2024-03-29T05:45:56Zhttps://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace-oai/requestoai:eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp:2115/330422022-11-17T02:08:08Zhdl_2115_20051hdl_2115_144Scale-dependent effects of windthrow disturbance on forest arthropod communitiesHirao, ToshihideMurakami, MasashiIwamoto, JiroHino, TakafumiOguma, Hiroyukiopen accessThe original publication is available at www.springerlink.comarthropod diversityenvironmental heterogeneityfunctional spatial scalescale dependencetree-fall gap485The effect of disturbance on local communities may operate via a spatial landscape context. We examined the scale-dependent effects of windthrow disturbance caused by a large typhoon on three arthropod communities in a temperate forest of Japan. Canopy arthropods were collected by beating foliage, forest-floor arthropods were collected by sweeping the vegetation, and flying arthropods were collected in Malaise traps. To assess the "functional spatial scale" at which arthropods responded to tree-fall disturbance, the gap rate was quantified at different spatial scales by sequentially enlarging the radius of a circular landscape sector by 10 m from 10 to 500 m. We then analyzed the responses of order richness and abundance to the gap rate for each arthropod community. The spatial scale of the significant best-fitting model, which was selected from the models fitted to the gap rate at stepwise spatial scales, was regarded as the arthropod-specific functional spatial scale. Arthropod order richness was not dependent on the gap rate. In contrast, arthropod order abundance depended significantly on the gap rate in many orders, but varied in the response direction and functional spatial scale. These order-specific, scale-dependent responses to tree-fall gaps would complicate interactions among organisms, leading to complex community organization. An understanding of the spatial processes that link the use of space by organisms with the spatial scale at which ecological processes are experienced is required to elucidate the responses of populations, communities, and biotic interactions to disturbances in a spatial landscape context.Springer Japan2008-01engjournal articleAMhttp://hdl.handle.net/2115/33042http://www.springerlink.comhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0370-30912-38141440-1703AA10667816Ecological Research231189196https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/33042/1/Hirao.pdfapplication/pdf490.77 KB2008-01