Eur. J. Entomol. 121: 31-36, 2024 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2024.005

Detritus-filled crotches - an overlooked tree-related microhabitat in Central EuropeOriginal article

Malte WEBER, Gerhard ZOTZ ORCID...
Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Institute for Biology and Environmental Sciences, Functional Ecology of Plants, Box 2503, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany; e-mails: malte.lennart.weber@uni-oldenburg.de, gerhard.zotz@uni-oldenburg.de

In the field of biodiversity research, tree-related microhabitats in the temperate zone have received substantial interest in the last decade, but one particular microhabitat type, crown microsoils in tree crotches, has largely escaped the attention of scientists. We present a study from Central Europe that focused on the meso- and macrofauna in this microhabitat type. In twelve crotches we found more than 3000 individual animals out of 14 orders, encompassing all major elements of the terrestrial soil decomposer food web. Collembola accounted for more than 50% of the total. As expected, taxon richness correlated with habitat size. We conclude that this is an ideal natural system to study fundamental ecological questions of faunal community assembly.

Keywords: Foundation species, arthropods, crown microsoil, biodiversity, container habitats, tree architecture, facilitation

Received: July 19, 2023; Revised: November 19, 2023; Accepted: November 19, 2023; Published online: January 23, 2024  Show citation

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WEBER, M., & ZOTZ, G. (2024). Detritus-filled crotches - an overlooked tree-related microhabitat in Central Europe. EJE, 121, Article 31-36. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2024.005
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