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Zenkova I. V., Shtabrovskaya I. M., Usova D. V.
Soil fauna of cut and burnt forest areas in the Khibiny Mountains
DOI: 10.21443/1560-9278-2020-23-2-160-172
Abstract. In the framework of monitoring the restoration of anthropogenic disturbed soil cover and its invertebrates fauna in the polar mountains, a study of pine forest cut and burnt forest areas have been conducted in the inter-mountain valley of the Khibiny Mts. Changes of edaphic factors that determine the diversity and abundance of soil fauna were revealed five years after exposure the fire: decrease of soil pH (from 3.8 to 4.2), and content of total carbon and nitrogen, and a steady increase of humidity in the upper soil horizon in the felling and in the burned pine forest. In soil samples at four sites, representatives of 20 taxonomic groups of invertebrates have been taken into account, with greater diversity and minimal numbers in the burnt pine forest. A significant reduction of soil fauna number has been detected as a result of all types of anthropogenic impact, with insignificant differences in this parameter between disturbed sites (burnt pine forest, forest cutting, and burnt forest cutting). In a pair of control pine forest and a burnt pine forest an increasing differences in the structure of the soil fauna has been revealed in comparison with the study of these territories in 2015 or two years after a ground fire. The importance of a vegetation layer confirmed for preserving the soil fauna and maintaining the hydrothermal regime favorable for its recovery. The attraction of light- and thermophilic species of ground beetles and staphylinids, which are not typical for Khibiny Mts has been revealed on the burning felling and burning pine forest. Thus, burnt territories enrich the local fauna of this Polar Mountain Massif and the fauna of the Murmansk region as a whole.
Printed reference: Zenkova I. V., Shtabrovskaya I. M., Usova D. V. Soil fauna of cut and burnt forest areas in the Khibiny Mountains // Vestnik of MSTU. 2020. V. 23, No 2. P. 160-172.
Electronic reference: Zenkova I. V., Shtabrovskaya I. M., Usova D. V. Soil fauna of cut and burnt forest areas in the Khibiny Mountains // Vestnik of MSTU. 2020. V. 23, No 2. P. 160-172. URL: http://vestnik.mstu.edu.ru/v23_2_n83/07_Zenkova_160-172.pdf.
