Special Issue "Biodiversity and Forest Dynamics and Functions"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Takashi S. Kohyama
Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
Website: http://hosho.ees.hokudai.ac.jp/~kohyama/
E-Mail: kohyama@ees.hokudai.ac.jp
Interests: plant architecture; forest tree community organization; forest ecosystems

Dear Colleagues,

Forests with spatially large and long-lived architecture are dynamically maintained through physiological, and population processes of constituent trees and other life forms. Due to their huge structure and long residence time, forests are most difficult system to be experimentally manipulated to solve linkage between forest biodiversity and functioning. Meantime, for example, we know that there is physiognomic and functional convergence of forest ecosystems under similar climate across isolated regions with unique biota, which allows to define biome types. This biogeographic convergence suggests that different assembly of biological components promotes ecosystem-level adaptation to climatic environments. This special issue focuses on the linkage between functioning of forest ecosystems and underlying biodiversity within and across ecosystems, and aims to enhance the cross-scale view of basic and applied forest science.

Prof. Dr. Takashi S. Kohyama
Guest Editor

Submission

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

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Manuscript ID: diversity-18299.
Type of Paper: Article
Title: The Influence of Forest Age and Structure on Abiotic and Biotic Patterns in Soils and Litter
Authors: David A. Perry ¹, Robert P. Griffiths ¹, Andrew R. Moldenke ² and Stephanie L. Madson ³
Affiliation: ¹ Department of Forest Ecosystems & Society, College of Forestry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
² Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, 2082 Cordley Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331-2902, USA; E-Mail: dave_perry38@msn.com
³ Department of Entomology, Oregon State University, 4017 ALS Bldg Corvallis, OR 97331-7304, USA
Abstract: We compared organic matter (SOM), moisture, available nitrogen, and soil/litter arthropod communities among old growth (OG), unthinned mature (UM), and thinned mature (TM) forests in nine locales distributed among three regions of Oregon. OG had higher percent SOM  than either type of mature stand, however the difference between OG and TM was due solely to a single locale. Because of a strong negative correlation between percent SOM  and soil bulk density, SOM expressed on a per volume basis did not differ among stand types, however we argue that per weight is a more accurate comparison of storage differences than per volume. Early summer soil moisture was strongly and exponentially related to percent SOM both among and within regions. Mean soil moisture was significantly higher in OG than in either mature stand type, especially in the relatively dry Siskiyou Mountains, where OG averaged 218% greater soil moisture than the mature stands. This was not solely an effect of higher SOM but stemmed also from the ability of OG to maintain a constant average moisture per unit SOM across precipitation zones, whereas that ratio declined with declining precipitation in mature stands.  Excluding one locale, OG averaged significantly higher levels of available nitrogen (N) than either mature stand type. Species richness of soil and litter arthropods correlated significantly (+) with percent SOM and litter depth, respectively, while the maximum richness of spring pitfall catches (mostly mobile predators) declined sharply with percent SOM. Numbers of individuals followed the same pattern as species richness for Spring pitfalls but not for litter or soil arthropods, whose numbers correlated most closely with mean annual precipitation. Ordination of soil and litter arthropod communities showed significant regional differences, but differences among stand types only in the relatively dry Siskiyou Mountains, where OG was distinct from both mature stand types.  The primary difference between OG and mature forest arthropods was functional. With the exception of one stand, available N correlated significantly with soil arthropods (primarily fungivores) in OG but not in mature stands, suggesting that fungi played a more important role in the N cycle of OG than of mature stands, perhaps because the latter still reflected the effects of clearcutting and thinning on the N cycle. Patterns of landscape level heterogeneity differed among stand types and regions. In the Cascade Mountains and Coast Range, SOM was highly variable among OG but relatively uniform among mature stands, while in the Siskiyous the opposite was true. We hypothesize that historic disturbance patterns account for a significant proportion of the landscape-level patterns seen in SOM, as well as the idiosyncratic nature of SOM and available N seen in some OG and mature stands. SOM in turn is a master variable that strongly influences soil moisture and the structure of arthropod communities.

Manuscript ID: diversity-20089
Type of Paper: Article
Title: Species Assemblage and Biogeography of Japanese Protura (Hexapoda) from Forest Soils
Authors: Nobuhiro Kaneko, Yukio Minamiya, Osami Nakamura, Masanori Saito and Minori Hashimoto
Affiliation: Soil Ecology Research Group, Yokohama National University, Japan;E-Mail: kanekono@ynu.ac.jp
Abstract: Distribution and species assembly of Japanese Protura collected from forest soils were examined using published data sets and statistical analysis. Two taxonomists, G. Imadate and O. Nakamura have intensively studied Japanese proturan fauna, thus we can use high quality date set. We used the records of 3103 sites where 71 taxa were found. Species richness of Protura ranged from one to 16 species, and three major species assemblages were identified by TwinSpan method from the points contained more than 6 species. Three groups reflected historical migration from northern and western linkage to continent. The northern assemblage showed negative correlation to winter minimum temperature and other two assemblages were related to precipitation and temperature. Vegetation was not responsible for proturan distribution. These results suggest that invading history explains biogeography of this soil living small arthropods and also climate change will induce shift in distribution of species irrespective to vegetation change.