Arthropod Associations Shift in Response to Russian Olive Management; Natalie West

 

 

 

¹USDA Agricultural Research Service, Pest Management Research Unit, Sidney, MT, USA; Natalie.West@ars.usda.gov

²USDA Agricultural Research Service, Pest Management Research Unit, Sidney, MT, USA; Dave.Branson@ars.usda.gov

³USDA Agricultural Research Service, Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, Miles City, MT, USA; Mark.Petersen@ars.usda.gov

⁴USDA Agricultural Research Service, Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, Miles City, MT, USA; Jennifer.Muscha@ars.usda.gov

 

 

Russian olive invasion can change the structure and composition of riparian vegetation, but effects on other trophic communities, such as arthropods, is still uncertain. However, a better understanding of such impacts are necessary to link plant community changes to wildlife management and ecosystem services. We compared pre-Russian olive removal arthropod communities to those post-removal and with restoration management. We used a combination of sweeps, pitfall trapping, and Malaise traps to sample multiple habitat dimensions and identified arthropods to the family level. We found greater differences in the arthropod community within removal blocks than within Russian olive-invaded blocks. These shifts resulted from subtle changes in the relative abundance of community members (e.g., spiders, flies, and leafhoppers), rather than overall richness or diversity. The response to restoration treatments was nuanced, particularly in treatments that included woody species additions. Little is known about the timeframe and magnitude of co-occurring impacts on other residents from plant community and invasive species management. As plant communities re-assemble after Russian olive removal and restorations become established, these data are vital to informing management decisions that benefit multiple dimensions of resident communities.