Lists of forest affinity
When investigating communities of forested habitats, it is important to know about the affinity of different species to forests. In 2011, Schmidt et al. published a list of the forest affinities of German species of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens.
The first comparable lists of forest affinities of 11.883 animal species were published by experts on Crassiclitellata: Lumbricidae (earth worms), Araneae (spiders), Opiliones (harvestmen), Pseudoscorpiones (pseudoscorpions), Hemiptera: Heteroptera (tru bugs), Coleoptera (beetles), Hymenoptera: Aculeata (bees, ants, stinging wasps), Lepidoptera: Macrolepidoptera (butterflies and moths) und Aves (birds) (Dorow et al. 2019).
Thus, the list comprises the forest affinities of about 25 % of the 48.000 animal species known from Germany, including the most important groups for forest research. Only about 38 % of the animal species with known forest affinity exclusively dwell in open habitats. 26.1 % mainly dwell in forests. 9.8 % prefer light forests, 0.9 % prefer closed forests, and for 15.4 % of the species no preference for light or closed forests is known. The remaining 35.0 % of the species mainly dwell outside of forests.
