DOI 10.1007/s00442-010-1607-3COMMUNITY ECOLOGY- ORIGINAL PAPER Trees as templates for tropical litter arthropod diversity

Abstract Increased tree species diversity in the tropics is associated with even greater herbivore diversity, but few tests of tree eVects on litter arthropod diversity exist. We studied whether tree species inXuence patchiness in diver-sity and abundance of three common soil arthropod taxa (ants, gamasid mites, and oribatid mites) in a Panama for-est. The tree specialization hypothesis proposes that tree-driven habitat heterogeneity maintains litter arthropod diversity. We tested whether tree species diVered in resource quality and quantity of their leaf litter and whether more heterogeneous litter supports more arthropod species. Alternatively, the abundance–extinction hypothesis states that arthropod diversity increases with arthropod abun-dance, which in turn tracks resource quantity (e.g., litter depth). We found little support for the hypothesis that trop-ical trees are templates for litter arthropod diversity. Ten tree species diVered in litter depth, chemistry, and structural variability. However, the extent of specialization of inverte-brates on particular tree taxa was low and the more hetero-geneous litter between trees failed to support higher arthropod diversity. Furthermore, arthropod diversity did not track abundance or litter depth. The lack of association between tree species and litter arthropods suggests that fac-tors other than tree species diversity may better explain the high arthropod diversity in tropical forests