Laurent Larrieu

Integrating environmental history is essential for understanding present-day ecosystem dynamics and guiding modern conservation strategies, particularly under the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. This data paper presents the nationwide digitisation and vectorisation of the French General Ordnance survey map (1818-1866), capturing the country’s forest cover at its historical minimum (a pivotal moment known as the "forest transition"). The original manuscript sheets surveyed at a 1:40,000 scale (976 sheets) were scanned, georeferenced and vectorised. They offer higher thematic accuracy than the older Cassini map and are far more feasible for nationwide vectorisation than the highly detailed Napoleonic cadastre. The area-weighted mean survey date is 1843, and the dataset covers 99.6% of modern mainland France. To correct for paper deformation, historical surveying errors and coordinate system transformations, a rigorous workflow was established. This shifted from a global 6-parameter affine transformation (root mean square error of 60 m) to a local elastic transformation based on thousands of control points, for 21% of the territory, which reduced the positioning error to 34 m. We assessed data quality by comparing the General Ordnance Survey maps with the Napoleonic cadastre—the standard reference for 19 ^th -century land-use data—across more than 600 municipalities. The correlation between the two sources regarding forest cover percentages was exceptionally high (r>0.9). Because forests formed large, compact blocks of significant strategic interest to military engineers, they were mapped with high precision. Localised inaccuracies were primarily found in remote areas, most notably in the mountains. The resulting historical vector layer was intersected with contemporary forest data (BD Forêt® v2, 2005-2019). Historical polygons smaller than 0.5 ha were filtered out to comply with modern FAO forest definitions. This spatial overlay generated a new dataset detailing four distinct forest-cover trajectories: . ancient forests (44.8% of present-day forest): land classified as forest in both the 19 ^th century and the present day (indicating maximum temporal continuity). . recent forests (55.2% of present-day forest): land that was non-forested in the 19 ^th century but has since undergone reforestation. . deforested areas (18.9% of 19 ^th -century forest): land recorded as forest in the 19 ^th century but subsequently converted to other land uses. . stable non-forest areas: land that has remained unforested across both periods. Our results suggest that the forest area of mainland France at its historical minimum should be revised upward to 9.9 million ha. A preliminary analysis further indicates that current spatial variation in forest cover is explained more by land-use dynamics occurring since the forest transition than by the initial extent of forest cover. These two open-access national datasets (the 19 ^th -century forest layer and the land-use transition map) open up new perspectives for a better understanding of present-day forests, including their biodiversity, soil quality, tree growth, and groundwater quality. Furthermore, they provide decision-support tools for conservation planning. Key message: In this data paper, we provide a map of 19 ^th -century forests in France based on the digitisation of the military topographic map (1818-1866). By overlaying this historical source with the present-day forest map, we built a second map which allows the identification of ancient forests, recent forests, and deforestation. These maps offer avenues for historical ecology and the design of conservation strategies. Links to datasets: Map of 19 ^th -century forests DOI: https://doi.org/10.57745/KSCSQ2 Map of changes between 19 ^th -century forests and present-day forests DOI: https://doi.org/10.57745/JZ06QB

Understanding the cascading effects of stand decline on saproxylic communities, via the induced changes in deadwood and tree‐related microhabitats (TreMs), is fundamental for optimizing the management of disturbed forests. We postulated that these cascading effects would vary along decline gradients—from stand decline (proportion of declining trees) to mortality (proportion of dead trees) and subsequent salvage logging—mediated by the shifts in habitat conditions. This study was conducted across three representative European forest contexts: fir forests in the Pyrenees and oak forests in the Loire Valley affected by drought disturbance, and Norway spruce forests in Bavaria affected by windstorm and bark beetle outbreak. We assessed how the taxonomic and functional α‐diversity of saproxylic beetles responded to variations in the diversity and density of deadwood and TreMs, using structural equation modelling. Our analysis confirmed an overall positive influence of decline processes on saproxylic beetles in conifer‐dominated forests. TreM and deadwood diversity played a central role in structuring saproxylic beetle communities in stand decline contexts. The increase in TreM heterogeneity associated with stand decline or mortality enhanced saproxylic abundances, with exposed wood and trunk injuries, and deadwood‐associated TreMs identified as particularly influential. Snags and large deadwood elements, especially in spruce forests, and deadwood diversity further contributed to sustaining high levels of beetle abundance. Conversely, salvage logging exerted detrimental effects, especially on the saproxylophagous guild, primarily through reductions in TreM heterogeneity, and the depletion of deadwood‐associated and exposed wood and trunk injury types of TreMs. Given the pronounced context dependency of the processes driving these cascading community dynamics, and considering the increasing frequency, severity and spatial extent of forest disturbances and global stand decline, it is imperative to integrate this complexity into management and conservation frameworks. Addressing these mechanisms with greater precision will be critical for maintaining biodiversity within rapidly changing forest ecosystems.

Broadleaved hedgerows provide important refuges for forest biodiversity within intensively managed pine plantation landscapes. However, little is known on the relationships between the vertical and horizontal structure of these hedgerows and the associated taxonomic biodiversity, as well as the use of these characteristics as indirect bioindicators. LiDAR-derived metrics are increasingly used in ecology, but few studies have evaluated their ability to capture structural drivers of multi-taxonomic biodiversity compared to traditional field measurements. We investigated whether structural metrics obtained from airborne LiDAR and from ground surveys could predict multi-taxonomic biodiversity and tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) profile in 22 broadleaved hedgerows located at the edge of maritime pine plantations. Six taxonomic groups (vascular plants, butterflies, carabid beetles, spiders, birds and reptiles) and TreMs were surveyed. Eleven LiDAR- and twelve ground-based structural variables were quantified. LiDAR-derived horizontal variability in total cover (canopy + understorey vegetation) was the best predictor of overall multidiversity (R² = 0.28), whereas mean canopy cover most strongly explained the multidiversity of forest-specialist species (R² = 0.46). Both variables outperformed equivalent ground-based variables. By contrast, LiDAR metrics showed no predictive power for TreMs abundance or richness, while basal area measured in the field proved to be a good predictor (R² = 0.47 and 0.43 for TreMs abundance and richness, respectively). Our findings highlight the complementarity of LiDAR- and ground-based indicators for biodiversity assessment. As high-resolution LiDAR data become increasingly available at broad scales, horizontal heterogeneity and canopy cover emerge as promising indirect indicators of multi-taxonomic biodiversity in hedgerows across large landscapes.

Tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) are key features for forest biodiversity, and knowing their accumulation rate is essential to design integrative management strategies. Many types of TreMs are associated to large old trees and show slow ontogenical processes. The rarity of such TreMs (particularly in intensively managed forests) hinder the estimation of their occurrence rate along tree growth. Here, we used a continental meta-analysis on TreMs occurrence rate along tree growth to build informative priors for a model of trunk-base rot-hole occurrence on oaks within the Grésigne forest, France --- a context where stand management and tree DBH were confounded. We explored whether the use of informative priors could improve the identifiability, the precision of estimates and the predictive abilities of the model. Without prior information, the low variance of tree DBH within management modalities rendered the model poorly identifiable and prevented the detection of an effect of tree DBH per se across the range of explored tree DBH. By contrast, using informative priors contributed to improve the precision of estimates and lead to detecting a positive effect of tree DBH per se. Informative priors did not degrade the model fit and clearly improved predictive abilities on new stands. In particular, while the model without prior information did not predict the occurrence of trunk-base rot-holes significantly better than a purely random guess, the model with informative priors did. Irrespective of the prior used, models suggested that the high recruitment of trunk-base rot-holes in Grésigne may be a temporary management effect in stands undergoing conversion from coppice-with-standards to high forest through sprout thinning, which will lead to conservation issues for cavicolous saproxylic species when all conversions are complete. Because using informative priors was simple and beneficial in our study, it should be further explored in other local applied contexts to orientate forest management.

Les microhabitats portés par les arbres (dendro‐microhabitats), comme les cavités, sont nombreux dans les forêts naturelles. Une revue de la littérature a révélé qu'ils sont des ressources d'habitat évolutives, temporaires, et déterminantes pour la bio‐complexité des écosystèmes forestiers. Leur étude est cependant récente et les connaissances sont par conséquent fragmentaires. En forêt exploitée, les dendro‐microhabitats sont des objets sylvicoles simples et bien catégorisés, souvent comme des défauts de l'arbre dévaluant sa valeur commerciale. Comment concilier alors le maintien d'objets écologiques cruciaux et les objectifs économiques de production de bois de haute qualité marchande ? Ce travail de thèse avait comme objectifs d'une part de contribuer à une meilleure qualification du rôle écologique des dendro‐microhabitats pour la biodiversité et, d'autre part, de fournir des éléments de réponse pratiques aux gestionnaires d'espaces forestiers soucieux d'intégrer la conservation d'une diversité d'espèces dans leur gestion courante. Il a nécessité la mise en place de 1028 placettes dans 210 forêts françaises dans lesquelles nous avons observé environ 55 000 arbres. Nous avons étudié les relations entre les dendromicrohabitats et la richesse et la composition spécifiques de neuf taxons. Dans le cadre de l'analyse des caractéristiques‐clés de l'arbre et du peuplement pour les dendro‐microhabitats, nous avons montré que l'association des variables essence et diamètre explique respectivement 26 % et 31 % de la variance de l'occurrence des dendro‐microhabitats et de leur diversité dans les hêtraies‐sapinières inexploitées depuis plus de 100 ans. Nous avons défini des seuils de diamètre significatifs pour l'occurrence et la diversité des dendro‐microhabitats portés par le Hêtre (Fagus sylvatica L.) et le Sapin pectiné (Abies alba Mill.). D'autre part, la densité de dendro‐microhabitats et le volume de bois mort ainsi que leurs diversités respectives sont relativement constants tout au long du cycle sylvigénétique des forêts mixtes de montagne. Les feuillus secondaires jouent un rôle crucial dans la régulation de ces stocks en les complétant dans les phases où les dryades fournissent peu de dendro‐microhabitats et de bois mort. Un minimum de 10 hectares est nécessaire pour observer toute la diversité des dendro‐microhabitats. Dans les forêts exploitées, nous avons observé des patrons d'occurrence des dendro‐microhabitats drastiquement différents de ceux observés dans les forêts inexploitées depuis plus d'un siècle : les dendro‐microhabitats y sont toujours moins diversifiés et la densité relative de chaque type est modifiée. Après arrêt de l'exploitation, la reconstitution des stocks de dendro‐microhabitats est lente dans les forêts feuillues de plaine. Un arrêt de l'exploitation pendant 30 années est insuffisant pour observer une reconstitution du stock de dendro‐microhabitats dans tous les contextes et pour changer significativement les communautés de Coléoptères saproxyliques. En mesurant la contribution des dendro‐microhabitats à la biodiversité, nous avons observé que la densité d'arbres porteurs de cavités et de sporophores de champignons lignivores est une variable structurante pour la composition des assemblages et la richesse spécifique des Coléoptères saproxyliques. La densité d'arbres porteurs de dendro‐microhabitats et d'arbres porteurs spécifiquement de bois dur sans écorce ou de sporophore de polypores est significativement corrélée à la richesse spécifique des polypores. Le degré d'ouverture du peuplement ou les conditions climatiques locales affectent, dans certains cas, ces relations. Afin d'harmoniser les futurs protocoles de recherche sur les dendro‐microhabitats et de faciliter le partage des données, nous avons proposé une typologie hiérarchique de référence des dendro‐microhabitats.

Understanding the cascading effects of forest decline on saproxylic communities is fundamental for optimizing the management of disturbed forests toward biodiversity conservation objectives. We postulated that the nature and intensity of cascading pathways would vary along decline gradients, encompassing stages from stand decline to mortality and subsequent salvage logging, as mediated by shifts in habitat conditions and resource availability. This study was conducted across three representative European forest contexts: fir forests in the French Pyrenees, spruce forests in the Bavarian Alps, and oak forests in the lowlands of the Loire Valley. Within these systems, we assessed how the taxonomic and functional α-diversity of saproxylic beetles responded to variations in both the diversity and density of deadwood and tree-related microhabitats (TreMs). Our analyses identified key cascading effects of stand decline and mortality that were shaped by the considered beetle guild and by the forest type, reflecting tree species–specific disturbance legacies. Stand decline and mortality produced distinct responses within saproxylic beetle assemblages, as different successional guilds preferentially utilized either dying or dead trees. The overall influence of decline processes was positive in conifer-dominated forests. TreMs played a central role in mediating cascading processes structuring saproxylic beetle communities throughout the forest decline continuum. The increase in TreM heterogeneity associated with stand decline or mortality enhanced saproxylic diversity, with exposed wood and trunk injuries identified as particularly influential microhabitats. Snags and large deadwood elements, especially in spruce forests, and deadwood diversity further contributed to sustaining high levels of beetle diversity. Conversely, salvage logging exerted detrimental effects on numerous guilds, primarily through reductions in TreM diversity, decreased TreM trait dispersion, and the depletion of saproxylic TreMs. Given the pronounced context dependency of the processes driving these cascading community dynamics, and considering the increasing frequency, severity, and spatial extent of forest disturbances and global forest decline, it is imperative to integrate this complexity into management and conservation frameworks. Addressing these mechanisms with greater precision will be critical for maintaining functional biodiversity within rapidly changing forest ecosystems.