Influence of variable inundation regimes on soil collembola

Soil collembola in floodplain habitats are known to react dynamically to inundation, showing direct negative effects of inundation as well as rapid regeneration after flooding. Unknown, however, are how these communities react to variable inundation and the role that spatial and temporal habitat heterogeneity plays. Therefore, the small-scale spatio-temporal dynamics of soil collembolan communities after varying inundation were studied in floodplain habitats in the Upper Rhine Valley in Germany. After frequent flooding, significant differences in density and species richness were found between different floodplain levels of the same location. Due to different species’ responses, major differences occurred in community structure. After infrequent inundation the densities and species richness of the same sites and especially hygrophilous components decreased dramatically. Between neighbouring sites, species exchange occurred and community structures became more similar. The results show that at the same locality soil collembola react dynamically as well as differentially to changes in the hydrological regime. Small-scale landscape heterogeneity allows a mixture of differentially reacting species to occur within the same regional metacommunity. Long-term stability of collembolan communities despite the high spatio-temporal heterogeneity of floodplains is thus maintained by metacommunity dynamics.