Spatial variation of arthropod communities in virgin and managed sites in the Kibale Forest, western Uganda.

http://www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/03781127The structure of arthropod communities in the forest floor vegetation in four differently managed forest sites (virgin forest, lightly selectively logged, heavily selectively logged, and exotic Pinus caribaea plantation) in Kibale Forest National Park, western Uganda, was studied by sweep net between March and May 1985 and July 1995. For the analysis three (or four) 800 sweeps samples were collected from each habitat. In the samples eight arthropod groups (Araneae, Hymenoptera, Heteroptera, Homoptera, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, caterpillars (Lepidoptera larvae)) formed over 95% of all the individuals of the arthropod caught in all habitats. The variation within one habitat was smaller than variation between habitats in samples of the same year. Thus, the arthropod communities in differently managed forests differ from each other after over 20 years of management practices (selective logging and clear-cut plus pine plantation) as well as from adjacent virgin forest, and the differences seem to become greater during the succession in managed sites. Samples taken in the same habitat type, 10 years apart, differed greatly from each other. This is the result of both long-term succession and seasonal variation