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Soil microarthropods in non-intervention montane spruce forest regenerating after bark-beetle outbreak

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Ecological Research

Abstract

We studied Oribatida and Collembola in an old-growth Norway spruce (Picea abies) forest that suffered a massive bark beetle (Ips typographus) outbreak in the 1990s and gradually decayed. It was left to regenerate naturally without human intervention. There was a high abundance of a few tolerant species and lower numbers of sensitive silvicolous ones. The most dominant species were Tectocepheus velatus, Platynothrus peltifer and Isotomiella minor. Although the details, which determine the identity of successful species, remain unknown, parthenogenesis, high reproduction rate and detrito- or detritofungivorous feeding were the common features of the most dominant species in our study. Trait assessment showed an overall predominance of parthenogenesis and high abundance of detritivorous oribatids. The soil functions connected with Oribatida and Collembola seem to be still affected by the bark-beetle outbreak and our results indicate that the disturbance caused important changes in the functioning of the whole soil ecosystem.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Ludmila Nosková for her kind help with laboratory work and to Ing. K. Matějka (IDOS, Praha, Czech Republic) for help in field and with samples treatment; to the Šumava National Park Authority; and to Keith Edwards for language revision. We thank to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments as well. The project was supported by grants from the Czech Science Foundation (No. 20 26/03/1259 and P504/12/1218), Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports CR (LC06066), Research plan of BC ASCR, v. v. i.—ISB (No. Z6 066911) and Grant Agency of University of South Bohemia (No. 143/2010/P).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, 37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Jitka Farská & Kristýna Prejzková

  2. Biology Centre ASCR, v.v.i., Institute of Soil Biology, Na Sádkách 7, 37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Jitka Farská, Kristýna Prejzková, Josef Starý & Josef Rusek

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  1. Jitka Farská
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Correspondence to Jitka Farská.

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Farská, J., Prejzková, K., Starý, J. et al. Soil microarthropods in non-intervention montane spruce forest regenerating after bark-beetle outbreak. Ecol Res 29, 1087–1096 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-014-1197-3

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