2 - In recent years, the impact of short-rotation coppice (SRC) on biodiversity has been a regular subject of research and ecological guidelines have been developed to make biomass cultivation on SRC more compatible with biodiversity concerns. However, since these guidelines are only implemented voluntarily by farmers, there are barely any SRC that are managed according to ecological guidelines. Consequently, knowledge about their importance for farmland biodiversity and about the impact of different measures for increasing biodiversity remains scarce. Therefore, three experimental SRC, which are managed according to ecological guidelines and thus include stands of different tree species (varieties of poplar (Populus) and willow (Salix), rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), silver birch (Betula pendula)) and different growth-stages within the same site, were investigated with regard to their importance as habitat for vascular plants. Species numbers and species composition were compared with the following habitat types: afforestations (AFO), young (HE-Y) and old hedges (HE-O), field margins (FM) and arable land (AL). Furthermore, different stand types (i.e., stands with different tree species and growth-stages, headlands, clearings) within these SRC were surveyed and compared. Species numbers of SRC were similar to HE-Y, AFO and FM and significantly higher than in AL and HE-O. The composition of plant communities in SRC differed considerably from the other farmland habitats, especially from AL, HE-O and FM. Within the SRC, most stand types had similar species numbers. Only the non-harvested poplar stands were particularly species-poor. Harvesting led to increased species numbers. This increase was significant for the poplar stands but only moderate for the willow stands. With regard to their species composition, the different stand types differed considerably in many cases. We conclude that SRC, which are managed according to ecological guidelines, can be an additional measure to promote phytodiversity in agricultural landscapes as they contain relatively high species numbers (of mainly common and adaptable species) and support distinct plant communities that differ from other farmland habitats. Therefore, measures such as the cultivation of different tree species or sectional harvesting could be offered as agri-environmental schemes to further increase the ecological sustainability of biomass production on SRC.

AB - In recent years, the impact of short-rotation coppice (SRC) on biodiversity has been a regular subject of research and ecological guidelines have been developed to make biomass cultivation on SRC more compatible with biodiversity concerns. However, since these guidelines are only implemented voluntarily by farmers, there are barely any SRC that are managed according to ecological guidelines. Consequently, knowledge about their importance for farmland biodiversity and about the impact of different measures for increasing biodiversity remains scarce. Therefore, three experimental SRC, which are managed according to ecological guidelines and thus include stands of different tree species (varieties of poplar (Populus) and willow (Salix), rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), silver birch (Betula pendula)) and different growth-stages within the same site, were investigated with regard to their importance as habitat for vascular plants. Species numbers and species composition were compared with the following habitat types: afforestations (AFO), young (HE-Y) and old hedges (HE-O), field margins (FM) and arable land (AL). Furthermore, different stand types (i.e., stands with different tree species and growth-stages, headlands, clearings) within these SRC were surveyed and compared. Species numbers of SRC were similar to HE-Y, AFO and FM and significantly higher than in AL and HE-O. The composition of plant communities in SRC differed considerably from the other farmland habitats, especially from AL, HE-O and FM. Within the SRC, most stand types had similar species numbers. Only the non-harvested poplar stands were particularly species-poor. Harvesting led to increased species numbers. This increase was significant for the poplar stands but only moderate for the willow stands. With regard to their species composition, the different stand types differed considerably in many cases. We conclude that SRC, which are managed according to ecological guidelines, can be an additional measure to promote phytodiversity in agricultural landscapes as they contain relatively high species numbers (of mainly common and adaptable species) and support distinct plant communities that differ from other farmland habitats. Therefore, measures such as the cultivation of different tree species or sectional harvesting could be offered as agri-environmental schemes to further increase the ecological sustainability of biomass production on SRC.

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Bioenergy

KW - Flora

KW - Species richness

KW - Vascular plants

KW - Woody biomass crops

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107309860&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/f12050646

DO - 10.3390/f12050646

M3 - Article

VL - 12

JO - FORESTS

JF - FORESTS

SN - 1999-4907

IS - 5

M1 - 646

ER -