Oribatid mite diversity and community dynamics in a spruce chronosequence
Introduction
The urgent need for understanding the dynamic changes associated with forestry cycles and natural disturbances in order to better manage European forests for both production purposes and biodiversity support has been highlighted by Bengtsson et al. (2000). One important aspect of forest dynamics is the alteration of net ecosystem production (NEP) during forestry cycles (Thuille et al., 2000). For example, NEP may decrease in young stands because the respiratory loss of C caused by the decomposition of organic material from the previous forest generation exceeds net primary production of the regrowing forest (Schulze et al., 2000, Law et al., 2001). Considering the strong impact of decomposition processes on NEP, approaches to forest dynamics must include investigations on changes in the structure and performance of the soil community. This has been a widely neglected field of research in the past (e.g. Moritz, 1965), but has recently attracted new interest in the context of ecosystem-oriented approaches to forest management (Horwood and Butt, 2000, Johnston and Crossley, 2002, Sohlenius, 2002).
The results of a comparative study on the community structure and functional composition of oribatid mite communities in different stages of a spruce chronosequence are presented here. Changes in soil invertebrate communities determine the pattern of C and N flux through the detrital food web during forestry cycles (Persson, 1980). Mites may contribute up to 45% of the total soil animal respiration and up to 1.8% of total soil respiration (Petersen and Luxton, 1982). They play a key role in organic matter decomposition in spruce forests where the abundance of earthworms is low (Krivolutsky, 1995). Moreover, oribatids are a substantial part of total soil invertebrate diversity (Walter and Proctor, 1999). The main issues covered by our study are:
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Does the oribatid community respond to environmental changes associated with forestry cycles?
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Do such changes lead to alterations of the functional structure of the oribatid mite community?
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If changes occur, are they related to certain environmental variables such as pH, water holding capacity, water content, and thickness of organic layer or mineralization rate?
The study is part of forest carbon and nitrogen trajectories (FORCAST), an interdisciplinary research project on carbon and nitrogen cycling in European forests funded by the European Union.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
The study was carried out at four sites forming a chronosequence of spruce forest stands. All sites are situated close to each other in a gently sloped area of the ‘Tharandter Wald’, which is located 20 km to the South–West of Dresden (Germany) close to the city of Tharandt (50 ° 58′ N; 13 ° 34′ E; Fig. 1). The soils are loamy brown-earths developed on porphyr rocks. The area is covered by spruce forests (Picea abies (L.)) mixed with a small fraction of pine and deciduous trees. The climate is
Results
Significant differences in environmental conditions between sites were observed in many cases, but no homogeneous trend of changes along the chronosequence could be established (Table 1). Some patterns are nevertheless obvious. First, the rate of C mineralization was very high a few years after clear-cutting and then gradually declined with age. Second, the water content was also high a few years after clear-cutting, but reached its lowest value as early as at the 45 S site. The close
Discussion
Species number and density of oribatids at the Tharandt chronosequence sites are in the same range as reported for spruce forests in different parts of Europe (e.g. Karppinen, 1958, Krivolutsky et al., 1982, Wallwork, 1983, Zaitsev, 1997). The annual average of oribatid community structure appears thus to be appropriately estimated by our methodological approach. Most species found are widely spread throughout Europe and have European or Palaearctic distribution (Rajski, 1970). The moderate
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the members of the Department of Animal Ecology of the JLU Giessen for their help during samples collection and treatment. Research was financially supported by the forest carbon and nitrogen trajectories (FORCAST) project funded by the EU.
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