Effects of Small-Scale Dead Wood Additions on Beetles in Southeastern U.S. Pine Forests

Forests

Kier D. Klepzig³  Michael L. Ferro⁵  Michael D. Ulyshen¹  Matthew L. Gimmel⁴  Jolie B. Mahfouz²  Allan E. Tiarks² 

[1] USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 201 Lincoln Green, Starkville, MS 39759, USA;USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 2500 Shreveport Hwy, Pineville, LA 71360, USA;;USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 200 WT Weaver Blvd, Asheville, NC 28804, USADepartment of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA;Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University, 404 Life Sciences Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-1710, USA;

关键词: arthropods;    biodiversity;    coarse woody debris;    epigeic;    insects;    slash;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f3030632

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Pitfall traps were used to sample beetles (Coleoptera) in plots with or without inputs of dead loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) wood at four locations (Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas) on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. The plots were established in 1998 and sampling took place in 1998, 1999, and 2002 (only 1998 for North Carolina). Overall, beetles were more species rich, abundant and diverse in dead wood addition plots than in reference plots. While these differences were greatest in 1998 and lessened thereafter, they were not found to be significant in 1998 due largely to interactions between location and treatment. Specifically, the results from North Carolina were inconsistent with those from the other three locations. When these data were excluded from the analyses, the differences in overall beetle richness for 1998 became statistically significant. Beetle diversity was significantly higher in the dead wood plots in 1999 but by 2002 there were no differences between dead wood added and control plots. The positive influence of dead wood additions on the beetle community can be largely attributed to the saproxylic fauna (species dependent on dead wood), which, when analyzed separately, were significantly more species rich and diverse in dead wood plots in 1998 and 1999. Ground beetles (Carabidae) and other species, by contrast, were not significantly affected. These results suggest manipulations of dead wood in pine forests have variable effects on beetles according to life history characteristics.

【 授权许可】

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