Assessing patterns of co-occurrence and nestedness of arthropod assemblages in an artificial–natural Mediterranean forest mosaic (Isopoda Oniscidea, Coleoptera Carabidae)

Abstract

We compared two soil arthropod assemblages (Isopoda Oniscidea and Coleoptera Carabidae) in an artificial–natural Mediterranean forest mosaic. Using data from pitfall traps, we investigated through a co-occurrence analysis whether local ecomosaic supported non-random organized arthropod assemblages, and we compared the results between the two taxa. We evaluated “the effect of reforestation” on forest species of both assemblages using nestedness and indicator value analyses, and wing morphology analysis in the case of the ground beetle assemblage. A significant difference between the assemblages is turned out, probably because woodlouse are more specialized in spatial niche than ground beetles. Overall, there is a clear evidence of randomness in the woodlouse assemblage structure. Moreover, forest woodlouse species and brachypterous ground beetles appear affected by “the effect of reforestation” in the study area.