Forest disturbance enhanced the activity of epedaphic collembola in windthrown stands of the High Tatra mountains

Abstract

The study aimed to assess the response of ep- and hemiedaphic Collembola communities (activity, richness, community structure) to a disturbance, the subsequent management regime and to the season (summer, winter) in a High Tatra Mountains spruce forest destroyed by a windstorm. Fire and clear-cut resulted in an initial increase in the activity of Collembola inhabiting open areas, opportunistic or generalist species, while forest specialists diminished in numbers or disappeared. Our results indicated that treatment with nonextracted fallen trees (NEX) provided a better chance for forest species to survive compared with their survival in open habitats of extracted (EXT) and wildfire (FIR) treatments. Great species’ potential of NEX treatment was indicated by Chao2 estimator and activity/species rarefaction curves. Communities of NEX treatment were more similar to the reference (REF) treatment, documented by ordination and cluster analyses. Thus, leaving fallen timber after a windthrow to natural process of succession is suitable for survival of forest species and maintenance of diversity in forests restoration than timber extraction. Community structure in wildfire (FIR) stands was the most dissimilar to the other treatments. Most of the species trapped in this treatment belonged to hemiedaphic life forms, while the activity of larger epedaphic species diminished. In contrast, the highest number of trapped Collembola in EXT treatment was connected with the larger-bodied epigeic species with fast dispersal ability. The trapping period affected both the number of individuals and species richness; Collembola activity and species diversity in the individual treatments were lower in winter compared with the summer period. Several species increased activity during the winter period, namely Folsomia penicula, Friesea mirabilis, F. truncata, Hypogastrura socialis and Protaphorura aurantiaca.