Arthropods

(Thomas, Wagner, and Woods) – In one of first large-scale studies of forest click beetle (Family: Elateridae) communities, interactions among harvested gap size and DWD on click beetles were investigated. Through the 2002 field season, 42 species had been identified, five of which were previously unknown to science. Results suggest that although the click beetle community as a whole occupied the full size range and all decay classes of DWD present, most species were specialists in terms of DWD size (diameter), DWD decay class, and/or harvest gap size, even those species reported as generalists elsewhere in the literature. Click beetle species richness and species abundance were higher in DWD that had larger diameters and were more decayed. Click beetle diversity was higher in softwood than hardwood DWD. Harvesting had species-specific effects on the community, usually through its influence on the DWD distribution. Overall, soil emergence of click beetles (individuals/m²) was higher in non-gap areas (p « 0.01) versus gap areas of the same harvest treatment, but the different silvicultural treatments themselves were not significant (p = 0.84). This result suggests that click beetle communities responded negatively to the presence of any gap, whether or not that gap was created naturally or by harvesting. With the exception of two species, DWD diameter had no effect on click beetle emergence from logs. Decay class of DWD did, however, with more beetles emerging from well-decayed class IV than moderately-decayed class II logs (p = 0.03).