Importance of the understory stratum to entomofaunal diversity in a temperate deciduous forest |
| |
Authors: | Toshihide Hirao Masashi Murakami Akira Kashizaki |
| |
Institution: | (1) Tomakomai Research Station, Hokkaido University Forests, Takaoka, Tomakomai, Hokkaido 053-0035, Japan;(2) Hokkaido Institute of Environmental Sciences, Sapporo, Japan |
| |
Abstract: | The vertical stratification of lepidopteran and coleopteran communities in a cool-temperate deciduous forest in Japan was
examined to evaluate the hypothesis of an expected uniform distribution of mobile flying insects between the canopy and understory
of temperate forests. Lepidopteran and coleopteran insects were trapped using light traps at three sites in each of the canopy
and understory for three consecutive nights each month from April to October 2001. For Lepidoptera, species richness, abundance,
and family richness were significantly higher in the understory than in the canopy. For Coleoptera, only abundance was larger
in the canopy relative to the understory; species and family richness did not differ between the strata. The beta diversity
of the lepidopteran community was larger between the strata than among sites, but the coleopteran community showed an inverse
pattern. These results imply the presence of vertical stratification within the lepidopteran community, but not within the
coleopteran community, in the temperate forest. The understory contributes more than the canopy to lepidopteran diversity
in the temperate forest, although this stratification may be relatively weak because, in contrast to the situation in tropical
forests, the canopy and understory assemblages share many species. |
| |
Keywords: | Beetle assemblage Beta diversity Forest canopy Moth assemblage Vertical stratification |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|