Oribatid Mite Community Decline Two Years after Low-Intensity Burning in the Southern Cascade Range of California, USA

Forests

Michael A. Camann¹  Karen L. Lamoncha² 

[1] Department of Biological Sciences, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, USA;Department of Plant and Soil Science, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA;

关键词: soil microarthropods;    prescribed fire;    Acari;    Oribatida;    oribatid mites;    forest management;    ponderosa pine;    biodiversity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f3040959

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

To assess effects of low-intensity fire, we combined two silvicultural prescriptions with prescribed fire in the California Cascade Range. In the first treatment, two 100-ha stands were thinned to reduce density while retaining old-growth structural characteristics, yielding residual stands with high structural diversity (HSD). Two other 100-ha plots were thinned to minimize old growth structure, producing even-aged stands of low structural diversity (LSD), and one 50-ha split-plot from each treatment was burned. In addition, two 50 ha old-growth Research Natural Areas (RNA) were selected as untreated reference plots, one of which was also burned. Fire treatments profoundly altered mite assemblages in the short term, and forest structure modification likely exacerbated that response. Sampling conducted two years following treatment confirmed a continuing decline in oribatid mite abundance. Oribatid species richness and assemblage heterogeneity also declined, and community dominance patterns were disrupted. Oribatid responses to fire were either more intense or began earlier in the LSD treatments, suggesting that removal of old-growth structure exacerbated mite responses to fire. Prostigmatids recovered quickly, but their populations nonetheless diminished significantly in burned split-plots. Mite assemblage responses to prescribed fire were continuing nearly two years later, with no clear evidence of recovery.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.