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Secondary succession of terrestrial isopod, centipede, and millipede communities in grasslands under restoration

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of restoration management on the composition of a macro-invertebrate community in a formerly, nutrient-poor grassland. Four grassland plots were selected that were last fertilised 7, 11, 24 or 29 years before sampling in 1996. In the same plots it was observed that nutrient impoverishment as a restoration tool resulted in a decrease in primary production and a directional shift in vegetation composition after cessation of fertiliser application. Terrestrial isopods, millipedes, and centipedes were sampled with pitfall traps in the four plots. The directional shift observed in vegetation composition before this study was not accompanied by a directional change in macro-invertebrate composition. Both the field poorest in nutrients and the one richest in nutrients showed the lowest density and species richness, while the species composition was similar across intermediate succession stages. By far the most specimens and species were caught in the field that had not received fertilisers for 24 years. Succession theory could only partly explain the observed results. Canonical correspondence analysis of the data revealed that only a small part of the pattern could be explained by the nutrient status of the grasslands. The C accumulation due to secondary succession of plants was hypothesised to influence the densities and diversity of macro-invertebrate communities in these grasslands.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the State Forestry Commission for permission to sample in their nature reserve. Rijndert de Fluiter and Arnold Spee are acknowledged for their assistance in the fieldwork, Bart Verschoor for giving us background information on primary production in the grasslands, and Ron de Goede for his assistance in using the CANOCO program. Lijbert Brussaard, Ron de Goede, and two anonymous referees are thanked for their valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank Arne Jansen for transporting the samples between the co-authors. Matty Berg was financially supported by the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (Academy Fellow Program) and a NATO linkage grant (grant no. EST CLG 978832).

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Berg, M.P., Hemerik, L. Secondary succession of terrestrial isopod, centipede, and millipede communities in grasslands under restoration. Biol Fertil Soils 40, 163–170 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-004-0765-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-004-0765-z

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