Abstract
Species loss caused by anthropogenic disturbance threatens forest ecosystems globally. Until 50 years ago, the major sources of boreal forest disturbance in western Canada were a combination of forest wild fire events, pest insect outbreaks, and forest timber harvesting. However, in the 1960s, when the oil boom started in Alberta, oil and gas development along with oil sands mining quickly became another major forest disturbance agent. In this case study we report the effects of operational oil sands mine reclamation on terrestrial arthropod communities and compare them with nearby burned and mature forest sites as a way to provide a benchmark from which to understand the long-term trajectory of recovery for these groups. During the summer of 2016 over 6700 epigaeic beetles were collected using pitfall traps. A total of 43 species of ground beetles and 118 species of rove beetles were collected. Epigaeic beetle assemblages differed between the reclaimed, burned, and mature forest sites. Partitioning of beta diversity in the reclaimed, burned areas and mature forests indicated that species turnover formed the largest component of diversity. Species richness patterns were similar among sites; however, cluster analysis indicated that epigaeic beetle assemblages were only 20% similar between the reclaimed and natural sites. Although ground beetles of the reclaimed area showed positive spatial autocorrelation among treatments, both ground and rove beetles showed responses to the reclamation treatments. The reclaimed areas were dominated by small- to medium-sized open-habitat eurytopic species, whereas the fire and mature forest sites were dominated by larger forest species. The reclaimed area of this case study constitutes a novel, reconstructed ecosystem that is clearly not equivalent in species assemblage to burnt stands of similar age or to mature forest stands.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the following people for their enthusiastic support of this work: Ira Sherr, Sherri Hanlon, and Greg Hook from Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) for providing background information and access to the field sites; Jim Weber, Jennifer Buss, Shelby Feniak, Stephanie Jean, Pierre-Yves Tremblay, and Kyle Stratechuk for their field assistance with collecting insect traps and measurement of environmental data; Myriam Labrecque, Amélie Gilbert, and Laura DeHaas for their help sorting and identifying Staphylinidae. In-kind support of this research was provided by CNRL, a grant from the Office of Energy Research Development—Program for Energy Research Development (OERD-PERD), and funding through the Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada.
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10841_2018_94_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx
Appendix A. List of Carabidae and Staphylinidae collected using pitfall traps in mature aspen forest, 5-year-old burned stands and reclamation treatments near Fort Mackay, Alberta, 2016. († Holarctic; * Adventive) (XLSX 26 KB)
10841_2018_94_MOESM2_ESM.xlsx
Appendix B. List of the 10 most common vegetation species surveyed around each pitfall trap in mature aspen forest, 5-year-old burned stands and reclamation treatments near Fort Mackay, Alberta, 2016. (XLSX 12 KB)
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Hammond, H.E.J., Hoffman, P.G.K., Pinno, B.D. et al. Response of ground and rove beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Staphylinidae) to operational oil sands mine reclamation in northeastern Alberta, a case study. J Insect Conserv 22, 687–706 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-018-0094-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-018-0094-4