Influence of Forest Fragment Composition and Structure on Ground-Dwelling Arthropod Communities

Myers, Andrea L.; Marshall, Jordan M.

doi:10.1674/0003-0031-186.1.76

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 41 publications

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“…Edge effects on environmental gradients (e.g., light, moisture, temperature) and the limited size of core forest habitat results in changes in plant community structure and composition (Harman et al 2019;Harper et al 2005). These forest fragments provide essential landscape heterogeneity that provides habitat for arthropods, birds, and small mammals (Freemark and Merriam 1986;Myers and Marshall 2021;Nupp and Swihart 2000;Proesmans et al 2019). The preservation of such isolated forest parcels has the potential to im-prove animal habitat and to protect rare plant communities (Rosenblatt et al 1999;Fauth 2000;Diamond and Heinen 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological and Floristic Plant Surveys of Little Wabash River Nature Preserve, Indiana

Aby-Kruger,

Stebing,

Beckstedt

et al. 2023

The Great Lakes Botanist

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Forests in northeastern Indiana are relegated to relatively small fragments and have become important patches in a landscape dominated by agriculture. Little Wabash River Nature Preserve is a property in Allen County, Indiana, closed to the public and protected by ACRES Land Trust. We conducted ecological surveys at 48 regular plots located along seven transects through the property that consisted of identifying and counting individual plants at understory, midstory, and overstory strata and recording several ecological factors. These were augmented by floristic meandering surveys during the growing season of 2019 to record plant species that may not have been encountered at the ecological plots and thereby give a fuller picture of the floristic composition of the property. We encountered a total of 251 identified species during the ecological and floristic surveys. Analysis showed understory abundance, richness, and diversity were positively related to available light (photosynthetically active radiation) and negatively related to canopy cover. The most abundant species in the midstory were non-native species. Juglans nigra had the greatest frequency and dominance in the overstory. In nonmetric multidimensional scaling, there was clear separation of the plant community within the forested portion from the community in the adjacent to the small old-field. Mean C-value for the site was 2.87, which resulted in a 41.56 FQI. The FQI may be an over-estimation of the conservation importance of the site and the Mean C-value may be an under-estimation of that importance. Overall, the Nature Preserve provides an example of the plant diversity can exist in a small, protected forest. While there are some common non-native species, there is habitat for a relatively large pool of species and may be of importance for protection within the surrounding disturbed landscape.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological and Floristic Plant Surveys of Little Wabash River Nature Preserve, Indiana

Aby-Kruger,

Stebing,

Beckstedt

et al. 2023

The Great Lakes Botanist

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Thermal tolerance in the millipedeEuryurus leachiiGray (Polydesmida: Euryuridae)

Barnes

Lawhorn

Yanoviak

2022

Annals of the Entomological Society of America

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Temperature extremes often limit animal distributions. Whereas some poikilotherms (e.g., winged insects) can escape local thermal extremes, many less vagile organisms (e.g., insect larvae and arthropods with limited dispersal ability) are at the mercy of local microenvironmental conditions. Here, we quantified the thermal tolerance of an abundant, endemic, Nearctic millipede (Euryurus leachii), and explored the effects of seasonality, mass, and sex on its critical thermal maxima (CTmax). We also measured the thermal microenvironments of dead wood representing different decay classes. Overall, the mean CTmax for this species was ca. 40.5°C. Mass and sex had no effect on millipede CTmax. However, the mean CTmax for millipedes collected in the fall was 0.6°C higher than for individuals collected in the spring. An exposed dry log representing one common microhabitat for E. leachii readily warmed to temperatures exceeding its CTmax. The results suggest that CTmax is a seasonally plastic trait in E. leachii and that microclimatic conditions potentially limit the local distribution of this species. With habitat fragmentation and climate change contributing to warmer temperatures in forested systems, understanding the responses of detritivores like E. leachii can help predict potential shifts in community composition and ecosystem processes.

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Influence of Forest Fragment Composition and Structure on Ground-Dwelling Arthropod Communities

Cited by 2 publications

References 41 publications

Ecological and Floristic Plant Surveys of Little Wabash River Nature Preserve, Indiana

Ecological and Floristic Plant Surveys of Little Wabash River Nature Preserve, Indiana

Thermal tolerance in the millipedeEuryurus leachiiGray (Polydesmida: Euryuridae)

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