Abundance Of Ground-dwelling Arthropods Research Articles

Ecological responses to hydrological connectivity in grassland riparian zones: Insights from vegetation and ground-dwelling arthropods

Riparian wetlands have suffered from degradation due to global climate change and human activities, which can alter flora and fauna community patterns and disrupt material cycles in the riparian zones. Hydrological connectivity identified by functional and structural connectivity is an important driving force of riparian ecosystems. However, the role of hydrological connectivity in linking riparian hydrology and ecology remains unclear, especially in dryland rivers. By taking the riparian zone of the Xilin River in Eurasian steppe as an example, the functional connectivity was represented by the groundwater depth in the riparian zones. The structural connectivity was quantified by integrating the soil, and vegetation properties of the riparian zone. The structural connectivity decreased from upstream to downstream. Laterally, the highest structural connectivity was found in the riparian zone 25 m away from the river channel. The abundance of three groups of ground-dwelling arthropods (except Araneae) showed a threshold behavior in response to the functional connectivity, with the highest abundance occurring in the medium level of functional connectivity. Both vegetation biomass and ground-dwelling arthropod abundance were significantly and positively correlated to the structural connectivity strength. The results of structural equation models (SEMs) also indicated that structural connectivity was a key factor affecting vegetation and ground-dwelling arthropod abundance. The results underscore the essential function of hydrological connectivity in maintaining the biodiversity in the riparian zones. The study provides a scientific reference of riparian-zone restoration based on hydrological connectivity.

Coverings on Pitfall Traps Influence the Abundance of Ground-Dwelling Arthropods

Pitfall traps provide a cost-effective method of studying the diversity and abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods, such as beetles and spiders. Their efficiency depends on factors such as size, shape, and substances used to kill or preserve the specimens. Entomologists often employ covers on pitfall traps to prevent dilution of fixation liquids or keep the traps open. In this study, we investigated whether the presence or absence of covers, as well as their colour (black versus translucent), over pitfall traps has an impact on the species diversity and abundance of carabid beetles and harvestmen. These arthropods serve as common examples of ground-dwelling invertebrates, both in forest and meadow environments. Our findings revealed that traps with black-coloured coverings captured significantly higher numbers of beetles than translucent traps, but the uncovered traps were not significantly different from the two. The species richness tended to be highest in uncovered traps. The uncovered traps were the most efficient in capturing adult harvestmen, followed by translucent and black covers in terms of adult harvestmen abundance and diversity. In conclusion, the use of covers on pitfall traps significantly affects the estimates of arthropod abundance and should be taken into account in future research.

Sown Covers Enhance the Diversity and Abundance of Ground-Dwelling Predators in Mediterranean Pear Orchards

Intensive agriculture has a strong impact on the structure of arthropod communities in soil. Sown covers can contribute to their conservation, especially for generalist predators such as spiders and predatory beetles. The aim of this research was to assess the effect of cover crop management on the abundance and diversity of ground-dwelling arthropods. For this purpose, a three-year experiment was conducted in a pear orchard that was divided into three blocks with two plots each: one with a sown cover of mixed plants from different families, including Boraginaceae, Asteraceae, Apiaceae, Brassicaceae, and Fabaceae, and the other with no cover, in which any spontaneous plants were periodically removed without using herbicides. The abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods was sampled using pitfall traps. The sown cover increased the overall richness of arthropods. Additionally, spiders from the families Lycosidae and Linyphiidae, as well as beetles from the families Carabidae and Staphylinidae, were more abundant in the sown cover. Conversely, detritivores such as collembolans and beetles from the family Tenebrionidae were less abundant in the cover. The abundance of ants was not affected by the type of cover. The sown cover increased the diversity of arthropods in the crop, as well as the abundance of generalist predators.

Net effects of pasture-raised poultry on arthropod communities driven by top-down and bottom-up forces in a mixed-cover crop system

As consumer demand and grower interest for pasture-raised poultry grow, more research is needed to understand the ecological consequences of the integration of pasture-raised poultry on agroecosystems. Poultry could have profound and complex net effects on arthropod communities given their high density per area, broad omnivory, and high manure deposition. Further, some studies suggest poultry may aid in the suppression of agricultural pests in integrated systems. Yet, unlike wild birds, pasture-raised poultry have received little attention in the field of agroecological net effects. Across 2 years, we examined how an absence (control- cover crop only), low- [9.51 m2 (102.4 ft.2) of pasture per broiler] and high-densities [4.76 m2 (51.2 ft.2) of pasture per broiler] of broilers impacted cover crop biomass, ground-dwelling arthropods, and plant-dwelling arthropods in a rotationally grazed mixed-cover crop system. High- and low-density poultry treatments had 7.8-fold and 3.5-fold less cover crop biomass compared to the control treatment after 1–3 days of access, respectively. Despite the depletion of cover crops, there were substantial positive effects on ground-dwelling arthropods. Most striking was the impact on house fly larvae where high-density poultry treatments had ~1,432-fold more house fly larvae relative to the control treatments. Dung beetle, spider, and rove beetle mean relative abundances increased 47-, 2.4-, and 3.5-fold, respectively, from the control treatment to the high-density poultry treatment. In contrast, the mean relative abundances of plant-dwelling arthropod orders Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Hymenoptera were 4-, 5-, and 3.6-fold higher, respectively, in the control treatment relative to the high-density poultry treatment. Overall, these results suggest that pasture-raised poultry may promote the abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods through bottom-up mechanisms by depositing fecal material. However, poultry decreased the abundance of plant-dwelling arthropods, likely by destroying their habitat and food resources (via consumption and trampling of cover crop) and direct consumption of arthropods. While the integration of poultry into crop rotations is thought to benefit crop yield through nutrient deposition in the form of manure, this study suggests it may also stimulate the soil and ground-foraging arthropod food webs. This study is the first to evaluate the impacts of pastured poultry to arthropod communities in a mixed-cover crop system.

Distribution of ground-dwelling arthropods across landscapes with intensive agriculture in temperate areas

The idea that land use in the surroundings may affect the abundance of arthropods on a location plays an important role in the argument that agriculture is the prime cause of the recently discovered general decline of insects. We studied the abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods in agricultural fields along a gradient of increasing distance from (semi)natural areas and in relation to landscape complexity in both the North America (Illinois, USA) and Europe (The Netherlands) using pitfalls. Our results showed that the total abundance did not change with distance when we controlled for vegetation height and landscape complexity around the sample locations. Vegetation height affected abundance positively in crop land and negatively in grassland. Landscape complexity only affected abundance when it was measured in a 6000 m radius around sample location, not at lower levels of scale. We conclude that an effect of increasing landscape complexity may be expected when that is done on a large enough scale.

Short-Term Postfire Effects on Ground-Dwelling Arthropods and Soil Attributes in a Semiarid Grassland Ecosystem, Northwestern China

Fire-induced effects on biota activity and diversity, and soil attributes, could have implications for biodiversity conservation and recovery of semiarid grassland ecosystems. Here, we examined the abundance and diversity of ground-dwelling arthropods, and soil attributes in burned and unburned grasslands in the semiarid Nanhuashan Natural Reserve in western Loess Plateau of China. Arthropods and soil were sampled in springtime one year after fire disturbance. We found no significant differences in total abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods between burned and unburned grasslands. However, the taxonomic richness and the Shannon index of ground-dwelling arthropods were found to be significantly greater in burned than unburned grasslands. Postfire effects also indicated significant differences in dominance hierarchy among taxa within functional groups as a consequence of increasing predatory abundance but decreasing phytophagous one from unburned to burned grasslands. Likewise, soil bulk density declined, whereas soil C/N increased significantly from unburned to burned grasslands. In conclusion, fire could promote the taxonomic richness and the diversity of ground-dwelling arthropods, thus being indicators of positive effect of fire disturbance on biodiversity conservation of semiarid grassland ecosystems of northwestern China. However, soil bulk density and soil C/N could be susceptible to fire-driven changes of soil attributes.

Seasonal patterns of the abundance of ground-dwelling arthropod guilds and their responses to livestock grazing in a semi-arid steppe

The ground-dwelling arthropods is a key component in grassland ecosystem. Many studies have been done on the effects of grazing intensity and grazer species on arthropods in grassland ecosystems, but the information on the effects of grazing timing and frequency are less available. We investigated the abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods in spring, summer and autumn in an experimental steppe grassland that had experienced four grazing management (no-grazed control (T0), June-and-August grazing (T1), July-and-September grazing (T2) and plant growing season grazing (T3)) over four years in central Inner Mongolia. We found that (i) Phytophagous, parasitic and detritivore arthropods were more abundant in autumn than spring, whereas predatory and omnivorous arthropods were less abundant in autumn than spring and summer. (ii) Grazing reduced the abundance of detritivore or predatory arthropods, but not that of omnivorous arthropods. (iii) Grazing had no effects on the relative abundance of different arthropod guilds in spring, but T2 and T3 reduced the relative abundance of detritivore or predatory arthropods, but increased that of omnivorous arthropods in summer. (iv) The variations in the abundance of arthropod guilds was closely associated with the changes in vegetation attributes induced by current-year grazing (height, standing biomass and quality), not by grazing over multiple years (relative biomass of dominant plant species, soil available N and total C:N ratio). Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms of the biological interactions across tropic levels under different management and is helpful to the development of management regimes for steppe ecosystem conservation.

Influence of Cover Crop Termination on Ground Dwelling Arthropods in Organic Vegetable Systems.

A key aspect in cover crop management is termination before the cash crop is planted. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of termination methods on ground-dwelling arthropods. The conventional mechanical termination method—i.e., green manuring by means of a disc harrow—was compared to flattening using a roller crimper. Two different crop systems were investigated for two growing seasons; cauliflower was grown in autumn after the termination of a mixture of cowpea, pearl millet, and radish, and tomato was cropped in spring and summer after the termination of a mixture of barley and vetch. Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), and spiders (Araneae) were sampled by means of standard pitfall traps throughout the growing season of both cash crops. The roller crimper increased the overall abundance of ground beetles in the first growing season of both cash crops, whereas in the second year, no significant effect could be detected. Rove beetles were more abundant in plots where the cover crops were terminated by the roller crimper. Finally, green manuring increased the abundance of spiders, especially on the first sampling date after cover crop termination. Albeit different taxa showed different responses, the termination of cover crops by a roller crimper generally increased the abundance of ground dwelling arthropods. Given that most of the sampled species were generalist predators, their increased abundance could possibly improve biological control.

The Effect of Cover Crops on the Biodiversity and Abundance of Ground-Dwelling Arthropods in a Mediterranean Pear Orchard

The intensification of agriculture has led to the reduction of the diversity of arthropods in agroecosystems, including that of ground-dwelling species. The aim of our work was to assess the effect of a sown cover crop on the diversity of ground-dwelling arthropods, including key predators for pest control in pear orchards. The trial was carried out in a pear orchard divided in three blocks; two treatments (cover-cropping and control) were implemented in each block. A seed mixture of 10 plant species was used in the plots with the sown cover. The densities of ground-dwelling arthropods were sampled using pitfall traps. The ground cover had a significant impact on the diversity and abundance of arthropods. The Shannon–Wiener diversity index was significantly higher for the cover than for the control plots. Several families of spiders (Linyphiidae, Lycosidae), beetles (Carabidae, Staphylinidae) and hymenopterans (Scelionidae) were significantly more abundant in the cover-sown plots. Ants and collembola had a significantly higher abundance in the control plots. Some of these groups arthropods (ants and spiders), are represented by species that may commute between ground and pear trees, having an impact on pest control. The use of cover crops is encouraged to enhance biodiversity in farmlands.

Cascading effects of mammalian herbivores on ground-dwelling arthropods: Variable responses across arthropod groups, habitats and years.

Large mammalian herbivores are well known to shape the structure and function of ecosystems world-wide, and these effects can in turn cascade through systems to indirectly influence other animal species. A wealth of studies has explored the effects of large mammals on arthropods, but to date they have reported such widely varying results that generalizations have been elusive. Three factors are likely drivers of this variability: the widely varying life-history characteristics of different arthropod groups, the highly variable landscapes that mammalian herbivores commonly inhabit and temporal variation in environmental conditions. Here, we use an 18-year-old exclosure experiment stratified across three distinct coastal prairie habitats in northern California to address the effects of a reintroduced mammalian herbivore, tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) on the composition, richness and abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods over two years with very different precipitation regimes. We found that elk shifted the composition of arthropod communities, increasing the abundance of ants, beetles, spiders and mites, decreasing the abundance of woodlice and bristletails in some but not all habitats types, and having no effect on the abundance of bugs, crickets and springtails. Elk also increased richness and changed the composition of ant genera and beetle morpho-species. Interestingly, the effects of elk on arthropod composition, richness and abundance varied little between years, despite very different precipitation levels, biomass accumulation and thatch height. Elk reduced shrub cover, above-ground herbaceous biomass and thatch height and increased soil compaction, and these changes predicted the abundance and richness of arthropods, although taxonomic groups varied in their responses, presumably due to differences in environmental requirements. Synthesis. Our research highlights the importance of using long-term experiments to assess the cascading effects of large herbivores on the composition of grounddwelling arthropod communities and to identify the mechanisms that indirectly shape arthropod responses to herbivores among variable habitats and years in order to develop a greater understanding of the variable responses of arthropods to large mammalian herbivores.

Land-use components, abundance of predatory arthropods, and vegetation height affect predation rates in grasslands

Land use is a major driver of biodiversity loss in many taxa including the mega-diverse arthropods, but consequences for arthropod-mediated processes are still little understood. Using a rapid ecosystem function assessment (REFA), we approximated predation by quantifying predation attempts on artificial sentinel prey. Dummies were placed on the soil surface of 83 managed temperate grasslands across a broad range of land-use intensities (grazing intensity, mowing frequency, and the amount of applied fertiliser) in two regions of Germany. Additionally, we measured vegetation height and assessed the abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods using pitfall traps. We documented predation marks left by arthropods, rodents, and birds. The proportion of dummies with predation marks (i.e. predation rates) differed between regions. Vegetation height was the strongest predictor for predation in our study but correlated only weakly with land use. Predation rates increased with increasing vegetation height, for rodents and for all predator groups combined. All three land-use components affected predation, which was most prominent for arthropod predation. Arthropod predation increased with higher grazing intensity and decreased with higher mowing frequency and higher fertilisation intensity. Also, the abundances of ground-dwelling arthropods affected predation. While predation rates generally increased with a higher abundance of carabids and decreased with higher abundance of ants, the effects of spider abundance interacted with region. Our results demonstrate that different components of land use can have counteracting effects on predation rates acting together with changes in the abundance of different predator groups and vegetation height. This suggests that land-use practices that sustain high vegetation and ground-dwelling predator abundances increase predation rates in grasslands and consequently the potential to provide ecosystem services in the form of pest control.

Does Removal of the Invasive Shrub Lonicera maackii Alter Arthropod Abundance and Diversity?

ABSTRACT: To evaluate the effects of Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) removal on arthropod abundance and taxon richness, we sampled arthropods in seven removal plots and seven control plots in urban parkland in Louisville, Kentucky, in the first and third years after removal. We found no differences in overall abundance between invaded and removal plots in the first year after management, although removal plots had 12%–16% higher taxon diversity than invaded plots. Three years after management, invaded plots had 46% higher ground-dwelling arthropod abundance and 31% higher taxon richness, partly explained by other shrubs in managed plots. Herbivores were 91% more abundant in removal plots. Our results suggest that honeysuckle removal can have small effects on the entire arthropod community, but an increase in herbivore abundance should be expected following removal of this unpalatable invasive species.

Contrasting effects of plant diversity across arthropod trophic groups in plantain-based agroecosystems

Previous biodiversity studies have shown that plant diversity increases the complexity of arthropod food webs. However, only a few studies have addressed this issue in tropical ecosystems, in which the small annual variations allow the community to approach a steady state. With the goal of optimizing pest management, we studied the effect of plant diversity on the arthropod community in 20 plantain-based fields in Cameroon. Plantain-based agroecosystems are especially useful for studying the effects of plant diversity because they contain few to many non-plantain crop plants and are treated with few or no pesticides or fertilizers. We measured the diversity of cropped plants and the abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods. Five trophic groups of arthropods were identified based on stable isotopic signatures (δ13C and δ15N). At the field scale, predator abundance was positively correlated with plant diversity while herbivore abundance displayed the opposite pattern. These strong and inverse effects of plant diversity on predator and herbivore abundances suggest that top-down forces and resource concentration structure the arthropod community in plantain fields. Our findings are consistent with other studies that showed a reduction of interaction and interference between predators in more structured habitats. These findings will help in the design of plantain agroecosystems that enhance pest control.

Survey of Ground Dwelling Arthropods Associated with Two Habitat Types in the Jos Museum Zoological Garden Jos Plateau State, North Central Nigeria

Little is known about the species composition and ecology of ground dwelling arthropods of Zoological Gardens. Thus, this study was aimed to investigate the species abundance and diversity of ground dwelling arthropods associated with Gallery forest and Rocky outcrop of the Jos Museum Zoological Garden Jos Plateau State, North central Nigeria. Arthropods were collected using Pitfall traps during the raining season of June-July, 2013. A total of 500 arthropods belonging to 6 Classes, 11 Orders, 12 Families, 14 Genera and 14 Species were collected. Out of which 130 arthropods individuals representing 26% of the total were collected from Gallery forest, whereas 370 arthropods individual representing 74% were collected from Rocky outcrop. There is a significant difference in the mean abundance of species of ground dwelling arthropods collected from both habitats. There is no significant difference in the mean abundance of ground dwelling arthropods in relation to taxa. The diversity and distribution of arthropods taxa depicted 73% Insecta and 64.4% Hymenoptera as the most abundant taxa. The Shannon-Weiner diversity index (H) differs significantly between the two habitat types. The Gallery forest had the highest diversity index of 2.2140 and Rocky outcrop had the lowest diversity index of 0.9038. Food availability and vegetation cover were found to be critical to arthropods species abundance and diversity. This is a pointer to the usefulness of vegetation and food as key resources for ground dwelling arthropods. It is therefore recommended that adequate protection of the garden be carried out to curd anthropogenic activities. Key Words: Arthropods, Habitats, Gallery forest, Rocky outcrop and Zoological garden

Temporal variations of ground-dwelling arthropods in relation to grassland salinization

The richness and abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods were investigated by a space-for-time substitution approach from spring to autumn of 2012 in the Hexi Corridor region, Gansu Province, to understand the effects of grassland salinization on the temporal distribution of the ground-dwelling arthropod community. The results showed that: 1) grassland salinization had a serious damage to the ground-dwelling arthropod community. The magnitude of the decrease was spring > summer > autumn, resulting in obvious change on seasonal distribution pattern of the ground-dwelling arthropod community; 2) the abundance of predators, herbivores and decomposers decreased significantly in all three seasons with salinization development, with greater effects in spring than in summer and autumn; 3) with salinization development, the most abundant taxon was Formicidae. However, the second dominant family changed over the time of the study. For example, in the lightly salinized grassland, the second dominant families were Lycosidae in spring and autumn, they were gradually replaced by Tenebrionidae in spring and Gnaphosidae in autumn in the severely salinized grassland; and 4) changes in the ground-dwelling arthropod community were largely related to changes in the physical environment and resource availability during the process of grassland salinization. Our results suggest that plant density, vegetation cover and fine particles content played important roles in structuring the ground-dwelling arthropods during the process of grassland salinization.

Post-fire spatial heterogeneity alters ground-dwelling arthropod and small mammal community patterns in a desert landscape experiencing a novel disturbance regime

Anthropogenic activities have resulted in novel disturbance regimes which have unknown impacts on biodiversity. A notable example is the establishment of fire regimes in ecosystems that have not historically burned. These new disturbance regimes leave behind a complex spatial matrix with varying patterns of landscape heterogeneity. Research on novel disturbance regimes often ignores remnant vegetation within disturbed habitats, even though landscape variation in a disturbed area can influence population and community dynamics. Our objective was to understand the influence of spatial heterogeneity, characterized by varying levels of isolation and remnant vegetation, within a landscape disturbed by a novel fire regime in the Mojave Desert where wildfire was exceedingly rare to non-existent in this landscape prior to recent times. We found that community patterns of both ground-dwelling arthropods and small mammals varied based on the amount of remnant vegetation and isolation levels within burned habitats. Ground-dwelling arthropod abundance and richness measurements were highest in burned habitats that had remnant long-lived vegetation present, whereas small mammal abundance and richness measurements were highest in continuous expanses of unburned habitat. We also found that the negative impacts of fire on arthropods and small mammal communities in isolated, burned habitats were masked by the presence of long-lived perennial vegetation. Our study highlights the importance of incorporating habitat heterogeneity into future studies of novel disturbance regimes and provides evidence for the utility of restoration plantings in desert ecosystems.

Pinyon Pine Mortality Alters Communities of Ground-Dwelling Arthropods

We documented the effect of drought-induced mortality of pinyon pine (Pinus edulis Engelm.) on communities of ground-dwelling arthropods. Tree mortality alters microhabitats utilized by ground-dwelling arthropods by increasing solar radiation, dead woody debris, and understory vegetation. Our major objectives were to determine (1) whether there were changes in community composition, species richness, and abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods associated with pinyon mortality and (2) whether specific habitat characteristics and microhabitats accounted for these changes. We predicted shifts in community composition and increases in arthropod diversity and abundance due to the presumed increased complexity of microhabitats from both standing dead and fallen dead trees. We found significant differences in arthropod community composition between high and low pinyon mortality environments, despite no differences in arthropod abundance or richness. Overall, 22% (51 taxa) of the arthropod community were identified as being indicators of either high or low mortality. Our study corroborates other research indicating that arthropods are responsive to even moderate disturbance events leading to changes in the environment. These arthropod responses can be explained in part due to the increase in woody debris and reduced canopy cover created by tree mortality.

Responses of Arthropods to Large-Scale Manipulations of Dead Wood in Loblolly Pine Stands of the Southeastern United States

Large-scale experimental manipulations of dead wood are needed to better understand its importance to animal communities in managed forests. In this experiment, we compared the abundance, species richness, diversity, and composition of arthropods in 9.3-ha plots in which either (1) all coarse woody debris was removed, (2) a large number of logs were added, (3) a large number of snags were added, or (4) no coarse woody debris was added or removed. The target taxa were ground-dwelling arthropods, sampled by pitfall traps, and saproxylic beetles (i.e., dependent on dead wood), sampled by flight intercept traps and emergence traps. There were no differences in total ground-dwelling arthropod abundance, richness, diversity, or composition among treatments. Only the results for ground beetles (Carabidae), which were more species rich and diverse in log input plots, supported our prediction that ground-dwelling arthropods would benefit from additions of dead wood. There were also no differences in saproxylic beetle abundance, richness, diversity, or composition among treatments. The findings from this study are encouraging in that arthropods seem less sensitive than expected to manipulations of dead wood in managed pine forests of the southeastern United States. Based on our results, we cannot recommend inputting large amounts of dead wood for conservation purposes, given the expense of such measures. However, the persistence of saproxylic beetles requires that an adequate amount of dead wood is available in the landscape, and we recommend that dead wood be retained whenever possible in managed pine forests.

Survey of Diversity and Abundance of Ground-dwelling Arthropods in a Black Walnut-forage Alley-cropped System in the Mid-western United States

Abstract Alley cropping is an integrated land management practice growing economic crops between rows of trees. This paper examines the effects of alley cropping on carabid beetles and other ground dwelling arthropod predators on species diversity and abundance by testing for differences among ground vegetation treatments in alleyways. Arthropods were collected with pitfall traps in two alley-cropped areas using the ground cover treatments of alfalfa, smooth bromegrass, and a vegetation-free control. Although not generally statistically significant, brome had the lowest means of any of the ground vegetation treatments, possibly due to the relative impenetrability of the thick grass. We found few significant differences among treatments. Carabidae numbers were negatively correlated with relative humidity and positively correlated to soil temperature and moisture. Sampling methods other than pitfall trapping are needed in future studies to clarify the role of ground cover in arthropod predator diversity and...

Effect of Microhabitat Complexity on the Local Distribution of Arthropods in Clear-Cuts

Structural complexity may affect activity and abundance of ground-dwelling arthropods. In this field experiment, the short-term effect on abundance of ground-active carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and lycosid spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae) from slash (logging residue) on the ground was studied. Arthropods were collected by pitfall trapping in three clear-cuts in southwest Sweden. The distribution of slash on the ground was manipulated, and two types of microhabitats were created adjacent to traps, i.e., either slash was cleared (bare ground traps) or slash was aggregated in heaps (slash-covered traps). Overall, carabids were significantly less abundant on the bare ground compared with the slash covered ground. For lycosids, no difference in abundance between the two microhabitat types was found. In reference plots, where no manipulation of microhabitat complexity was carried out, an overall positive relationship between structural complexity (slash height) and abundance of carabids was found. For lycosids, however, no correlations in reference plots were found. Bare ground microhabitats are mimicking structural complexity in clear-cuts after commercial slash harvest for biofuel. Large-scale removal of structural elements in clear-cuts might have short-term local effects, such as altered composition of arthropod communities.