title: Drivers of the composition and diversity of carabid functional traits in UK coniferous plantations.
abstract: Functional diversity (FD) is increasingly used as a metric to evaluate the impact of forest management strategies on ecosystem functioning. Management interventions that aim to maximise FD require knowledge of multiple environmental drivers of FD, which have not been studied to date in temperate coniferous production forests. We quantified the relative importance of abiotic (forest management) and biotic (ground vegetation community) drivers of carabid FD and trait distribution in 44 coniferous plantation forest stands across the UK. Carabid FD declined with canopy cover and carabid body length correlated negatively with the percentage of open semi-natural area surrounding a plot. We conclude that forest management could enhance carabid FD through initiatives that emulate natural disturbance regimes through gap creation. We found that neither functional nor taxonomic metrics of vegetation diversity correlated with carabid FD, suggesting that restoration of plant communities, a major goal of forest restoration efforts, will not necessarily enhance carabid FD in coniferous plantations.
authors: Centre for Biological Sciences, Institute for Life Sciences Building 85, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
authors: Rebecca
authors: R
authors: Spake
authors: Centre for Ecosystems, Society and Biosecurity, Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LH, UK.
authors: Nadia
authors: N
authors: Barsoum
authors: Centre for Conservation Ecology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, UK.
authors: Adrian C
authors: AC
authors: Newton
authors: Centre for Biological Sciences, Institute for Life Sciences Building 85, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
authors: C Patrick
authors: CP
authors: Doncaster
keywords: Carabids; Functional diversity; Functional traits; Plantation forest; Plants; Trait-based approach