Thibault Lachat

Bern University of Applied Sciences | BFH · Department of Agriculture Forestry, Food Science & Management

Several adults and larvae of Pytho abieticola were discovered in 2021 and 2022 at three different localities in two regions of Switzerland, the Jura mountains and the Swiss National Park in the Eastern Alps. This very rare saproxylic beetle has not been detected in Switzerland so far. Considered a relict of primeval forests, it is in strong decline...

Protecting structural features, such as tree-related microhabitats (TreMs), is a cost-effective tool crucial for biodiversity conservation applicable to large forested landscapes. While the development of TreMs is influenced by tree diameter, species, and vitality, the relationships between tree age and TreM profile remain poorly understood. Using...

Tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) have been identified as key features for forest-dwelling taxa and are often employed as measures for biodiversity conservation in integrative forest management. However, managing forests to ensure an uninterrupted resource supply for TreM-dwelling taxa is challenging since TreMs are structures with a limited avail...

Forests host most terrestrial biodiversity and their sustainable management is crucial to halt biodiversity loss. Although scientific evidence indicates that sustainable forest management (SFM) should be assessed by monitoring multi-taxon biodiversity, most current SFM criteria and indicators account only for trees or consider indirect biodiversity...

Similar to many other species groups, insects are affected by the biodiversity crisis caused by land use and climate changes, over or under use of resources, pollution, and invasive alien species (IPBES 2019). After the famous Krefeld study, which highlighted a loss of 75% of the insect biomass over the last 27 years in protected areas in Germany (...

The retention of trees bearing tree‐related microhabitats (TreMs) has become an important means of conserving biodiversity in production forests. However, we lack estimates of TreM formation rates and evidence on factors driving TreM formation. Based on the observation of 80,099 living trees from 19 species groups in Europe and Iran, we estimated t...

Forests host most terrestrial biodiversity and their sustainable management is crucial to halt biodiversity loss. Although scientific evidence indicates that sustainable forest management (SFM) should be assessed by monitoring multi-taxon biodiversity, most current SFM criteria and indicators account only for trees or consider indirect biodiversity...

The amount of carbon stored in deadwood is equivalent to about 8 per cent of the global forest carbon stocks1. The decomposition of deadwood is largely governed by climate2–5 with decomposer groups—such as microorganisms and insects—contributing to variations in the decomposition rates2,6,7. At the global scale, the contribution of insects to the d...

A Tree-related Microhabitat (TreM) is a distinct, well-delineated morphological singularity occurring on living or standing dead trees, which constitutes a crucial substrate or life site for various species. TreMs are widely recognized as key features for biodiversity. Current TreM typology identifies 47 TreM types according to their morphology and...

The geographical distributions of species associated with European temperate broadleaf forests have been significantly influenced by glacial–interglacial cycles. During glacial periods, these species persisted in Mediterranean and extra-Mediterranean refugia and later, during interglacial periods, expanded northwards. The widespread saproxylic beet...

This guidebook may be downloaded at the following link: www.wsl.ch/fg-trems Suggested reference for bibliography: Bütler, R.; Lachat, T.; Krumm, F.; Kraus, D.; Larrieu, L., 2020: Field Guide to Tree-related Microhabitats. Descriptions and size limits for their inventory. Birmensdorf, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research W...

Biodiversity is of great importance for the functioning of the forest ecosystem. Habitat trees are a key component of forest biodiversity. Experts from Europe have developed a typology of tree-related microhabitats, small life-sites borne by some trees, which are indispensable for thousands of specialised organisms. The uniform use of the forms, gr...

Context - Dead wood is a key habitat for saproxylic species, which are often used as indicators of habitat quality in forests. Understanding how the amount and spatial distribution of dead wood in the landscape affects saproxylic communities is therefore important for maintaining high forest biodiversity. Objectives - We investigated effects of th...

Standing deadwood is an important attribute of old-growth boreal forests and it provides essential microhabitats for deadwood-associated species. In managed boreal forests, short rotations tend to limit the amount and diversity of standing deadwood. This study evaluates if the anthropogenic supply of deadwood attributes through tree girdling or by...

Decades of research suggest that species richness depends on spatial characteristics of habitat patches, especially their size and isolation. In contrast, the habitat amount hypothesis predicts that: 1) species richness in plots of fixed size (species density) is more strongly and positively related to the amount of habitat around the plot than to...

La biodiversité joue un rôle important dans le fonctionnement des écosystèmes forestiers. Les arbres-habitats sont des éléments clés pour les espèces vivant en forêt. Des spécialistes européens ont élaboré une typologie détaillée des dendromicrohabitats, petits milieux de vie portés par les arbres et qui sont indispensables à des milliers d’organis...

Cette publication peut être téléchargée à l'adresse suivante: www.wsl.ch/bmh-taschenfuehrer Citation recommandée: Bütler, R.; Lachat, T.; Krumm, F.; Kraus, D.; Larrieu, L., 2020: Guide de poche des dendromicrohabitats. Description et seuils de grandeur pour leur inventaire. Birmensdorf, Institut fédéral de recherches WSL. 59 p.

Old-growth forest specialists are among the species most affected by commercial forestry. However, it is often unclear whether such species can persist and what their habitat needs are in managed forests. We investigated habitat selection of one such old-growth forest specialist, the white-backed woodpecker Dendrocopos leu- cotos, a species highly...

Die Biodiversität ist für das Funkti­onieren des Waldökosystems von grosser Bedeutung. Habitatbäume sind eine Schlüsselkompo­nente der Waldbiodiversität. Fach­leute aus Europa erarbeiteten eine Typologie der Lebensräume (soge­nannte Baummikrohabitate), die auf Bäumen vorkommen und für Tau­sende von spezialisierten Lebewe­sen unentbehrlich sind. Die...

Dieser Taschenführer beschreibt die 47 Typen von Baummikrohabitaten, die in 15 Gruppen und 7 Formen unterteilt sind. Der Taschenführer ist eine Beilage zum Merkblatt für die Praxis 64 «Habitatbäume kennen, schützen und fördern». Die einheit­liche Verwendung der so definierten Formen, Gruppen und Typen dieser Baummikrohabitate erleichtert die Umsetz...

Aim The tinder fungus Fomes fomentarius is a pivotal wood decomposer in European beech Fagus sylvatica forests. The fungus, however, has regionally declined due to centuries of logging. To unravel biogeographical drivers of arthropod communities associated with this fungus, we investigated how space, climate and habitat amount structure alpha and b...

Aim Beech forests comprise a globally unique temperate forest type in Europe. The dominance of beech in these forests developed during the ongoing post‐glacial northward re‐colonization, concurrently with intensified forest use by humans. We investigated how these two processes together with climate shaped the patterns of functional diversity of tw...

Marteloscopes as training tools for the retention and conservation of habitat trees in forests Recently several initiatives on the political and practical level have aimed at promoting forest biodiversity and at halting the loss of species in forest ecosystems. Nevertheless numerous species are still threatened. The main reason for this phenomenon...

Primary forests represent the ultimate intact habitat for saproxylic insects. However, their extent has been considerably reduced over the past centuries, and those remaining are very heterogeneously distributed. Primary forests are still locally abundant in tropical and boreal zones but are rare in temperate zones. Consequently, many saproxylic in...

Tree related Microhabitats (hereafter TreMs) have been widely recognized as important substrates and structures for biodiversity in both commercial and protected forests and are receiving increasing attention in management , conservation and research. How to record TreMs in forest inventories is a question of recent interest since TreMs represent p...

‘Tree – tree’ interactions are important structuring mechanisms for forest community dynamics. Forest management takes advantage of competition effects on tree growth by removing or retaining trees to achieve management goals. Both competition and silviculture have thus a strong effect on density and distribution of Tree related Microhabitats (TreM...

Windthrow is recognized as the most important driver in European forest dynamics and its importance is likely to increase with climate change. Typically, windthrown timber is salvaged for economic and phytosanitary reasons. This markedly affects the natural development of the disturbed areas, in particular by removing important dead wood resources....

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used t...

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used t...

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used t...

Among the 256 beetle species belonging to the Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, Cetoniidae and Lucanidae assessed in Switzerland, 118 (46 %) are red listed according to the IUCN criteria and 47 (18%) are near threatened (NT). This first assessment of the four beetle families show that most of the endangered species are associated to alluvial forests, lowl...

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Persian) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Danish) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Slovenian) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Spanish) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Italian) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in French) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list).

We present an aerial robotic platform for remote tree cavity inspection, based on a hexacopter Micro-Aerial vehicle (MAV) equipped with a dexterous manipulator. The goal is to make the inspection process safer and more efficient and facilitate data collection about tree cavities, which are important for the conservation of biodiversity in forest ec...

The smart phone application originates from the published report: Kraus, D., Bütler, R., Krumm, F., Lachat, T., Larrieu, L., Mergner, U., Paillet, Y., Rydkvist, T., Schuck, A., and Winter, S., 2016. Catalogue of tree microhabitats - field reference list. Integrate+ Technical Paper No. 13. 16 p. European Forest Institute (2016). Further credits go t...

Among the 256 beetle species belonging to the Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, Cetoniidae and Lucanidae assessed in Switzerland, 118 (46%) are red listed according to the IUCN criteria and 47 (18 %) are near threatened (NT). This first assessment of the four beetle families show that most of the endangered species are associated to alluvial forests, lowl...

Among the 256 beetle species belonging to the Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, Cetoniidae and Lucanidae assessed in Switzerland, 118 (46%) are red listed according to the IUCN criteria and 47 (18 %) are near threatened (NT). This first assessment of the four beetle families show that most of the endangered species are associated to alluvial forests, lowl...

The distribution of canopy gaps has been studied intensively in primeval forest, but their role as keystone structure for biodiversity under natural conditions is still poorly understood. We investigated the effect of habitat properties on saproxylic beetles in the centre, at the edge of gaps and in closed stands in one of the last and largest prim...

Context Hoverflies are often used as bio-indicators for ecosystem conservation, but only few studies have actually investigated the key factors explaining their richness in woodlands. Objectives In a fragmented landscape in southwest France, we investigated the joint effects of woodland area, structural heterogeneity, connectivity and history on th...

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in Czech) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list). Velké množství mrtvého dřeva a vysoký počet starých stromů, na kterých se vyskytují mikrobiotopy, jsou charakteristickými prvky přirozených lesů a především pralesů. V hos...

This Integrate+ Technical Paper (in German) is one of several translations of the original published in English language (Catalogue of tree microhabitats – Reference field list). Naturwälder zeichnen sich unter anderem durch große Mengen an Totholz aus. Ebenso typisch ist eine hohe Diche von Altbäumen, die häufig sogenannte Mikrohabitate aufweisen....

Large quantities of deadwood and a high density of old microhabitat-bearing trees are characteristic elements of natural forests, especially of the old-growth phases. These are often absent or rare in managed forests, even in forests under close-to-nature management. Yet, an important share of forest biodiversity is strictly or primarily dependent...

Results of investigations of fauna, taxonomy, evolution, ecology, ethology and practical importance of insects are published at the proceedings. There are materials by entomologists from different scientific, educational and natural protection institutions of Europe, Asia and North America presented.

35 wissenschaftliche Institutionen (Universitäten und ETH, Forschungsanstalten und Fachhochschulen, Datenzentren zur Schweizer Flora und Fauna, Naturmuseen, Botanische Gärten und Zoos) unter der Federführung des Forum Biodiversität Schweiz legen mit diesem Bericht die Zahlen zum Zustand der Biodiversität in 2014 in der Schweiz vor. Die Analyse der...

Data S1. Data extract.

Monitoring saproxylic beetle diversity, though challenging, can help identifying relevant conservation sites or key drivers of forest biodiversity, and assessing the impact of forestry practices on biodiversity. Unfortunately, monitoring species assemblages is costly, mainly due to the time spent on identification. Excluding families which are rich...

Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species’ threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeograph...

Abgestorbenes Holz ist die Lebensgrundlage für zahlreiche Arten. Auch wenn die Totholzmenge im Schweizer Wald seit Jahrzehnten zunimmt, sind die Ziele bei der Totholzförderung noch nicht erreicht. Um anspruchsvolle Arten zu fördern, sind gezielte Massnahmen nötig.

Global warming and land-use change are expected to be addi