Impact of weather and habitat on the occurrence of centipedes, millipedes and terrestrial isopods in mountain spruce forests

Abstract

Microclimatic factors (air temperature, soil temperature and moisture in the Ah and B horizons) were determined using AMET weather stations and VIRRIB sensors on four sites in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids (Czech Republic) in 2007–2014. Simultaneously, pitfall traps were installed to monitor epigeic activity of myriapoda (Diplopoda and Chilopoda) and terrestrial isopods (Oniscidea). No statistically significant relationship was found between the occurrence of epigeic macrofauna and the microclimate of the studied forest stands. A linear curve was fitted to the data, demonstrating an increase in air temperature by 2.9 °C and a decrease in moisture by 4.49% over the eight years of monitoring. In this period, the catch of the studied groups of macrofauna decreased while the diversity of the monitored communities increased. Increasing temperature led to the occurrence of synanthropic species Porcellio scaber and the decline of montane centipede species such as Lithobius tenebrosus and Lithobius borealis.