RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 The responses of leaf litter invertebrates to environmental gradients along road edges in subtropical island forests.
A1 Delgado, Juan Domingo
A1 Morales, Gustavo M.
A1 Arroyo, Natalia L.
A1 Fernández-Palacios, José María
K1 Arthropods
K1 Invertebrates
K1 Laurisilva
K1 Pinus
K1 Indicators
K1 Edge effect
AB Knowledge of how roads affect forest biodiversity can be improved by measuring the responses of indicatorspecies to complex environmental gradients caused by these infrastructures. We studied litterinvertebrate species responses to road edges in laurel and pine forests in Tenerife, Canary Islands. Wesampled invertebrates from litter and assessed the environmental variation related to road proximity.We also assessed the effect of relevant environmental predictors on a diverse array of potential indicatorspecies. We applied canonical ordination and non-parametric regression (Lowess) to classify invertebratespecies responses to roads and their associated gradients. Three types of responses to road edgeproximity were defined for the most common invertebrate taxa: edge-preferring or edge specialists,interior-preferring or edge-avoiders, and edge-indifferent or neutral species. Those species appearingmost frequently and with higher population density between 1 and 20 m from the edge (commonlypeaking at 10 m from the road) were categorized as edge-preferring. We classified taxa attaining peakpopulation densities at or beyond 60 m from the edge (and most commonly 100 m) as interior species.Edge-neutral species were those without an evident pattern of stabilization in abundance along the gradientand with peaks in abundance at varying distance intervals. These edge litter communities containa high native and endemic diversity but also a significant density of alien fauna. The specific patterns ofpenetration of road edge effects on invertebrate species should be seen as having a pervasive and cumulativeimpact considering the exceptionally large number of roads in these forests and the high populationdensities of alien invertebrates. Future management plans for forest conservation on the Canary Islandsshould include the highly altered but valuable litter communities along road edges.
PB Elsevier
YR 2013
FD 2013
LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/17923
UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/17923
LA en
DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
RD 29-abr-2024