Effect of season, location and fire on Collembola communities in buttongrass moorlands, Tasmania

Abstract

Collembola of buttongrass moorlands in Tasmania were surveyed monthly over a 12 month period, using sweep nets and pitfall traps, at two locations, one at 760 m and the other at 325 m altitude. At each location, there were two pairs of sites with each pair straddling a fire boundary. The younger regrowth sites had been burnt less than 12 years previously and the older regrowth sites burnt more than 24 years previously. Nearly 30,000 individuals were collected belonging to 42 taxa. Most Collembola were identified to morphospecies with virtually all mature specimens identified to genus level and immature specimens recognised to family level. Three named species were recorded. Genera with Gondwanan (41%) and cosmopolitan (33%) distributions dominated the Collembola of buttongrass moorlands. The Collembola communities differed significantly between locations and this, in part, reflected differences in vegetation. Brachystomellidae, Odontellidae, Paronellidae, Katiannidae n. gen. and Sminthurididae were more common at the high altitude sites where the vegetation contained more grasses and sedges and occurred on relatively fertile soils. Parakatianna spp., cf. Tomocerura spp., cf. Drepanura sp., Sminthurinus spp. and Rastriopes sp. were more common at the low altitude sites where the vegetation contained more shrubs and occurred on relatively infertile soils. The Collembola community differed significantly between seasons with one group of taxa being more common in autumn and/or winter (Acanthomurus spp., cf. Tomocerura spp., Paronellidae, Lasofinius spp., Polykatianna cf. aurea, Parakatianna spp., Sminthurinus spp. and Katianna spp.) and another group of taxa more common in summer or summer and autumn (Odontellidae, cf. Drepanura sp., Rastriopes sp., Corynephoria sp. and Dicyrtomidae). We found some evidence of a difference between Collembola communities in the two ages of regrowth we compared but only for the low altitude sites. Polykatianna cf. aurea, Parakatianna spp., Sminthurinus spp., cf. Tomocerura spp. and Rastriopes sp. were caught in lower numbers on young regrowth sites compared with old regrowth sites. We also present data from another low altitude site where we used a space-for-time design to further investigate the impact of fire on Collembola. We found a significant positive relationship between age of buttongrass regrowth and the number of Rastriopes sp. caught and this was correlated with the ground cover of plant species within the family Myrtaceae.