%0 Journal Article
%T Effects of Forest Regeneration on Crickets: Evaluating Environmental Drivers in a 300-Year Chronosequence
%A Neucir Szinwelski
%A Cassiano S. Rosa
%A Jos¨¦ H. Schoereder
%A Carina M. Mews
%A Carlos F. Sperber
%J International Journal of Zoology
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/793419
%X We evaluated the relation of cricket species richness and composition with forest regeneration time, evaluating canopy and litter depth as environmental drivers. Effects of forest patch area, nearest distance to the 300-year patch, cricket abundance, sampling sufficiency, and nestedness were also evaluated. We collected 1174 individuals (five families, 19 species). Species richness increased asymptotically with regeneration time and linearly with canopy cover and litter depth. Canopy cover increased linearly, while litter depth increased asymptotically. Richness was not affected by patch area and nearest distance to the 300-year patch. Richness increased with cricket abundance, and this explanation could not be distinguished from regeneration time, evidencing collinearity of these two explanatory variables. Rarefaction curve slopes increased with regeneration time. Species composition differed among patches, with no nested pattern. We suggest that regeneration and consequent increases in canopy and litter promote recovery of cricket biodiversity, abundance, and changes in species composition. We conclude that the recovery of cricket diversity involves an increase along the spatial scale of complementarity, together with a change in species composition. 1. Introduction Forest disturbances may range from simple alterations, such as light gap formation resulting from a toppled tree, to massive damage associated with large storms, hurricanes, fires, and human activities [1]. In tropical ecosystems, human activities¡ªsuch as logging, mineral extraction, agriculture, and urbanization [2, 3]¡ªare largely responsible for forest loss. These activities have caused losses in biodiversity [4] by reducing large areas of old-growth forest to small isolated forest patches. Forest patches are more affected by natural hazards than pristine, large forest areas [5] and are thus more susceptible to further reductions in diversity. The abandonment of habitat patches, with the subsequent cessation of human activity, allows for forest regeneration and potential biodiversity recolonization [1, 6]. Forest landscapes are therefore often comprised of patches with different regeneration times [7¨C9]. Forest regeneration can reduce or eliminate threats to biodiversity [10] by provisioning suitable habitats for endangered species to prevent them from becoming extinct. Forest patches can function as habitat refuges, preserving threatened populations [11], and edge habitats can maintain both old-growth and secondary forest species [12]. Furthermore, forest patches may act as
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijz/2012/793419/