Invertébrés de la litière dans des érablières saines et dépéries du sud-est du Québec

Abstract

A study was carried out during the summers of 1987 and 1988 in healthy and declining maple forests in southeastern Quebec to estimate the impact of forest decline on the litter's invertebrate mesofauna communities. Insects, arachnids (opilions and spiders), gastropods, and myriapods were the four major groups sampled. The class Insecta represented 50% of all organisms collected. The mean abundance of insects and, for the most part, arachnids and gastropods tended to be lower in declining sites. However, myriapods were always more abundant in these sites. The variability observed in the litter pH and thickness can not alone account for the changes observed in the litter fauna communities. We suggest that temperature and moisture modifications resulting from canopy opening may be responsible for such a variation in abundance.