Changes in trophic niches of oribatid mites with transformation of tropical rainforest systems - from rainforest into rubber and oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia

by Alena Krause
Cumulative thesis
Date of Examination:2020-05-11
Date of issue:2021-01-05
Advisor:Prof. Dr. Stefan Scheu
Referee:PD Dr. Marko Rohlfs
Referee:PD Dr. Mark Maraun
Persistent Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.53846/goediss-8387

 

 

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Abstract

English

During the last decades especially tropical regions suffered from degradation as well as transformation of landscapes into different land-use systems. Logged rainforest sites in Southeast Asia are often transformed into cash crop monocultures, especially oil palm and acacia plantations. Effects of this transformation and degradation have mainly been studied for aboveground organisms whereas effects on the functioning and composition of soil invertebrate communities are little studied. This thesis focuses on the effects of land-use transformation along a land-use gradient, i.e. from secondary rainforest to plantations (jungle rubber, rubber and oil palm monoculture), on microarthropod communities, using oribatid mites as model organisms. Therefore, stable isotope ratios (13C/12C and 15N/14N) of single oribatid mite individuals as well as of pooled oribatid mite species were measured. Further, this thesis investigated the effect of management strategies within oil palm plantations on macro- and mesofauna soil animals. The field studies were conducted within the interdisciplinary project “Ecological and socioeconomic functions of tropical lowland rainforest transformation systems (Sumatra, Indonesia)” (EFForTS), established in Jambi Province, southwest Sumatra (Indonesia) in 2013.
Keywords: oribatid mites; stable isotopes (13C, 15N); trophic plasticity; trophic communities; land use transformation; soil macro- and mesofauna; Sumatra
 
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