Ground arthropods are abundant in urban ecosystem, but our understanding of their ecological traits is limited. The aim of this study is to clarify the effect of urbanization on ground arthropod communities. Ground arthropods were monitored weekly at six sites (Site 1: Yamato River riverbank; Site 2: Daisen Park; Site 3: Oizumi Ryokuchi Park; Site 4: Osaka Prefecture University campus; Site 5: paddy field; and Site 6: town forest) from April 2005 to December 2005. A total of 221,000 individuals of ground arthropods belonging to 19 orders were identified in the dataset. Isopoda, including Porcellionidae and Armadillidiidae, was the first dominant order and 195,161 individuals were collected, representing 88.3% of the total. The mean density of ground arthropods in Sites 1–4, urbanized areas, was much higher than that in paddy field and town forest. The pattern of ground arthropod community in riverbank did not differ from those of urban park, urban forest area, and university campus. Our findings showed that ground arthropods tend to increase biomass in urban areas and some specific groups in areas urbanized and disturbed by human activities.
Abstract Background It is expected that the successful nationwide reforestation and global warming will greatly change the butterfly fauna in South Korea. We compared current data (2002 to 2007) regarding the abundance and presence of butterfly species at two sites in the central portion of the Korean Peninsula with similar data from the late 1950s and early 1970s for the same sites. The expected changes were documented by an abundance change of butterflies at the two study sites in a previous study. Using the same data, the most greatly changed species and the change of species presence were analyzed. Results Population changes of 99 butterfly species which occurred at both sites were significantly correlated between the two sites. The greatly increased species included three southern (S) species and one northern (N) species. However, the species showing great decline included five N species and no S species. Conclusions This change is consistent with the expectation of northward movement of butterfly species due to global warming. The current status of the greatly changed species is discussed along with other studies. The binary data (presence/absence) in the present study support the expected changes of butterfly species based on global warming and reforestation. The interactive effect of two environmental changes was also recognized, as well as the change of abundance in the previous study.
The Baekdudaegan is a Korean main mountain range that passes through the Korean Peninsula, and Korean people consider it to be the main ecological axis of the Korean Peninsula. Many motor roads cross the Baekdudaegan, and the Baekdudaegan trail is popular among hikers. The present study investigated the ants of Baekdudaegan using pitfall traps in two separate surveys (2006–2008 and 2009) with different sampling designs at six uphill passes to identify the impacts of motor roads and trails. There was no influence from motor roads found (distance from the road and forest fragmentation by road). In the case of trails, however, the further the ants were located from the trails, the less population tended to be observed. The composition of ant species was determined by the temperature niche of ants. When the ants went further south, cold-adapted species declined, while warm-adapted species increased. In this study, a total of 28 species were collected, which is not higher compared with species richness in other areas.
Ant assemblages in the soil have been studied at eight forest sites (4 oak forest sites, and 4 pine forest sites) in four study areas (1 seminatural area, and 3 industrialized areas) in South Korea for 6 years from 2002 to 2010. Soil cores and Tullgren funnel were used for the ant survey. Ant surveys were carried out once per year in autumn (from late September to mid-October). The soil pH was lower in the industrialized than in the seminatural area, showing the acidified soils in the industrialized areas. However, the soil acidification did not influence the ant assemblages. The results from the nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination and from the community temperature index values indicate that temperature is a key determinant for structures of the soil ant assemblages. The ant assemblages were not different according to the forest types (oak forests vs. pine forests). Occurrence of ant species varied greatly among years, indicating that more replicates and advanced sampling method are needed for the monitoring of the soil ant assemblages.
Urbanization is one of the leading causes of habitat loss, habitat degradation, and fragmentation. Urban development negatively affects biodiversity. We clarified changes in butterfly communities due to urbanization in urban green areas.Intotal, 59 species and 1,465 individuals of butterflies were observed in the four urban green areas -Namsan Park(NS), Ewha Womans University (EW), Bukseoul Dream Forest (BD), and Hongneung Forest (HF) -anda natural forest, Gwangneung Forest (GF). The categories of land use around the study sites were determined based on GIS data. Species richness and density of niche breadth and habitat type in the four urban green areas differed mostly from those in GF. Estimated species richness and species diversity (H')in the four urban green areas were significantly lower than those in GF. Species richness and density of forest interior species and specialist species were positively correlated with paddy, field, and forest, whereas those of forest interior species and specialists were negatively correlated with urban area and road. Species composition and community structure of butterflies in the four urban were differed from those in GF.Theseresults suggest that decreases in paddy, field, and forest associated with the increased urban area and road negatively influenced species composition and changed butterfly communities.
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