Abstract
Simple SummaryThis review summarizes adaptations and predispositions of different arthropod taxa (springtails, web spiders, millipedes and centipedes) to flood and drought conditions. The main focus sis directed to arthropod species, which are living in Middle European floodplain forests and wetlands, because of the fast change of flood and drought conditions in these habitats. Furthermore the effects of the predicted regional climate change like increasing aperiodic summer flooding and decreasing winter and spring floods are also discussed. Floodplain forests and wetlands are amongst the most diverse and species rich habitats on earth. Arthropods are a key group for the high diversity pattern of these landscapes, due to the fact that the change between flooding and drought causes in different life cycles and in a variety of adaptations in the different taxa. The floodplain forests and wetlands of Central Amazonia are well investigated and over the last 50 years many adaptations of several hexapod, myriapod and arachnid orders were described. In contrast to Amazonia the Middle European floodplains were less investigated concerning the adaptations of arthropods to flood and drought conditions. This review summarizes the adaptations and predispositions of springtails, web spiders, millipedes and centipedes to the changeable flood and drought conditions of Middle European floodplain forests and wetlands. Furthermore the impact of regional climate change predictions like increasing aperiodic summer floods and the decrease of typical winter and spring floods are discussed in this article.
Highlights
IntroductionRiparian zones like floodplain forests and wetlands are among the world’s most productive plant and animal habitats
Riparian zones like floodplain forests and wetlands are among the world’s most productive plant and animal habitats. First and foremost, this is a result of the special properties of this habitat, which are tied to the constant flux between flooding and drought
Five species of Collembola were found in the soil surface layer (Isotoma viridis Bourlet, 1839, Anurida tullbergi (Schött, 1891), Sminthurides malmgreni (Tullberg, 1876), Sminthurinus aureus (Lubbock, 1862) and Sminthurus nigromaculatus (Linnaeus, 1758)), which accounted for 99.9% of all Collembola sampled
Summary
Riparian zones like floodplain forests and wetlands are among the world’s most productive plant and animal habitats. Springtails inhabit every soil layer at very high densities and can even be found at the surface in great numbers, making them a key group among the soil arthropods Over their long evolutionary history (the earliest date back to approximately 400 million years ago [37,38,39]), they have been able to colonize the deepest and uppermost levels of the soil, but have populated plants and trees, the surface of water and other specialized and sometimes extreme habitats (e.g., deserts, the Arctic and the Antarctic) [40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47]. Studies comparing this region with others comprised of different Collembola species should be conducted
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