Responses of ground-dwelling arthropods to long- term prescribed fire regimes in a savanna protected area.
Background Sound management of protected areas is crucial for biodiversity conservation. In savanna systems, fire is common, yet little is known on the direct and long-term effects of prescribed burns on arthropod abundance, richness, and diversity. Standardised pitfall traps and active searches...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | preprint |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Research Square
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cris.library.msu.ac.zw//handle/11408/5230 https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1932783/v1 |
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| Summary: | Background
Sound management of protected areas is crucial for biodiversity conservation. In savanna systems, fire is
common, yet little is known on the direct and long-term effects of prescribed burns on arthropod
abundance, richness, and diversity. Standardised pitfall traps and active searches were used to compare
variation in abundance, richness and diversity of arthropods at various experimental burn plots in the
Kruger National Park, a protected area in a savanna setting
Results
Hymenopterans: Formicidae were the most abundant (76.4%), whilst Coleopterans, Araneae and
Orthopterans constituted 18.6, 3 and 1% of the total arthropods collected respectively. Coleopterans were
the most diverse group (30.2%) compared to Hymenopterans: Formicidae (24.6), Araneae (24.6) and
Orthopterans (4%). Abundance, species richness and diversity of multi-taxa significantly differed between
the treatment plots. Abundance and diversity of Formicidae were signicantly lower, hence, species
richness was significantly higher in annually burnt plots compared to the unburnt control plots. Although
the highest number of arthropods was recorded in unburnt plots, species richness and diversity were
lowest in these plots compared to those burnt annually and triennially.
Conclusions
We conclude that late summer burns do not have major ecological impact on arthropods, and it was
demonstrated by the abundance and diversity of species recorded at the annually burnt plots. Thus,
annual late summer burns can be used as a conservation tool for arthropod inhabiting the protected
savanna of Kruger National Park. |
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