Sample coverage standardization ranks species richness of saproxylic beetles across European tree genera
Abstract
Aims In forest ecosystems, tree species composition and diversity are fundamental drivers of biodiversity and many species are closely associated to specific tree species as hosts. Saproxylic diversity across tree species may be shaped by interactions between ecological and environmental factors, such as resource availability. However, a throughout and unbiased quantification of diversity across tree species is missing. We investigated patterns an drivers of saproxylic beetle diversity across European tree genera while accounting for differences in sampling effort. Location Europe Methods We used a large dataset, of 25 studies, comprising 500,000 deadwood-dependent beetles, representing 1041 saproxylic beetle species, sampled from 29 tree genera. We accounted for sampling effort by estimating diversity using coverage-based standardization across Hill numbers. We than used linear models to identify drivers of saproxylic beetle diversity across tree genera and assessed differences in community composition using Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS). Additionally, the most abundant beetle families were identified for a subset of 14 genera. Results Quercus supported the highest richness of infrequent, frequent, and highly frequent species, while Fagus exhibited the highest observed (unstandardized) species richness. Beetle communities were less differentiated when focusing on infrequent species, whereas tree genera were separated when focusing on frequent and highly frequent species. In addition, we found that resource availability and maximum tree height best predicted infrequent beetle diversity, whereas resource availability was the main driver of frequent species. In contrast, the same analyses for unstandardized data indicated postglacial occurrence as an important factor for infrequent species. Main conclusions Although resource availability supported the species area hypothesis, standardized data revealed higher richness on smaller trees, partly contradicting this pattern. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for sampling bias and promoting tree diversity, particularly oaks, to sustain saproxylic beetle diversity.
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BibTeX
@misc{hausmann2026sample,
title = {{Sample coverage standardization ranks species richness of saproxylic beetles across European tree genera}},
author = {Ronja Hausmann and Anne Chao and Romain Angeleri and Christophe Bouget and Antoine Brin and Cristiana Cocciufa and Anika Gossmann and Martin Gossner and Elena Haeler and Jonas Hagge and Marit Hertlein and Joakim Hjältén and Peter Kriegel and Thibault Lachat and Laurent Larrieu and Anna Macagno and Oliver Mitesser and Claudio Sbaraglia and Sebastian Seibold and Sebastian Vogel and Sebastian Zarges and Jörg Müller and Simon Thorn},
howpublished = {BioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.29.755269},
url = {https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05797798v1},
note = {CC BY-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Sample coverage standardization ranks species richness of saproxylic beetles across European tree genera
AU - Ronja Hausmann
AU - Anne Chao
AU - Romain Angeleri
AU - Christophe Bouget
AU - Antoine Brin
AU - Cristiana Cocciufa
AU - Anika Gossmann
AU - Martin Gossner
AU - Elena Haeler
AU - Jonas Hagge
AU - Marit Hertlein
AU - Joakim Hjältén
AU - Peter Kriegel
AU - Thibault Lachat
AU - Laurent Larrieu
AU - Anna Macagno
AU - Oliver Mitesser
AU - Claudio Sbaraglia
AU - Sebastian Seibold
AU - Sebastian Vogel
AU - Sebastian Zarges
AU - Jörg Müller
AU - Simon Thorn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - BioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.29.755269
UR - https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05797798v1
AB - Aims In forest ecosystems, tree species composition and diversity are fundamental drivers of biodiversity and many species are closely associated to specific tree species as hosts. Saproxylic diversity across tree species may be shaped by interactions between ecological and environmental factors, such as resource availability. However, a throughout and unbiased quantification of diversity across tree species is missing. We investigated patterns an drivers of saproxylic beetle diversity across European tree genera while accounting for differences in sampling effort. Location Europe Methods We used a large dataset, of 25 studies, comprising 500,000 deadwood-dependent beetles, representing 1041 saproxylic beetle species, sampled from 29 tree genera. We accounted for sampling effort by estimating diversity using coverage-based standardization across Hill numbers. We than used linear models to identify drivers of saproxylic beetle diversity across tree genera and assessed differences in community composition using Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS). Additionally, the most abundant beetle families were identified for a subset of 14 genera. Results Quercus supported the highest richness of infrequent, frequent, and highly frequent species, while Fagus exhibited the highest observed (unstandardized) species richness. Beetle communities were less differentiated when focusing on infrequent species, whereas tree genera were separated when focusing on frequent and highly frequent species. In addition, we found that resource availability and maximum tree height best predicted infrequent beetle diversity, whereas resource availability was the main driver of frequent species. In contrast, the same analyses for unstandardized data indicated postglacial occurrence as an important factor for infrequent species. Main conclusions Although resource availability supported the species area hypothesis, standardized data revealed higher richness on smaller trees, partly contradicting this pattern. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for sampling bias and promoting tree diversity, particularly oaks, to sustain saproxylic beetle diversity.
SN - 2692-8205
ER -