Open AccessDOI
Bird's nest ferns as reservoirs of soil arthropod biodiversity in a Japanese subtropical rainforest
Shigenori Karasawa,Frédéric Beaulieu,Takeshi Sasaki,Lucio Bonato,Yasunori Hagino,Masami Hayashi,Ryousaku Itoh,Toshio Kishimoto,Osami Nakamura,Shuhei Nomura,Noboru Nunomura,Hiroshi Sakayori,Yoshihiro Sawada,Yasuhiko Suma,Shingo Tanaka,Tsutomu Tanabe,Akio Tanikawa,Naoki Hijii +17 more
- Vol. 83, pp 11-30
TLDR
Although species richness in bird's nest ferns may not be as high as for the forest floor, the hypothesis that these epiphytes are important reservoirs of arthropod biodiversity is supported.Abstract:
Litter trapped in epiphytic ferns (Asplenium nidus L.) and their rootballs were sampled for arthropods and compared with the forest floor (soil and litter) in a Japanese subtropical forest. A total of ca 40,000 individuals were identified to species, representing 13 arthropod groups and 553 species. The densities (numbers per 100 g dry wt of substrate) of the five most abundant taxa (Oribatida, Mesostigmata, Collembola, Coleoptera, Formicidae) were generally higher in the fern habitats (trapped litter and roots) than in the forest-floor habitats (soil and litter). From the 553 species, 267 were collected from bird's nest ferns and 403 from the forest floor. Rarefaction curves indicate that for a same number of individuals collected, species richness was at least twice higher on the forest floor than in the 12 Shigenori Karasawa et al. ferns for four of the five most diverse groups (Oribatida, Mesostigmata, Coleoptera, Collembola) whereas Araneae had slightly more species in ferns. Multivariate ordination showed that overall species composition clearly differed between fern habitats and the forest-floor habitats. Although species richness in bird's nest ferns may not be as high as for the forest floor, our study supports the hypothesis that these epiphytes are important reservoirs of arthropod biodiversity.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
The Canopy Starts at 0.5 m: Predatory Mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) Differ between Rain Forest Floor Soil and Suspended Soil at any Height
TL;DR: Although the arboreal predatory mite fauna is distinct from that on the forest floor, it is not restricted to the high canopy: even slightly elevated substrate appears acceptable as habitat for these suspended-soil specialists.
Journal ArticleDOI
Asplenium bird's nest ferns in rainforest canopies are climate-contingent refuges for frogs
TL;DR: Ferns are likely using large ferns for their moist, cool, environments for breeding and daytime retreat, which supports the buffered microhabitat hypothesis—these plants promote species coexistence through habitat creation and amelioration of physical stress.
Journal ArticleDOI
Bird's nest fern epiphytes facilitate herpetofaunal arboreality and climate refuge in two paleotropic canopies.
Christa M. Seidl,Christa M. Seidl,Edmund W. Basham,Lydou R. Andriamahohatra,Brett R. Scheffers +4 more
TL;DR: BNFs and their microclimate services play a critical role in the ecology of two Paleotropic forests, and facilitate the use of canopy habitats by climate-sensitive species, however, future studies are needed to assess the consistency of BNFs’ utility as a microclimate refuge across their large range.
Journal ArticleDOI
Distribution and diversity of millipedes of the Ryukyu Archipelago, with the Senkaku and Daito Island Groups: A literature review (Arthropoda: Diplopoda)
Yasuyuki Nakamura,Zoltán Korsós +1 more
TL;DR: The results suggest that large portions of the Ryukyu Archipelago have been poorly sampled, and that further collections would considerably improve the present inventory of millipedes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Bird's nest ferns promote resource sharing by centipedes
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provided the first detailed observations of the diversity and structure of the centipede communities of bird's nest ferns, revealing the importance of these epiphytes as nurseries for centipedes.
References
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Book
Fundamentals of soil ecology
TL;DR: Soil Biodiversity, and Linkages to Soil Processes, and Laboratory and Field Exercises in Soil Ecology: Future Developments in Soils Ecology.
Journal ArticleDOI
Doubling the estimate of invertebrate biomass in a rainforest canopy
TL;DR: The biomass of invertebrates living in a common rainforest epiphyte is measured, a striking relationship between fern size and the biomass of animals within the ferns is described, and it is shown that including the fauna of theseEpiphytes can more than double the estimate of the total invertebrate biomass in an entire rainforest canopy.
Journal ArticleDOI
Soil biodiversity : myth, reality or conning?
TL;DR: It is claimed that the debate on soil biodiversity will remain open - and even sterile - as long as adequate sampling methodologies are not set up, critically evaluated and largely used.
Journal ArticleDOI
Atmospheric deposition and net retention of ions by the canopy in a tropical montane forest, Monteverde, Costa Rica
TL;DR: In this article, the authors measured meteorological variables, bulk cloud water and precipitation (BCWP), and bulk precipitation (BP) were measured above the canopy, and throughfall (TF; n = 20) was collected beneath an epiphyte-laden canopy of a tropical tropical montane forest (TMF) for 1 y at Monteverde, Costa Rica.
Book ChapterDOI
Invertebrates in the canopy of tropical rain forests How much do we really know
TL;DR: It is suggested that, at the higher taxa level, the composition of the invertebrate fauna in the canopy may vary comparatively more across forest types than across biogeographical regions and this is discussed briefly from a conservation viewpoint.