dead wood
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Common areas of research needed to measure soil carbon include: (1) the impact of forest management, (2) the impact of climate change, and (3) the impact of increased carbon dioxide. The organic matter of the soil has a great influence on the productivity of the site due to its effect on the physical (bulk density, water retention capacity), biological (microbial populations) and chemical (cation exchange capacity) properties of soils. Recently, there have also been claims of the benefits of dead wood for forest ecosystems. However, as with all nutrients, too much carbon in the soil can have negative consequences, especially with regard to nitrogen immobilization.

Abstract Wood-boring beetles develop in live trees and dead wood, performing ecological services such as decomposition and regulation of forest resources. Species of the Cerambycidae family, widely distributed in the world, bore into the trunks of trees and dead wood in native and cultivated areas. The objective is to report the first host plant for Thoracibidion lineatocolle (Thomson, 1865) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and a new host plant for Temnopis megacephala (Germar, 1824) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome. Three logs, with one-meter-long by 20 cm in diameter, were cut from the trunk of a healthy Anadenanthera colubrina (Fabaceae) tree in October 2013 and tied in the understory at 1.5m high in the Rio Doce State Park, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The logs, exposed in the forest, were each removed after 40, 80 and 120 days and stored individually in a cardboard box in the “Laboratório de Campo do Projeto de Ecologia de Longa Duração (PELD-CNPq)” in the Rio Doce State Park. A total of 94 individuals of T. lineatocolle and 228 of T. megacephala emerged from the A. colubrina logs. This is the first report of a host plant for T. lineatocolle and a new host plant for T. megacephala.

The results of a forestry and taxation study of spruce stands of the acidic type of two forest districts of the Udmurt Republic are presented. The death of the most productive spruce individuals (productivity class I–II according to B.D. Zhilkin) and pure spruce plantations (acidic forest types, I–II class of bonitet) was noted due to the mass spread of bark beetle typographus (Ips typographus). The most extensive processes of shrinking of plantings were noted in the forest area of coniferous-deciduous forests of Udmurtia. A decrease in completeness in some areas of spruce stands to 0,1...0,3 was revealed, as well as the accumulation of large volumes of dead wood. A change in environmental conditions was revealed due to a decrease in completeness in spruce stands, which led to the development of field grasses and the growth of soft-leaved species. Despite the fact that the peak of the bark beetle development occurred in 2013, a gradual expansion of its range was revealed both in the forest area of coniferous-deciduous forests and in the south taiga forest area of the Udmurt Republic.

AbstractMicrobes, insects, and fire are the primary drivers of wood loss from most ecosystems, but interactions among these factors remain poorly understood. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that termites and fire have a synergistic effect on wood loss from the fire-adapted longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) ecosystem in the southeastern United States. We predicted that the extensive galleries created by termites would promote the ignition and consumption of logs by fire. We exposed logs from which termites had or had not been excluded to prescribed fire after 2.5 years in the field. We found little support for our hypothesis as there was no significant interactive effect of termites and fire on wood mass loss. Moreover, there was no significant difference in mass loss between burned and unburned logs. Termites were responsible for about 13.3% of observed mass loss in unprotected logs, a significant effect, while microbial activity accounted for most of the remaining mass loss. We conclude that fire has little effect on wood loss from the longleaf pine ecosystem and that termite activity does not strongly promote wood combustion. However, longer term research involving multiple burn cycles, later stages of decay, and differing fire intensities will be needed to fully address this question.

During decomposition of organic matter, microbial communities may follow different successional trajectories depending on the initial environment and colonizers. The timing and order of the assembly history can lead to divergent communities through priority effects. We explored how assembly history and resource quality affected fungal dead wood communities and decomposition, 1.5 and 4.5 years after tree felling. Additionally, we investigated the effect of invertebrate exclusion during the first two summers. For aspen (Populus tremula) logs, we measured initial resource quality of bark and wood, and surveyed the fungal communities by DNA metabarcoding at different time points during succession. We found that a gradient in fungal community composition was related to resource quality and discuss how this may reflect tolerance-dominance trade-offs in fungal life history strategies. As with previous studies, the initial amount of bark tannins was negatively correlated with wood decomposition rate over 4.5 years. The initial fungal community explained variation in community composition after 1.5, but not 4.5 years, of succession. Although the assembly history of initial colonizers may cause alternate trajectories in successional communities, our results indicate that the communities may easily converge with the arrival of secondary colonizers. We also identified a strong invertebrate-induced priority effect of fungal communities, even after 4.5 years of succession, thereby adding crucial knowledge to the importance of invertebrates in affecting fungal community development. By measuring and manipulating aspects of assembly history and resource quality that have rarely been studied, we expand our understanding of the complexity of fungal community dynamics.

The article presented here is the continuation of a study on the importance of dead wood for the biodiversity of the Uropodina (Acari: Parasitiformes) communities inhabiting dead wood. The major aim of this study is to check whether the species of tree can have any impact on the species composition and abundance of uropodine mite communities inhabiting dead wood. The next aim of the study is to test the following hypotheses: (1) Uropodina exhibit preferences for certain tree species; and (2) communities differ depending on the region and time of the samples collection. The material for the analysis consists of samples from different types of dead wood merocenoses and 37 species of trees, and were collected across the whole area of Poland. More Uropodina species were collected from the dead wood of broadleaved species than from coniferous species. The tree species in which communities of the studied mites were the richest were beech, oak, pine, spruce, linden, and hornbeam. The analysis of habitat preferences of Uropodina mites for particular tree species has revealed that none of the analyzed mite species did not occur in the dead wood samples from all tree species. Another important result is that the mite communities found in the samples from the same tree species remained similar in each decade of the research. The results also show that the communities of Uropodina inhabiting dead wood of the same tree species in different regions of Poland had different species composition, which stems from differences in the range of occurrence of these mites species.

Background: Resources of dying and dead trees, decaying fragments of stems, stumps and branches, i.e., coarse woody debris (CWD), are an important structural element of biocenoses and are drivers of biodiversity. The aim of this study was to describe assemblages of saproxylic beetles in pine stands of western Poland in view of dead wood resources. We present faunistic (species identity) and quantitative (species and individual counts) data from two types of stands: 1. unmanaged pine stands, in which no trees have been extracted for over 30 years, with processes connected with tree dying and self-thinning of stands being undisturbed, 2. managed pine stands, in which routine tending operations extracting trees are performed in accordance with forest management plans and naturally dying trees are removed in the course of tending and sanitary logging; Methods: Beetles were captured in the years 2013–2014 using window flight traps. Assemblages of saproxylic beetles were assessed based on the indices of dominance, diversity (the Shannon–Weiner index), and species richness (Margalef’s index) as well as the estimated habitat fidelity index, feeding habits, and zoogeographical distribution. Similarity between the assemblages was evaluated applying cluster analysis. Dependence between dead wood resources and the diversity and species richness indices were analysed; Results: A total of 2006 individuals classified to 216 species were captured. Assemblages show considerable similarity on the local scale. Higher values of species diversity indicators were observed in unmanaged stands, in which no sanitation cuttings are performed; Conclusions: The decision to refrain from sanitation logging in pine monocultures results in increased CWD resources, which nevertheless does not lead to a marked increase in the values of biodiversity indicators. Unmanaged stands were characterised by a high share of zoophagous, mycetophagous, and saproxylic species. In contrast, managed stands were characterised by a high share of xylophagous beetles.

Abstract. Heriza S, Buchori D, Harahap IS, Maryana N. 2021. Response of termite communities to natural forest conversion. Biodiversitas 22: 5092-5096. Natural forest conversion can affect termite communities resulting from the various types of land use conversion. This study aims to examine the impacts of natural forest conversion on termite communities based on species richness, feeding groups, and termite species composition. Four land use types were evaluated on a gradient from the least to the most disturbing: natural forest, plantation forest, oil palm plantations and settlements. The method used to observe termites in this study is a plot measured 50 m x 10 m and was divided into sub-plots of 5 m x 5 m. The termites were collected from leaf litter and soil, dead wood, trunks, and nests. The response of the termite community to the conversion of natural forest functions into other forms of land use types, where for termite species richness, there was no significant differences between land uses, but for abundance and based on feeding groups there were difference between them.