Influence of forest structure upon the diversity and composition of edaphic diplopods

Autor: Luiz Ernesto Costa-Schmidt, Patrícia E. S. Rodrigues, Everton Nei Lopes Rodrigues, Ricardo Ott
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Insect Conservation. 21:297-306
ISSN: 1572-9753
1366-638X
DOI: 10.1007/s10841-017-9976-0
Popis: Terrestrial diplopods are a diverse group of invertebrates with important ecosystem roles within soil communities, though information from the Neotropical Region is still scarce. The present study investigates the association between Diplopoda diversity and composition with vegetation structure, based on pitfall trap samples taken from three different successional vegetation formations in southern Brazil (primary forest, secondary forest, and Pinus monoculture). Samples were collected monthly from October 2000 to May 2002, resulting in 938 diplopod specimens, belonging to 5 families and 13 species. An emergent pattern of close connection between primary and secondary forests was represented by greater species richness and abundance than monoculture samples, a pattern not shared in terms of species composition. Two species, Oncoleptodesmus deflexus Schubart, 1958 and Catharosoma sp. were highly abundant among the sample areas, representing, respectively, 60 and 25% of the total abundance. By assuming a direct association between forest successional stages with habitat heterogeneity, we concluded that the diversity of millipedes is a reflection of habitat heterogeneity, species composition showed similar responses but independently from habitat heterogeneity and disturbance.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: