Prescribed Burning and Populations of Soil Mesofauna

Metz, Louis J.; Farrier, M. H.

doi:10.1093/ee/2.3.433

Cited by 24 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Conversions of this kind constitute major ecological disturbances in the short to medium term, because they abruptly remove the tall eucalypt overstorey and the non-eucalypt understorey, and alter both the microclimate at the forest floor and the soil/litter habitats of invertebrates. These small animals, together with microbes, are essential in regulating the decomposition of organic matter, aerating soils, recycling of nutrients and serving as prey or acting as biological control agents in food chains (Ashton 1975;Crossley 1977;Webb 1977;Gosz et al, 1978;Greenslade & Greenslade 1983), Studies from Australia (e,g, Springett 1976Springett , 1979Abbott 1984;Majer 1984) and overseas (e,g, Metz & Farrier 1973;Dmdal & Metz 1977) into the effects of fire on soil/litter invertebrates, and of logging (Huhta 1971;Vlug & Borden 1973;Heliovaara & Vaisanen 1984), in forests other than E. regtmns have suggested that abrupt conversions of mature forest to the 'pioneer stage' may reduce the diversity and alter the composition of invertebrate populations in the soil and litter. Decomposers, restricted to moist 'wood systems', and invertebrates dependent upon moist protected sites below ground vegetation, fallen trees or rocks, may be especially vulnerable to high intensity wildfire or harvesting (Madden et af.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of litter arthropods to major natural or artificial ecological disturbances in mountain ash forest

Neumann¹

1991

Australian Journal of Ecology

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Pitfall trapping was used in eommereial Mountain Ash ^Eucalyptus regnansj regrowth forest to study the effeets on epigeal arthropods of high-intensity wildfire plus salvage logging, and of harvesting by elearfelling plus slash burning, followed by ftre-indueed natural or artifieially established regeneration respeettvely. The study, the first of its kind in the Vietorian Central Highlands, 60 km east of Melbourne, was based on 146 922 speeimens of 30 ordinal or lower level taxa eolleeted over a 3-year period. The abrupt replaeement ofthe ecologieally eomplex regrowth forest by eeologieally mueh simpler even-aged regeneration eaused appreeiable instability among the litterfrequenting arthropods. An immediate deeline in diversity oeeurred due to short-term boosts in aetivity of some eommon 'major' taxa (notably a speeies of seed-harvesting ant) and the suppression of other taxa. A broad mix of funetionally diverse taxa reappeared within two years of regeneration, and all but three rarely trapped 'minor' taxa present in undisturbed 43-46 year old regrowth ('eontrol') forest had returned within 5 years. Epigeal arthropods therefore appeared to be affected only over a short period relative to the nominal 80-150 year rotation of the E, regnans eeosystem. Researeh is needed at the speeies level to aehieve a more precise assessment of arthropod responses to major eeologieal disturbanees.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of litter arthropods to major natural or artificial ecological disturbances in mountain ash forest

Neumann¹

1991

Australian Journal of Ecology

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“…The result of low abundance and species richness at SITE 2, compared to the reference site, is initially surprising, as we would have expected extensive recovery of the Collembola community after 50 years of post-fire succession. Other authors found much faster recovery times: Sgardelis & Margaris (1993), Majer (1984), Metz & Farrier (1973) and Seastedt (1984) estimated short recovery times (3 -4 years) after controlled and less destructive fires. Jahn et al (1970) investigated the succession of Collembola on another burned alpine site (Tyrol, Austria, 1 600 -2 137 m), the only other study investigating the effect of fire on Collembola in the Alps.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Short- and long-term effects of fire on the Collembola communities of a sub-alpine dwarf pine ecosystem in the Austrian Alps

Querner¹

2010

ecomont

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We compared the Collembola communities of three sub-alpine sites in the Limestone Alps to evaluate the short-and long-term effects of natural forest fires. SITE 1 was burned in August 2003, SITE 2 was burned 50 years ago and sampled to assess the long-term effects of fire and the recovery of soil animals. A reference site (REF) was sampled to represent the undisturbed dwarf pine community. All sites are close to each other on a steep slope between 1 400 and 1 650 m above sea level. We found a total of 41 species of Collembola, as well as clear differences in the species composition and abundance between the sites. Most species (29) were found on the REF site. The highest abundance was found on SITE 1 (48 960 individuals*m -2 , 22 species). We assume that some species survived the fire in deeper soil layers and others migrated or were passively dispersed from unburned patches and surrounding sites. The lowest abundance and species number (8 160 individuals*m -2 , 18 species) were found on the 50-year-old site. This site was covered with a typical community for moving substratum, consisting mainly of alpine grasses, yet the dwarf pine vegetation had not yet recovered. The soil layer was still very thin and we therefore assume that a recovery of the Collembola community will take much longer than 50 years. 29R e search eco.m o n t -Vo l u m e 2 , N u m b e r 2 , D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 0 ISSN 2 0 7 3 -1 0 6 X p r i n t v e r s i o n ISSN 2 0 7 3 -1 5 5 8 o n l i n e v e r s i o n : h t t p : / / e p u b . o e a w. a c . a t / e c o . m o n t

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“…It is not uncommon that only the total numbers of mites or Acarina are calculated in microarthropod studies (Heyward and Tissot, 1936;Vlug and Borden, 1973;Metz and Ferrier, 1973;Koponen, 1995;Radea and Arianoutsou, 2000), or that Mesostigmata are combined with Prostigmata and Astigmata as "other mites" (e.g. Huhta et al, 1967).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of measuring fire severity—Evidence from microarthropod studies

Malmström

2010

Forest Ecology and Management

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Prescribed Burning and Populations of Soil Mesofauna

Cited by 24 publications

References 0 publications

Responses of litter arthropods to major natural or artificial ecological disturbances in mountain ash forest

Responses of litter arthropods to major natural or artificial ecological disturbances in mountain ash forest

Short- and long-term effects of fire on the Collembola communities of a sub-alpine dwarf pine ecosystem in the Austrian Alps

The importance of measuring fire severity—Evidence from microarthropod studies

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