Schowalter, T. D.; Stafford, S. G.; Slagle, R. L. 1988. Arboreal arthropod community structure in an early successional coniferous forest ecosystem in western Oregon. Great Basin Naturalist. 48(3): 327-333.
This study was designed to characterize arboreal arthropod community structure in an early succes-sional coniferous ecosystem. We sampled six-year-old snowbrush (Ceanothus velutinus Doug!. ex Hook) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) at the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest in western Oregon during 1982.The arthropod fauna was dominated in terms of densities by psyllids and aphids on snowbrush and by adelgids andcecidomyiids on Douglas-fir. Significant associations among taxa, e.g., positive correlation between aphids and ants,indicated trophic interactions or similar responses to host conditions. Significant seasonality was observed forindividual taxa and for the community, reflecting the integration of individual life-history patterns. Significant spatialpattern (patchiness) in the arthropod community may reflect the influence of faunas on individual plants withinneighborhoods and/or the influence of ant foraging patterns.