Downed woody material (fallen logs) offers spiders (Araneae) and ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) ideal nesting and foraging sites. In a maple forest of Forillon National Park, I compared spider and ant assemblages on, adjacent to, and away from fallen logs, and on these I tested the effects of log type and decay stage. In a second study, spider and ant assemblages were compared on, adjacent to, and away from fallen logs in different forest types. / In the first experiment spiders were highly affected by trap placement, and diversity was highest on the wood surface compared to the forest floor. In contrast, wood type and decomposition stage of logs had few significant effects on spiders. Log type did not affect the estimated number of spider species nor the spider catch rates. Decomposition stage did not affect spider collections, but less decayed logs were more diverse in spider than heavily decayed logs. / The second experiment showed that use of dead wood by spiders depends on forest type. Ant diversity and abundance was generally low, making it difficult to offer concrete conclusions related to log use by ant assemblages. This work brings additional support for the important role of dead wood to forest arthropod biodiversity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.82445 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Varady-Szabo, Hirondelle |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Natural Resource Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002210614, proquestno: AAIMR12560, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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