Population of Collembola of bog ecosystems of the ukrainian part of the International Biosphere Reserve «Roztochia»

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the taxonomic and ecological structure of bog collembolan taxocenes of IBR "Roztochia" was carried out. 67 species of Сollembola belonging to 43 genera and 12 families were found on the studied territory. The representation of the rare element of collembolofauna (its uniqueness) is 14.9%. Three species are new to the collembolofauna of Ukraine (Cryptonura kühnelti, Heteromurus sexoculatus, Isotomurus fucicolus) and one new species is from the continental part of Ukraine (Tetracanthella proxima). From 1 to 13 species of Сollembola were found at the level of point alpha diversity, and 5–29 species of coenotic alpha diversity, which indicates a small capacity of the soil environment for Сollembola in bog ecosystems, сompared to forest and meadow ecosystems. The investigated bog Collembola taxocenes are characterized by small and average population density indicators, from 0.25 to 9.1 thousand spec./m2. It was found that the structure of dominance, spectra of life forms and biotope groups of the studied taxocenes have their own specificity, due to local edaphic conditions. The analysis of the ecological structure showed that, in terms of species richness, complexes of hygro-mesophilic (31.3% of the total species richness), mesophilic (22.4%) and xeroresistant forms (20.9%) prevail in bog taxocenes of collembola. The studied taxocenes include nine biotope groups of species. The biotope groups of forest species (28,9%) and species that differentiate the bog type of ecosystems (bog, near-water, meadow- and forest-bog species) prevails. The share of representatives of the second group in the studied taxocenes is 14.9% of the total species diversity and 29.5% of the total abundance. It was established that a mixed collembolan taxocene is formed in bog ecosystems, where none of the biotope groups reaches 40% of the total abundance.