MOFEP - Leaf Litter Arthropods

90% of a forest community’s net 1° productivity is cycled through the litter community Microbes and fungi can do much of this work themselves, but mites and collembola speed up the process. They are directly responsible for 15-28% and indirectly responsible for 45-71% of litter decay.

They are also critical components of the forest food web vertebrate predatorsdecomposers invertebrate predators decomposers

36 5 x 5 m plots, 12 in each compartment, 6 on NE, 6 on SW facing slopes four 0.02 sq m samples of leaf litter per plot sampling without replacement , and

leaf litter heated and dried at ~ 40°C for hours in a modified Tullgren Funnel arthropods extracted into 70% ethanol

arthropods sorted into morphospecies, measured and counted each new morphospecies assigned a unique number and sketched so it could be tracked through all samples

Numbers, Mass and Richness over all samples in Numbers: Collembola (Springtails) Acari (Mites) Mass: Acari (Mites) Othoptera (Cockroaches) Diptera (mostly Fungus Gnats) Hymenoptera (mostly Ants) Richness: Acari (Mites) Coleoptera (Beetles) Diptera (mostly Fungus Gnats)

Tomocerus elongatus 15 per sample 15/15 Onychiurus ramosus 42 per sample 55/30 Mesostigmatid mite sp per sample 19/18 Euphthiricarid mite sp per sample 10/6 Pseudoscorpion sp per sample 7/5 Tomocerus lamelliferus 21 per sample 23/20 Pseudosinella sp per sample 8/7 Psuedosinella octopunctata 13 per sample 13/13 Folsomia stella 11 per sample 18/5 Hypogastrura brevis 8 per sample 12/5 NE Slopes NE or SW Slopes Numerically dominant species Samples

SW slopes slope = 32° pH = 4.8 N = 264 +/- 21 M = 158 +/- 37 mg R = 51 +/- 2.3 D = /- 1.0 NE slopes slope = 25° pH = 5.1 N = 381 +/- 30 M = 311 +/- 55 mg R = 58 +/- 1.6 D = /- 0.9

Compartment 2, plot 6Compartment 2, plot

Paratrechina faisonensis Smithistruma (at least 4 species) Ponera pennsylvanicus Aphaenogaster carolinensis

Ant numbers are the total numbers in four 0.02 sq m samples from a plot, averaged over 4-6 plots for a given aspect-year-compartment. To estimate ants per sq m, multiply by The red square in the Northeast Plots graph is the average for the even plots if an outlier is included (outlier > 2 sd from mean) ANT NUMBERS OVER TIME

Ant richness is the total number of species found in a plot, averaged over 4-6 plots for a given aspect-year-compartment. ANT RICHNESS OVER TIME

prepostant species Presence/ absence data for the NE Even-Aged plots for the 15 most common ant species. Each species could occur 0, 1, 2 or 3 times in pre or post-logging samples. most abundant 15th most abundant

no species removed r = species removed r = species removed r = species removed r = -0.59

Correlation of Pre and Post Logging Ant Communities (NE slopes) Control v Even Aged Control v Uneven Aged control - green even aged - blue 95% conf. int. overlap - turquoise control - green uneven aged - lt blue 95% conf. int. overlap - turquoise r # species removed

Leaf Litter Arthropod Communities Are.... diverse: > 800 species numerous: 161 million individuals per hectare productive: ~12 kg biomass per hectare Have more numerous, productive and species rich assmblages on NE slopes, where deep litter layers provide habitat that allows specialized Collembola to develop large populations Ant Communities Change following logging in ways which suggest effects... are indirect are temporary vary with logging treatment vary with aspect

Joe Wojak Lucretia Sheard Sarah Heyman Mary Jackson Juri McDowell Aaron Brown Danielle Sattman Sarah Schrock FieldLab Hope Fitzgerald Both Ruth Neely, Angie Pestka, Sara Slaughter, Julia Slaughter, Alex Vallar, Rachel Lowry, Amy Chamberlain, Brent Toma Godwin Gambiza Jim Carrel