School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZuluNatal, South Africa.
PLoS One. 2010 Feb 9;5(2):e9100. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009100.
The diversity and complexity of invertebrate communities usually result in their exclusion from conservation activities. Here we provide a step process for assessing predominantly ground-dwelling Afrotemperate forest invertebrates' (earthworms, centipedes, millipedes, ants, molluscs) potential as surrogates for conservation and indicators for monitoring. We also evaluated sampling methods (soil and litter samples, pitfall traps, active searching quadrats and tree beating) and temporal (seasonal) effects.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Lack of congruence of species richness across taxa indicated poor surrogacy potential for any of the focus taxa. Based on abundance and richness, seasonal stability, and ease of sampling, molluscs were the most appropriate taxon for use in monitoring of disturbance impacts. Mollusc richness was highest in March (Antipodal late summer wet season). The most effective and efficient methods were active searching quadrats and searching litter samples. We tested the effectiveness of molluscs as indicators for monitoring by contrasting species richness and community structure in burned relative to unburned forests. Both species richness and community structure changed significantly with burning. Some mollusc species (e.g. Macroptychia africana) showed marked negative responses to burning, and these species have potential for use as indicators.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Despite habitat type (i.e., Afrotemperate forest) being constant, species richness and community structure varied across forest patches. Therefore, in conservation planning, setting targets for coarse filter features (e.g., habitat type) requires fine filter features (e.g., localities for individual species). This is especially true for limited mobility taxa such as those studied here. Molluscs have high potential for indicators for monitoring, and this requires broader study.
无脊椎动物群落的多样性和复杂性通常导致它们被排除在保护活动之外。在这里，我们提供了一个评估主要在地面上的非洲温带森林无脊椎动物（蚯蚓、蜈蚣、千足虫、蚂蚁、软体动物）作为保护替代物和监测指标的潜在用途的分步过程。我们还评估了采样方法（土壤和凋落物样本、陷阱、主动搜索方格和树木敲击）和时间（季节性）效应。
方法/主要发现：缺乏跨分类群物种丰富度的一致性表明，任何重点分类群的替代潜力都很差。基于丰度和丰富度、季节性稳定性和采样的容易程度，软体动物是监测干扰影响最适合的分类群。软体动物丰富度在 3 月（南半球夏末湿季）最高。最有效和最有效的方法是主动搜索方格和搜索凋落物样本。我们通过对比燃烧和未燃烧森林中的物种丰富度和群落结构，测试了软体动物作为监测指标的有效性。物种丰富度和群落结构都随着燃烧而发生显著变化。一些软体动物物种（例如 Macroptychia africana）对燃烧表现出明显的负响应，这些物种具有作为指示物种的潜力。
结论/意义：尽管栖息地类型（即非洲温带森林）保持不变，但物种丰富度和群落结构在森林斑块之间存在差异。因此，在保护规划中，为粗滤特征（例如，栖息地类型）设定目标需要细滤特征（例如，个别物种的地点）。对于像这里研究的那些移动性有限的分类群来说尤其如此。软体动物具有作为监测指标的高潜力，这需要更广泛的研究。
