Spillovers and legacies of land management on temperate woodland biodiversity

Species distributions are a product of both current spatial configuration of habitats and legacies of historic land use. Therefore, effectiveness of agri-environment schemes, Payment for Ecosystem Service policies, and conservation management all hinge on understanding the relative importance of, and interactions among, current and historic drivers of species distributions. Here, we explore the combined effects of spatial spillovers and temporal legacies, both within and between habitat types. We use Bayesian hierarchical occupancy models with data on 373 species from four taxa (ground beetles, birds, vascular plants, small terrestrial mammals) from a chronosequence of 134 woodlands in temperate agricultural landscapes. Both spillovers and legacies affect species richness and community composition and, critically, these effects appear to interact. Real-world combinations of spillovers and legacies result in different biodiversity responses compared to the individual drivers in isolation. Woodland patches in landscapes with more old woodland and lower amounts of historical woodland loss tend to host more birds and plant species, but fewer small mammals. Failing to account for these drivers, particularly legacy effects, gives a distorted view of habitat suitability. In consequence, the same management actions may result in unexpectedly different outcomes depending on the spatial and historical context within the landscape.