Abstract
Abstract We documented patterns of species extirpation, shifts in species dominance, and rates of recolonization of litter-layer arthropod species following a catastrophic forest fire. The study site was located along the Rio Grande within the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Socorro County, NM, in a riparian forest dominated by cottonwood [Populus deltoides ssp. wislizenii (S. Watson) Eckenwalder] and salt cedar (Tamarix chinensis Loureiro). The forest-floor arthropod community was sampled with 18 pitfall traps during 1994–1997. The study site burned in June 1996, and the intense fire reduced the litter layer to mineral ash and killed all the above-ground portions of trees; salt cedar and some cottonwood trees began to stump-sprout shortly after the fire, and achieved heights of two m by October 1996. The prefire forest-floor arthropod community consisted of 80 species, dominated by spiders (Lycosidae, Gnaphosidae, Salticidae), beetles (Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Cryptophagidae, Tenebrionidae),...
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