scholarly journals Habitat characteristics and climatic factors influence microhabitat selection and arthropod community structure in a globally rare central Appalachian shale barren

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Landsman ◽  
Clara R. Thiel
PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e6197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noelline Tsafack ◽  
François Rebaudo ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Dávid D. Nagy ◽  
Yingzhong Xie ◽  
...  

Background Most carabid beetles are particularly sensitive to local habitat characteristics. Although in China grasslands account for more than 40% of the national land, their biodiversity is still poorly known. The aim of this paper is to identify the main environmental characteristics influencing carabid diversity in different types of grassland in northern China. Methods We investigated the influence of vegetation (plant biomass, cover, density, height and species richness), soil (bulk density, above ground litter, moisture and temperature) and climate (humidity, precipitation and temperature) on carabid community structure (species richness, species composition and functional diversity—measured as body size, movement and total diversity) in three types of grasslands: desert, typical and meadow steppes. We used Canonical correspondence analysis to investigate the role of habitat characteristics on species composition and eigenvector spatial filtering to investigate the responses of species richness and functional diversities. Results We found that carabid community structure was strongly influenced by local habitat characteristics and particularly by climatic factors. Carabids in the desert steppe showed the lowest richness and functional diversities. Climate predictors (temperature, precipitation and humidity) had positive effects on carabid species richness at both regional and ecosystem levels, with difference among ecosystems. Plant diversity had a positive influence on carabid richness at the regional level. Soil compaction and temperature were negatively related to species richness at regional level. Climatic factors positively influenced functional diversities, whereas soil temperature had negative effects. Soil moisture and temperature were the most important drivers of species composition at regional level, whereas the relative importance of the various environmental parameters varied among ecosystems. Discussion Carabid responses to environmental characteristics varied among grassland types, which warns against generalizations and indicates that management programs should be considered at grassland scale. Carabid community structure is strongly influenced by climatic factors, and can therefore be particularly sensitive to ongoing climate change.


Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noelline Tsafack ◽  
Yingzhong Xie ◽  
Xinpu Wang ◽  
Simone Fattorini

Carabids are an important insect group in grassland ecosystems and are involved in numerous ecosystem services. Steppes are the most widespread ecosystems in China, but they are under increasing degradation. Despite their importance, little is known about the relationships between environmental variables and carabid community structure in Chinese steppes. We studied the effects of fine-scale factors (soil and vegetation) and coarse-scale factors (climate) on carabid community parameters (abundance, richness, diversity, dominance, and evenness) in three types of steppes (desert, typical, and meadow steppes) in northern China. Carabid communities responded to environmental factors in different ways according to the type of steppe. Climate factors were the most important drivers of community structure, whereas the effects of soil and vegetation were less important. Desert steppe showed the lowest carabid abundance, richness, diversity, and evenness, and the highest dominance. This community is relatively simple and strongly dominated by a few species adapted to the severe conditions of this environment. Typical and meadow steppes showed carabid communities with a more complex structure. As expected on the basis of environmental severity, the most severe ecosystem (i.e., the desert) was only influenced by climatic factors, whereas a certain influence of biotic factors emerged in the other ecosystems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 1284-1295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinnosuke Kagiya ◽  
Masaki Yasugi ◽  
Hiroshi Kudoh ◽  
Atsushi J. Nagano ◽  
Shunsuke Utsumi

1970 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shalik Ram Sigdel

Study on plant community structure was undertaken in different altitudinal ranges of Shivapuri National Park. The general objective of this study is to analyse different plant community structure in Shivapuri National Park with regards to altitudinal variation. The forest was divided into three distinct altitudinal ranges on the basis of dominancy. In each altitudinal range standard quadrats method was applied for vegetation analysis. The highest number of species was found in site II. All the ecological parameters of the plant species were higher in site II except Basal Area of tree that was highest in site III. The pattern of distribution of plant species was not uniform according to altitude. At higher elevation, the forest was mature with almost closed canopy and trees were large; so the tree density was low. Species richness was highest in site II. Species diversity among tree and shrub species was higher in site I. But for herb species diversity was higher in site II for both seasons. Such type of variations may be due to nature of soil i.e. acidity, nutrient availability and other micro-climatic factors. The most noteworthy thing was that variation in flower colour of Rhododendron arboreum i.e. deep scarlet at low altitude, but it gradually changed into pinkish white as altitude increased. Key words: Altitude, Density, Plant community, Species diversity doi: 10.3126/banko.v18i1.2161 Banko Janakari, Vol. 18, No. 1, 11-17


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tili Karenina ◽  
Siti Herlinda ◽  
Chandra Irsan ◽  
Yulia Pujiastuti ◽  
Hasbi Hasbi ◽  
...  

Abstract. Karenina T, Herlinda S,  Irsan C, Pujiastuti Y, Hasbi, Suparman, Lakitan B, Hamidson H, Umayah A. 2020. Community structure of arboreal and soil-dwelling arthropods in three different rice planting indexes in freshwater swamps of South Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 4839-4849.  Differences in the index of rice planting can cause differences in the structure of the arthropod community. This study aimed to characterize the community structure of the arboreal and soil-dwelling arthropods in the three different rice planting indexes (PI) in the freshwater swamps of South Sumatra.  Sampling of the arthropods using D-vac and pitfall traps was conducted in the three different rice planting, namely one (PI-100), two (PI-200), and three (PI-300) planting indexes of the rice. The results of the study showed that the dominant predatory arthropod species in the rice fields were Pardosa pseudoannulata, Tetragnatha javana, Tetragnatha virescens, Pheropsophus occipitalis, Paederus fuscipes, and the dominant herbivorous insects were Leptocorisa acuta, Nilavarpata lugens, and Sogatella furcifera. The abundance of arboreal predatory arthropods was the highest in the PI-300 rice and the lowest in the PI-100 rice.    The abundance of soil-dwelling arthropods was the highest in the rice PI-100, and low in the rice PI-200 and PI-300, but the rice PI-100 had the highest abundance of the herbivorous insects. The rice PI-300 was the most ideal habitats to maintain the abundance and the species diversity of the arboreal predatory arthropods. Thus, the rice cultivation throughout the year was profitable in conserving and maintaining the abundance and species diversity of the predatory arthropods.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Ferrenberg ◽  
Alexander S. Martinez ◽  
Akasha M. Faist

Background. Understanding patterns of biodiversity is a longstanding challenge in ecology. Similar to other biotic groups, arthropod community structure can be shaped by deterministic and stochastic processes, with limited understanding of what moderates the relative influence of these processes. Disturbances have been noted to alter the relative influence of deterministic and stochastic processes on community assembly in various study systems, implicating ecological disturbances as a potential moderator of these forces. Methods. Using a disturbance gradient along a 5-year chronosequence of insect-induced tree mortality in a subalpine forest of the southern Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA, we examined changes in community structure and relative influences of deterministic and stochastic processes in the assembly of aboveground (surface and litter-active species) and belowground (species active in organic and mineral soil layers) arthropod communities. Arthropods were sampled for all years of the chronosequence via pitfall traps (aboveground community) and modified Winkler funnels (belowground community) and sorted to morphospecies. Community structure of both communities were assessed via comparisons of morphospecies diversity and assemblages. Assembly processes were inferred from a mixture of linear models and matrix correlations testing for community associations with environmental properties, and from null-deviation models calculated from observed vs. expected levels of species turnover (Beta diversity) among samples. Results. Tree mortality altered community structure in both aboveground and belowground arthropod communities, but null models suggested that aboveground communities experienced greater relative influences of deterministic processes, while the relative influence of stochastic processes increased for belowground communities. Additionally, Mantel tests and linear regression models revealed significant associations between the aboveground arthropod communities and vegetation and soil properties, but no significant association among belowground arthropod communities and environmental factors. Discussion. Our results suggest context-dependent influences of stochastic and deterministic community assembly processes across different fractions of a ground-dwelling arthropod community following a disturbance. This variation in assembly may be linked to contrasting ecological strategies and dispersal rates within above- and below-ground communities. Our findings add to a growing body of evidence indicating concurrent influences of different processes in community assembly, and highlight the need to consider potential variation across different fractions of biotic communities when testing community ecology theory.


2017 ◽  
Vol 158 (4) ◽  
pp. 1045-1059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh J. Hanmer ◽  
Rebecca L. Thomas ◽  
Gareth J. F. Beswick ◽  
Bradley P. Collins ◽  
Mark D. E. Fellowes

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