A comparison of soil arthropod communities in successional forest plots.

Abstract

Many abiotic factors may influence the diversity and abundance of soil arthropods in forest plots. This study tried to determine how diversity and abundance of arthropods changed as forest recover and regrow, and which, if any of the abiotic factors influence this change. We examined soil temperature and percent moisture, ambient air temperature, percent organic matter, A-layer depth, and light intensity within three forest plots in distinct stages of recovery from disturbance (forest fire). Our data shows that as forests recover and age, the abiotic factors relevant to arthropod existence steadily improve. Consequently, arthropod communities increase in both diversity and abundance. Further, the ocmposition of these communities steadily increases in species types rather than proceeding to different stages of species composition as in forest succession. This study, then, demonstrates that arthropod community succession, while linked directly to forest succession, develops according to a different pattern.