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Library Bark Beetles Increase Biodiversity While Maintaining Drinking Water Quality

Bark Beetles Increase Biodiversity While Maintaining Drinking Water Quality

Bark Beetles Increase Biodiversity While Maintaining Drinking Water Quality

Resource information

Date of publication
december 2015
Resource Language
ISBN / Resource ID
AGRIS:US201600001656
Pages
272-281

Increasing natural disturbances in conifer forests worldwide complicate political decisions about appropriate land management. In particular, allowing insects to kill trees without intervention has intensified public debate over the dual roles of strictly protected areas to sustain ecosystem services and to conserve biodiversity. Here we show that after large scale bark beetle Ips typographus infestation in spruce Picea abies forests in southeastern Germany, maximum nitrate concentrations in runoff used for drinking water increased significantly but only temporarily at the headwater scale. Moreover, this major criterion of water quality remained consistently far below the limit recommended by the World Health Organization. At the same time, biodiversity, including numbers of Red‐listed species, increased for most taxa across a broad range of lineages. Our study provides strong support for a policy to allow natural disturbance‐recovery processes to operate unimpeded in conifer‐dominated mountain forests, especially within protected areas.

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Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s)

Beudert, Burkhard
Bässler, Claus
Thorn, Simon
Noss, Reed
Schröder, Boris
Dieffenbach‐Fries, Helga
Foullois, Nicole
Müller, Jörg

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Data Provider
Geographical focus