Abstract ID: 3.13480 | Accepted as Talk | Talk | TBA | TBA

In today’s intensively exploited landscapes, primeval forests have been kept to a minimum and represent the last refuge for countless forest-dependent species. In particular, due to the small extent of primeval forests and their inaccessibility, our knowledge of understanding forest community dynamics is limited but crucial for setting up effective conservation of forest biodiversity.

Saproxylic beetles are a species-rich group that have become widely used for the purposes of bioindication. The abundance of rare and endangered species provides reliable information on the condition of the forest ecosystem. Saproxylic beetles are, therefore, an ideal group for understanding the relationships between the dynamics, structure and biodiversity of natural forests.

For this purpose, 60 research plots were established in eight of the best preserved forests in the Western Carpathians. In each research plot, data on forest structure and dendrochronological data was collected together with information on the occurrence of saproxylic beetles, which was collected using traps. There was significant variation identified among the individual primeval forest sites, however, most sites had large volumes of dead wood, averaging 171 m3.ha-1.

Characteristics such as the diameter of the five oldest trees, the volume of standing dead trees, the total number of live trees with a diameter at height ≥ 6 cm and others in the study plot were used to understand the relationship between forest structure and saproxylic beetle diversity.

The results show that strict protection of forests and supporting their natural dynamics are some of the most important factors for biodiversity conservation in montane mixed forests in temperate climate zones.