Response of soil invertebrates to disturbance across three resource regions in North Carolina

Abstract

We evaluated the potential of soil microarthropods and enchytraeid worms to be useful as bioindicators of soil condition in forest, wetland, and agricultural ecosystems over a range of ecoregions. Selected mesofauna and soil characteristics in soil and litter in relatively undisturbed and disturbed examples of each of three ecosystems within each of three land resource regions were monitored over two years. Optimal times of year to sample these organisms as indicators of disturbance were April, May, July and September. No single measure reflected disturbance across all three ecosystems. Among forest sites, Simpson's diversity index, evenness, abundance of ants, and proportion of enchytraeids in the mesofauna differed between soils of different disturbance levels. Among agricultural sites, richness, evenness, abundance of mites, and proportions of collembolans and of enchytraeids in the mesofauna differed between disturbance levels. Among wetland sites, Shannon's and Simpson's diversity indices, richness based on the total mesofauna, and abundances of mites, diplurans, ants, and isotomid and onychiurid collembolans differed between disturbance levels. Covariates most frequently associated with abundance and diversity of the measured mesofauna were soil electrical conductivity, available N, organic matter, and pH. Canonical correspondence analysis provided information somewhat different to bivariate analysis. Using both approaches to examine soil and litter taxa that have distinctive responses to disturbance may help to identify candidate groups applicable for use in large-scale environmental monitoring programs.

Repeated Raking of Pine Plantations Alters Soil Arthropod Communities

“…This, coupled with the widening gap in abundance of Isotomidae evident by year three, with higher abundance in raked than intact stands, suggests that this order was undergoing shifts in dominance among families in response to the changing conditions imposed by repeated litter removal (i.e., the abundance of Tomoceridae was increasing as the abundance of Isotomidae was decreasing). Contrary to our findings, Entomobryidae and Sminthuridae have previously been linked to disturbed forest litter (we found no significant differences in abundance between raked and intact stands during any year for these families) and Isotomidae to undisturbed forest litter [53] (we found an increase in abundance in raked versus intact stands by year 3). Entomobryidae has been considered less sensitive to disturbance than Isotomidae [50], whereas our findings suggest that repeated disturbance actually increased the abundance of Isotomidae.…”

Soil microbial characteristics at the monitoring plots on windthrow areas of the Tatra National Park (Slovakia): their assessment as environmental indicators

“…and biological indices (e.g. amount, activity and diversity of soil microorganisms) (Barbercheck et al 2009;Knoepp et al 2000;Pichler et al 2009;Schoenholtz et al 2000;Winding et al 2005). Soil microorganisms respond very quickly to various natural and anthropogenic pressures or stresses acting on the soil ecosystem as they have a high surface-to-volume ratio, so they are capable of a much more intense exchange of matter and energy with their environment (Nielsen and Winding 2002).…”

Effects of litter removal on arthropod communities in pine plantations

“…In addition to inducing changes in microclimate variation (temperature and humidity), litter removal is likely to also change other aspects of the habitat experienced by fauna that reside at the soil surface, such as habitat structure, soil pH, nutrient availability, and soil porosity (Gill 1969;Sayer 2006;Blazier et al 2008). These factors are known to influence abundance and diversity of arthropods such as Araneae (Riechert and Tracy 1975;Uetz 1979;McNett and Rypstra 2000), Collembola (Wardle et al 2001;Majer et al 2007; Barbercheck et al 2009), Coleoptera (Cobb et al 2007;Maleque et al 2009), and Formicidae (Linksvayer and Janssen 2009;Greenberg et al 2010).…”