Dataset Information

Seasonal changes in the diversity and composition of the litter fauna in native forests and rubber plantations.

ABSTRACT: The litter layer of tropical forests supports a significant fraction of total arthropod diversity and decomposition of this layer is the main pathway by which nutrients are returned to the soil and CO2 to the atmosphere. Conversion of tropical forests to agriculture is the main threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services, and understanding effects on the litter layer is important for understanding and mitigating these impacts. We used high through-put DNA sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene to assess seasonal changes in the diversity and composition of the litter fauna at five matched pairs of native forests and rubber plantations in tropical SW China every month for a year, and measured the environmental factors expected to drive intra-annual variation. Forests and rubber had very different arthropod assemblages throughout the year, with forests more species-rich than rubber in all months except February. Very high rates of intra-annual turnover in species composition in both forests and rubber were associated with seasonality in environmental variables, with the influence of particular variables differing among taxa. Tropical arthropods are very sensitive to seasonality and sampling at only one time of the year captures only a subset of the total community.

SUBMITTER: Beng KC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6035245 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Seasonal changes in the diversity and composition of the litter fauna in native forests and rubber plantations.

Beng Kingsly C KC Corlett Richard T RT Tomlinson Kyle W KW Tomlinson Kyle W KW

Scientific reports 20180706 1

The litter layer of tropical forests supports a significant fraction of total arthropod diversity and decomposition of this layer is the main pathway by which nutrients are returned to the soil and CO<sub>2</sub> to the atmosphere. Conversion of tropical forests to agriculture is the main threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services, and understanding effects on the litter layer is important for understanding and mitigating these impacts. We used high through-put DNA sequencing of the mitochond ...[more]

PMID: 29980785

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Project description:Rainforest conversion and expansion of plantations in tropical regions are associated with changes in animal communities and biodiversity decline. In soil, Collembola are one of the most numerous invertebrate groups that affect the functioning of microbial communities and support arthropod predators. Despite that, information on the impact of changes in land use in the tropics on species and trait composition of Collembola communities is very limited. We investigated the response of Collembola to the conversion of rainforest into rubber agroforestry ("jungle rubber"), rubber, and oil palm plantations in Jambi Province (Sumatra, Indonesia), a region which experienced one of the strongest recent deforestation globally. Collembola were sampled in 2013 and 2016 from the litter and soil layer using heat extraction, and environmental factors were measured (litter C/N ratio, pH, water content, composition of microbial community and predator abundance). In the litter layer, density and species richness in plantation systems were 25%-38% and 30%-40% lower, respectively, than in rainforest. However, in the soil layer, density, species richness, and trait diversity of Collembola were only slightly affected by land-use change, contrasting the response of many other animal groups. Species and trait composition of Collembola communities in litter and soil differed between each of the land-use systems. Water content and pH were identified as main factors related to the differences in species and trait composition in both litter and soil, followed by the density of micro- and macropredators. Dominant species of Collembola in rainforest and jungle rubber were characterized by small body size, absence of furca, and absence of intense pigmentation, while in plantations, larger species with long furca and diffuse or patterned pigmentation were more abundant. Overall, land-use change negatively affected Collembola communities in the litter layer, but its impact was lower in the soil layer. Several pantropical genera of Collembola (i.e., Isotomiella, Pseudosinella, and Folsomides) dominated across land-use systems, reflecting their high environmental adaptability and/or efficient dispersal, calling for studies on their ecology and genetic diversity. The decline in species richness and density of litter-dwelling Collembola with the conversion of rainforest into plantation systems calls for management practices mitigating negative effects of the deterioration of the litter layer in rubber plantations, but even more in oil palm plantations.

Dataset Information

Seasonal changes in the diversity and composition of the litter fauna in native forests and rubber plantations.

Publications

Seasonal changes in the diversity and composition of the litter fauna in native forests and rubber plantations.

Similar Datasets

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