Response of soil mites (Acari, Mesostigmata) to long-term Norway spruce plantation along a mountain stream

Jacek Kamczyc,Sylwia Wierzcholska,Remigiusz Pielech,Andrzej M Jagodziński,Paweł Horodecki,Michał Smoczyk,Mariusz Hachułka,Marcin K Dyderski,Izabela Kałucka,Maciej Skorupski,Marek Malicki,Anna Gazda

doi:10.1007/s10493-018-0314-3

Abstract

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, coniferous monocultures were introduced, replacing natural broadleaved forests in Central Europe, mainly for economic benefits. In the mountains, Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) H. Karst] was introduced in large areas previously covered with beech forests and also in natural riverside habitat corridors such as river valleys, despite its negative impact on the soil environment by e.g. organic matter accumulation, decrease of soil pH and changes in C/N ratio. We aimed to check how long-term Norway spruce plantations affect species richness and diversity of soil mites along a mountain river in former mixed and broadleaved forests. The study, based on 342 samples, was carried out in Stołowe Mountains National Park (SW Poland). Understory species biomass, soil pH and soil organic layer thickness significantly affected soil mite communities. Although coniferous forests did not differ from either broadleaved or mixed forests in mite density (number of individuals m−2) and species diversity (H′), they were characterized by low species richness and proportional abundance of Uropodina mites typical for broadleaved forests. In total, 4849 mites classified into 57 species were recorded from all forest types and no unique species were found in the sampled forests. Although the mite communities were dominated by the same common species (Veigaia nemorensis, Paragamasus runcatellus, Leptogamasus obesus and Trachytes aegrota), they still maintain the rare species of broadleaved forests and their high recovery potential may be used in forest conversion.

Highlights

In recent centuries, almost all European forest ecosystems have been altered by forest management of varying intensities (Vanbergen et al 2005)
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, native broadleaved forests have been replaced by coniferous monocultures, which provided a higher economic return in both lowlands and highlands
In the primary model we used all these variables and we reduced them to obtain the model with the lowest Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) by forward selection of variables

Summary

Introduction

Almost all European forest ecosystems have been altered by forest management of varying intensities (Vanbergen et al 2005). During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, native broadleaved forests have been replaced by coniferous monocultures (mainly with Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies), which provided a higher economic return in both lowlands and highlands. These transformations have considerable environmental costs such as soil acidification, leaching of nutrients, frequent pest outbreaks and high windthrow susceptibility Coniferous monocultures can affect forest biodiversity by their even-age tree structure and simple vertical arrangement (Zerbe and Wirth 2006) All those factors modify environmental conditions, i.e. light availability, temperature, moisture, litter and topsoil chemistry Maintaining the diversity of microhabitats is crucial for species conservation and functional stability of forest ecosystems (Rusek 2001)

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