1. MOFEP - Leaf Litter Arthropods

2. 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.

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

5. 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 1993-1995, 1997-1999 and 2001-2003

6. leaf litter heated and dried at ~ 40°C for 42-46 hours in a modified Tullgren Funnel arthropods extracted into 70% ethanol

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

8. Numbers, Mass and Richness over all samples in 1993. 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)

9. Tomocerus elongatus 15 per sample 15/15 Onychiurus ramosus 42 per sample 55/30 Mesostigmatid mite sp. 154 18 per sample 19/18 Euphthiricarid mite sp. 329 8 per sample 10/6 Pseudoscorpion sp. 97 6 per sample 7/5 Tomocerus lamelliferus 21 per sample 23/20 Pseudosinella sp 367 8 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 - 1993 Samples

10. SW slopes slope = 32° pH = 4.8 N = 264 +/- 21 M = 158 +/- 37 mg R = 51 +/- 2.3 D = 16.2 +/- 1.0 NE slopes slope = 25° pH = 5.1 N = 381 +/- 30 M = 311 +/- 55 mg R = 58 +/- 1.6 D = 14.1 +/- 0.9

11. Compartment 2, plot 6Compartment 2, plot 4 1994 1997 1999

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

13. 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 12.5. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. no species removed 011 10111 02 21 3233 2333 r = 0.68 1 species removed 011 10111 02 21 3233 2333 r = 0.64 4 species removed 011 10111 02 21 3233 2333 r = 0.48 8 species removed 011 10111 02 21 3233 2333 r = -0.59

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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