Publication Details

Year Published

2013

Publication

Forest Ecology and Management. 289: 269-288.

Abstract

Managing forests to promote biodiversity requires understanding the effects of silvicultural practices on a range of forest species and communities. We evaluated carabid beetle (Coleoptera; Carabidae) responses to operational herbicide and shelterwood seed cut treatments in northern hardwood stands on the Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania, USA, from 1992 to 2000. There was substantial defoliation by elm spanworms (Ennomos subsignarius Hübner) or cherry scallopshell moths (Hydria prunivorata Ferguson) during four of the 9 years of this study, so we also evaluated effects of these lepidopteran outbreaks on carabids. Wefound no differences in carabid species richness between herbicide-treated and no herbicide plots overall or in any year, but carabid abundance was higher in herbicide-treated plots in the year following application. Carabid community composition differed among years and increased in dissimilarity over the course of the study but did not differ between herbicide-treated and no herbicide plots. Shelterwood seed cuts had no effects on carabid species richness, abundance or community composition. The relatively few significant effects of experimental treatments on individual carabid species tended to be small and responses we did find differed somewhat from previous studies.

Keywords

Citation

Trager, Matthew D.; Ristau, Todd E.; Stoleson, Scott H.; Davidson, Robert L.; Acciavatti, Robert E. 2013. Carabid beetle responses to herbicide application, shelterwood seed cut and insect defoliator outbreaks. Forest Ecology and Management. 289: 269-288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.10.025.