Litter and soil arthropod colonization in reforested semi‐deciduous seasonal Atlantic forests

Abstract

The recovery of soil ecological processes during the restoration of tropical forests is greatly influenced by arthropods that live in the litter and soil. However, these communities present complex dynamics, and their colonization patterns are not well understood. In this study, we examined the response patterns of litter and soil arthropods to the ecosystem regeneration process by assessing reforestation sites from two regions of São Paulo State, Brazil, and we compared the data obtained from these sites with data from mature forests. We assessed the arthropod communities using similarity indices and high‐level taxa abundance, with the level of forest succession and the locations of the restoration areas as factors. Forest succession correlated with the species composition as communities from the reforestation sites gradually became more similar to communities from the mature forests, while their quantitative patterns were minimally related. Forest maturation positively affected the richness of the litter community and the abundance of some minor groups, such as Protura, Diplura, and Symphyla. The region influenced the species composition but did not influence the manner in which the communities changed during the maturation process. We also found a convergent soil colonization pattern as arthropod communities from different sites became more similar during forest succession. This finding is consistent with both empirical data and theoretical predictions from the specialized literature, although the subject has been poorly explored until now. We conclude that reforestation allows the colonization of soil and litter fauna in a biased manner.

Soil macrofauna density and diversity across a chronosequence of tropical forest restoration in Southeastern Brazil

“…These different environments and amounts of resources cause soil macrofauna to vary in density and diversity. We did not find a linear increase in macrofauna density as forests age towards values found in the reference ecosystem, which is not in accordance with other studies (Merlim, 2005;Meloni and Varanda, 2015). The abundance and diversity of macrofauna can be influenced by variation in litter quantity and quality (Sayer et al, 2010).…”

“…These features change along secondary succession as soils recover. Soil macrofauna responds to changes in vegetation along secondary succession (Meloni and Varanda, 2015), such as structural changes (Decaens et al, 1998), increases in plant biomass, and vegetation diversity and complexity (Menezes et al, 2009), and to increases in organic matter (Burger and Knoll, 2011). The conditions that soil organisms are subjected to are very different, with the open area with great litter biomass in the pasture in one extreme; the forested areas of increasingly higher canopy cover and litter biomass in forests undergoing restoration in the middle; and the shaded area with greatest litter biomass in the reference forest at the other extreme.…”

“…The shifts in composition and structure of vegetation during secondary succession through natural regeneration and forest restoration are fairly well-known, but knowledge associated with changes in soil macrofauna is still limited. Soil macrofauna succession has been studied much more in temperate than in subtropical and tropical areas (ex: Meloni and Varanda, 2015;Frouz and Ali, 2004;Brown et al, 2009;Machado et al, 2015). Ecological restoration implies in the recovery of not only vegetation, but the whole set of attributes of the original ecosystem, in which soil macrofauna is included.…”

Biological communities as interacting compartments: thermodynamic properties and diversity indices

“…Concerning ground arthropods, the input data are counts of ground arthropods sampled in soil and litter during winter and summer, totaling 40 samples per site (see Supplement 2 for details). Part of these data were previously analyzed to explain the colonization of ground arthropods during the development of the forest 57,60 . The organisms are sorted by species (occasionally morpho-species), and data of distinct samples are joined in only one large sample per site.…”

Soil ecotoxicology and mesofauna at the site of an attested oil spill in Ipanema National Forest

“…These groups are very important for decomposition and in maintaining soil fertility, and are usually present in greater number and diversity in environments like forest fragments, which have more soil cover, greater richness of vegetable species, and superior microclimate conditions (Manhães et al, 2013;Meloni & Varanda, 2015).…”