Soil invertebrate biodiversity in stringybark forest in the New England Tablelands before clearing

Abstract

In this study at Newholme, 10 km N of Armidale, in northern New South Wales, we will assess the role of soil invertebrates as ecosystem engineers after a major disturbance - clearing of native vegetation for grazing pastures. The data presented in this paper is from the December 1993 pitfall trapping prior to clearing. The pitfall trapping recorded 22 invertebrate groups, dominated by eight, with Collembola, Acarina and Formicidae being the most abundant groups. Formicidae was further classified into species which revealed the average site had 24 species of ants, and in total there were 57 ant species recorded over 12 sites. Those sites with high ant abundance were dominated by one or more of the following three ant species; Aphaenogaster sp. N26, Iridomyrmex sp. N60, or Pheidole sp. N2. The dominant ant functional group in abundance and number of species was the Climate/Soil Specialist. The following functional groups, in order of declining abundance, were Dominant dolichoderinae, Generalised myrmicines and Opportunists, and were all represented by at the most four species. The remaining functional groups were low in abundance and recorded low species richness, which may be a reflection of trapability rather than reality.