Effects of selection felling and gap felling on forest arthropod communities: a case study in a spruce-beech stand of southern Bavaria

The effects of selection felling and gap felling on arthropod communities were studied over 3 years in a spruce-beech stand in southern Bavaria, Germany. The arthropods were sampled in three strata, using pitfall traps on the forest floor as well as flight-interception traps near the forest floor and in the tree crowns. Coleoptera, Araneae, Opiliones, Heteroptera, Isopoda, Diplopoda and Neuropterida were determined to species level and assigned to ecological guilds. In general, the effects of both treatments on arthropod communities were small. An increase of eurytopic species and species of open woodland as well as of indwellers of deadwood was observed, mainly in the first year after felling. However, forest species dominated the communities in all plots, strata and years. In contrast to selection fellings, gap fellings might favour potential pest species. Nevertheless, in the studied managed spruce-dominated forest site out of the natural growth range of spruce, negative ecological effects such as the repression of forest arthropod species are not expected by small scale fellings.     

Arthropods as surrogates of diversity at different spatial scales

This study evaluates the effectiveness of taxonomic, colonization and trophic groups of arthropods from native forests of the Azores archipelago as surrogates of the diversity of other arthropod groups and of the remaining arthropods. Consistency in the performance of surrogates was tested across three spatial scales and using two measures of diversity. Pitfall and beating samples from 109 transects, 18 forest fragments and seven islands were analysed. The results showed that Araneae, Hemiptera and small orders taxonomic groups; native, endemic and introduced colonization groups; and the herbivores trophic group were consistent surrogates of the remaining diversity across the three spatial scales analysed, for both alpha and dissimilarity diversities. However, none of the subsets considered was significantly related with all of the other subsets at any of the three spatial scales. The effectiveness of surrogacy was dependent on the spatial level considered, and groups behaved inconsistently depending on the measure of diversity used. The value of a group as a diversity surrogate should be evaluated for a study area for a given spatial scale and diversity measure, in accordance with the scale and measure that will be used for biodiversity assessments and monitoring programs in that area.     

Spatial α-diversity patterns of diverse insect taxa in Northern China: Lessons for biodiversity conservation

Current approaches in terrestrial biodiversity conservation focus predominantly on plants and vertebrates. While these groups account for less than 4% of the estimated global species richness, it is commonly argued that especially the species richness in higher plants is a suitable indicator of overall biodiversity. We tested this assumption, investigating species richness and equitability patterns in three highly species-rich insect families and their links with the vegetation and other environmental factors. Vegetation surveys were combined with pitfall and light trapping to establish the α-diversity of ground beetles, geometrid moths and arctiid moths on 48 plots at varying altitudes between Beijing and the Inner Mongolian Plateau. Soil pH and nutrient status were also recorded. The α-diversity patterns in the three insect families were non-congruent, and links with phytodiversity were weak. The spatial α-diversity patterns in each of the three insect families were significantly correlated with the species density of individual plant families. These links varied between the three insect taxa and were mostly negative in moths. Furthermore, geometrid moth diversity decreased with increasing elevation and decreasing soil pH. Strongly diverging α-diversity patterns across different insect taxa illustrate that it is impossible to find a simple surrogate representing cross-taxon diversity for these highly diverse groups. Furthermore, phytodiversity and vegetation composition appear to play a limited role in governing insect diversity patterns. These results underline the significant risk that current plant-focused approaches in terrestrial biodiversity conservation are inadequate in addressing the conservation needs of the vast majority of species on earth.     

森林旅游对雾灵山国家级自然保护区节肢动物多样性的影响

运用生态学原理,研究了雾灵山国家级自然保护区主要旅游景区在旅游影响下节肢动物多样性的变化。结果表明,各样地由于所处旅游行程中的位置不同,节肢动物受旅游影响的相对程度也不同。旅游对节肢动物的影响范围通常在3m之内,距游径1m范围内节肢动物物种多样性可维持在最高水平,距游径3m以上,对节肢动物的影响逐渐减小。     

Response to the insecticide chlorpyrifos by arthropods on maize canopy

We assessed the response of maize canopy arthropods to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Four 0.3 ha (18 2 180 m) plots were divided into two subplots, a control and a treated area. During tasseling of the plants, the treated area was sprayed twice, with an interval of 3 days. Ten plants were sampled: 1 day before spraying, and 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after spraying. The insecticide had no effect on insect herbivores: a high density of Spodoptera frugiperda larvae was present in the treated plots. A few predator arthropod species were negatively affected by the insecticide, but their numbers or activity increased 2 weeks after the treatment of the plots. A canonical variate analysis showed no pronounced effect of the insecticide on arthropod communities; the largest variations on species abundance were related to sampling occasion. These results can be explained by the combination of the short period of chlorpyrifos residual activity on the plant surface and the great potential for recolonization of the areas by most of the monitored arthropods.     

Bartonella species and their ectoparasites: selective host adaptation or strain selection between the vector and the mammalian host?

A wide range of blood-sucking arthropods have either been confirmed or are suspected as important vectors in Bartonella transmission to mammals, including humans. Overall, it appears that the diversity of Bartonella species DNA identified in ectoparasites is much broader than the species detected in their mammalian hosts, suggesting a mechanism of adaptation of Bartonella species to their host-vector ecosystem. However, these mechanisms leading to the fitness between the vectors and their hosts still need to be investigated.     

淮北棉田节肢动物优势种群时空生态位及天敌对棉蚜控制作用研究

对淮北棉田节肢动物优势种群组成和时空生态位进行分析,结果表明:棉蚜、烟粉虱、棉叶螨、棉盲蝽、四点亮腹蛛、龟纹瓢虫、T-纹豹蛛、草间小黑蛛、八斑球腹蛛、华姬猎蝽、小花蝽和青翅隐翅虫为优势种群;时间和空间生态位宽度值都是以龟纹瓢虫最大,捕食性天敌优势种群与棉蚜时间生态位重叠值以八斑球腹蛛最大,空间生态位重叠值以T-纹豹蛛最大。综合分析了捕食性天敌优势种群的数量、与棉蚜发生在时间上同步性和空间上同域性以及捕食量大小,建立了捕食性天敌优势种群对棉蚜控制作用模型,以龟纹瓢虫控制作用指数最大,达19.82%。     

The responses of leaf litter invertebrates to environmental gradients along road edges in subtropical island forests

Knowledge of how roads affect forest biodiversity can be improved by measuring the responses of indicator species to complex environmental gradients caused by these infrastructures. We studied litter invertebrate species responses to road edges in laurel and pine forests in Tenerife, Canary Islands. We sampled invertebrates from litter and assessed the environmental variation related to road proximity. We also assessed the effect of relevant environmental predictors on a diverse array of potential indicator species. We applied canonical ordination and non-parametric regression (Lowess) to classify invertebrate species responses to roads and their associated gradients. Three types of responses to road edge proximity were defined for the most common invertebrate taxa: edge-preferring or edge specialists, interior-preferring or edge-avoiders, and edge-indifferent or neutral species. Those species appearing most frequently and with higher population density between 1 and 20 m from the edge (commonly peaking at 10 m from the road) were categorized as edge-preferring. We classified taxa attaining peak population densities at or beyond 60 m from the edge (and most commonly 100 m) as interior species. Edge-neutral species were those without an evident pattern of stabilization in abundance along the gradient and with peaks in abundance at varying distance intervals. These edge litter communities contain a high native and endemic diversity but also a significant density of alien fauna. The specific patterns of penetration of road edge effects on invertebrate species should be seen as having a pervasive and cumulative impact considering the exceptionally large number of roads in these forests and the high population densities of alien invertebrates. Future management plans for forest conservation on the Canary Islands should include the highly altered but valuable litter communities along road edges.