Does the decline of red wood ants after clear-cutting favour epigeic arthropods?

Michal Zmihorski

doi:10.14411/eje.2011.054

Abstract

In forest ecosystems in the temperate and boreal zones in Europe, red wood ants (RWA, Formica rufa group) have a significant affect as predators and competitors in communities of ground-dwelling arthropods. Therefore, the spatiotemporal distribution and abundance of RWA affect the distribution of many other species. The hypothesis that a reduction in the abundance of RWA in clear-cut areas enables other arthropods to increase in abundance was tested. The study was conducted in NW Poland in 2007 and 2008. A total of 276 1×1 m plots were sampled and 1,696 individuals recorded. The probability of the occurrence of RWA decreased significantly towards the center of clear-cut areas and increased with increasing plant cover. The frequency of Lasius platythorax, Formica fusca and spiders in the plots significantly increased towards the edge of a clear-cut area. Moreover, the occurrence of L. platythorax was negatively associated with the presence of RWA, while that of the Myrmica species was positively associated. The effect of the distance to the edge of a clear-cut area seems to be much more pronounced than the effect of RWA. This suggests that the arthropods studied prefer habitats close to the edge that are utilized by RWA than RWA-free sites located in the centre of clear-cut areas.

Highlights

Several species of ants belonging to the Formica rufa (L., 1761) group have a significant role in communities of ground-dwelling invertebrates in forest ecosystems of the temperate and boreal zones in Europe
A disadvantage of this study is that the species of red wood ants, Myrmica, spiders and carabids were not identified
In order to correct for this, it is necessary to include both the effect of RWA and disturbance in any such study, otherwise, the effect of clear-cutting on RWA may lead to inappropriate inferences

Summary

Introduction

Several species of ants belonging to the Formica rufa (L., 1761) group (the red wood ants) have a significant role in communities of ground-dwelling invertebrates in forest ecosystems of the temperate and boreal zones in Europe. Spatiotemporal distribution and abundance of red wood ants is of great importance for inter-specific interactions within invertebrate communities, and may affect the distribution of many other species, including myrmecophilous specialists, as well as the fitness of some vertebrates, development of the plant cover, nutrient cycles etc (Reznikova & Dorosheva, 2004; Dorosheva & Reznikova, 2006; Jäntti et al, 2007; Kilpeläinen et al, 2008; Lambrechts et al, 2008) This in turn affects community stability, the existence of forest ecosystems and co-evolution of sympatric species (Pisarski & Vepsäläinen, 1989; Atlegrim, 2005; Geiselhardt et al, 2007; Servigne & Detrain, 2008)

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