Assessing the value of secondary woodlands for biodiversity

Summary Description:

Woodland creation and restoration are often assumed to benefit biodiversity. However, slow habitat succession rates and time lags in species responses have resulted in a lack of empirical studies assessing the long-term value of these activities. The work proposed will use ancient semi-natural woodlands (250+ years old; usually regarded as high quality habitats for many taxa), as reference sites to assess how secondary woodlands planted over the last century are performing in terms of their value for biodiversity, using moths (a biologically-diverse group and indicator for forest quality and wider biodiversity) as a case study. Key differences in habitat structure will be identified between ancient and secondary woodlands and explore how these relate to woodland moth communities. These findings will provide scientific evidence to inform conservation actions and policy aimed at increasing the value of secondary woodlands for biodiversity.

Project Outcomes:

Preliminary results indicated moderate differences in the vegetation structure of ancient vs. secondary woodlands; in general, ancient woodlands had larger trees, higher structural heterogeneity, denser understorey and canopy cover, larger proportion of native tree species and lower tree densities than secondary woodlands. Despite these habitat differences, ancient and secondary woodlands harboured similar moth abundance and species richness, suggesting that they can both be valuable habitat for moths. Future work will explore how key differences in habitat structure between ancient and secondary woodlands relate to moth species composition.