Currently, existing European beech forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) are scarce and fragmented across vast parts of their potentially natural distribution. About 25 % of the global range of beech forests is located in Germany. Thus, Germany has a particular responsibility to integrate biodiversity conservation aspects into beech forest use. In this thesis, the influence of naturalness-promoting management on forest structure and breeding birds was investigated – in comparison to management without a biodiversity focus (different management) and forests sites that have been unmanaged for different periods of time (recently: unmanaged for 14-32 years as of 2012, and long-term: unmanaged for 65 years or since at least 1900). With a total area of 714 ha, 22 study sites located in the northeastern part of Germany were studied. Forest structure was studied using forest development phases (FDPs), which divide the forest life cycle into different periods. FDPs are characterized by a defined combination of five structural parameters such as canopy cover, diameter at breast height, tree height, regeneration cover and deadwood amount. FDPs were mapped during the winters of 2012 and 2013 according to a dichotomic decision tree. Breeding bird abundances were determined in 19 study sites and each study site was mapped 10 times between March and July of the same years using a territory mapping method. FDP patterns such as proportions, patch sizes, distances between patches of the same FDP, evenness, FDP transition within a decade and transition diversity, as well as bird abundances and development of bird densities within a decade were analyzed. Study sites under naturalness-promoting management differ clearly from differently managed sites and they are comparable or develop similarly to (long-term) unmanaged stands regarding FDP patterns. This also applies for the composition of the breeding bird community and the development of breeding bird species within a decade. The effect of naturalness-promoting management within the last decade is strong as evidenced by: significant decreases in FDP patches in size, the development of FDP richness towards a complete set; the comparability of transition proportion and transition diversity with long-term unmanaged sites (for former gaps, regeneration phase, early-, mid- and late optimum phase as well as disintegration phase); the higher total abundances of all breeding birds as compared with differently managed and recently unmanaged sites; and the highest number of increasing bird species amongst all management types. Further, the occurrence of breeding birds is linked to FDPs. On the one hand, the breeding bird community has a strong preference for FDPs of later-stages such as the terminal and disintegration phases. On the other hand, every bird species has its own set of preferred and avoided FDPs and every FDP has several bird species preferring it. Thus, a complete set of all FDPs at small scale is necessary for the habitat requirements of birds inhabiting beech forests. In conclusion, 1) the positive impact of naturalness-promoting management on forest biodiversity is already detectable after a decade and 2) FDPs are a suitable indicator can be used as an innovative indicator for monitoring the impact of forest management on biodiversity.

Currently, existing European beech forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) are scarce and fragmented across vast parts of their potentially natural distribution. About 25 % of the global range of beech forests is located in Germany. Thus, Germany has a particular responsibility to integrate biodiversity conservation aspects into beech forest use. In this thesis, the influence of naturalness-promoting management on forest structure and breeding birds was investigated – in comparison to management without a biodiversity focus (different management) and forests sites that have been unmanaged for different periods of time (recently: unmanaged for 14-32 years as of 2012, and long-term: unmanaged for 65 years or since at least 1900). With a total area of 714 ha, 22 study sites located in the northeastern part of Germany were studied. Forest structure was studied using forest development phases (FDPs), which divide the forest life cycle into different periods. FDPs are characterized by a defined combination of five structural parameters such as canopy cover, diameter at breast height, tree height, regeneration cover and deadwood amount. FDPs were mapped during the winters of 2012 and 2013 according to a dichotomic decision tree. Breeding bird abundances were determined in 19 study sites and each study site was mapped 10 times between March and July of the same years using a territory mapping method. FDP patterns such as proportions, patch sizes, distances between patches of the same FDP, evenness, FDP transition within a decade and transition diversity, as well as bird abundances and development of bird densities within a decade were analyzed. Study sites under naturalness-promoting management differ clearly from differently managed sites and they are comparable or develop similarly to (long-term) unmanaged stands regarding FDP patterns. This also applies for the composition of the breeding bird community and the development of breeding bird species within a decade. The effect of naturalness-promoting management within the last decade is strong as evidenced by: significant decreases in FDP patches in size, the development of FDP richness towards a complete set; the comparability of transition proportion and transition diversity with long-term unmanaged sites (for former gaps, regeneration phase, early-, mid- and late optimum phase as well as disintegration phase); the higher total abundances of all breeding birds as compared with differently managed and recently unmanaged sites; and the highest number of increasing bird species amongst all management types. Further, the occurrence of breeding birds is linked to FDPs. On the one hand, the breeding bird community has a strong preference for FDPs of later-stages such as the terminal and disintegration phases. On the other hand, every bird species has its own set of preferred and avoided FDPs and every FDP has several bird species preferring it. Thus, a complete set of all FDPs at small scale is necessary for the habitat requirements of birds inhabiting beech forests. In conclusion, 1) the positive impact of naturalness-promoting management on forest biodiversity is already detectable after a decade and 2) FDPs are a suitable indicator can be used as an innovative indicator for monitoring the impact of forest management on biodiversity.

No description available.

Gegenstand der Dissertation bildet eine echte Zeitreihenuntersuchung eines Tiefland-Buchenwaldes im nordostdeutschen Tiefland. Dieser Wald wurde Ende der 1920er Jahre aus der forstlichen Nutzung entlassen und entstand aus einem Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts stockenden Eichenwald. Ende der 1950er bzw. der 1960er Jahre wurden drei kompakte Versuchsflächen zur Erfassung der Bestockungsstruktur in dem vorherrschenden Altbaum-Hallenstadium eingerichtet. Im Jahre 2012 gelang es diese alten Versuchsflächen zu identifizieren und einer Wiederholungsinventur zu unterziehen. Der Buchenwald hatte sich zwischenzeitlich erneuert und zu drei unterschiedlichen Tiefland-Buchenwaldökosystemen entwickelt. Als Voraussetzung für die Veränderungsanalyse der Bestockung und des Totholzes wurde eine georeferenzierte Arbeitsweise (EPSG Code 25833) gewählt. Dies ermöglichte die Nutzung des digitalen Geländemodells DGM 2m, historischer und aktueller Luftbilder und Laserdaten, und daraus abgeleiteter normalisierter Oberflächenmodelle zur Visualisierung der stattgefundenen Waldentwicklung. Aufbauend auf georeferenzierten standörtlich-vegetationskundlichen Untersuchungen konnten mittels geostatistischer und statistischer Verfahren die standörtlichen Ursachen für die natürliche Entwicklung der drei unterschiedlichen Buchen(misch)waldökosysteme herausgearbeitet werden. Eine populationsgenetische Inventur der Buchen, Winter- und Sommerlinden sowie eine lichtökologische Studie ergänzt die Untersuchung. / The subject of this dissertation is a real time series investigation of a lowland beech forest in the north-eastern lowlands of Germany. This forest was released from forestry at the end of the 1920s and emerged from an oak forest that had felled at the beginning of the 19th century. At the end of the 1950s and 1960s, three compact experimental areas were set up to record the stocking structure in the predominant old tree hall stage. In 2012, it was possible to identify these old experimental areas and to subject them to a repeat inventory. The beech forest had meanwhile been renewed and developed into three different lowland beech forest ecosystems. A georeferenced working method (EPSG Code 25833) was chosen as a prerequisite for the change analysis of the stocking and deadwood. This enabled the use of the digital terrain model DGM 2m, historical and current aerial photographs and laser data, and derived normalized surface models to visualize the forest development. Based on georeferenced site-vegetation investigations, geostatistical and statistical methods were used to identify the local causes for the natural development of the three different beech (mixed) forest ecosystems. A population genetic inventory of the beeches, winter and summer lime trees as well as a light-ecological study completed the investigation.