Effects of prescribed burning on microarthropod populations at Nancytown, GA

In this study, the effects of a low-intensity prescribed burn were assessed on soil microarthropods by examining Collembola, Oribatid, Mesostigmata, and Prostigmata populations. Sampling was done for three consecutive years, including one year pre-burn. Mean microarthropod populations of all groups fluctuated over the three years, and further analysis indicated significant differences by date with population increases in 2006 for Collembola and Oribatid populations. However, these significant differences were unrelated to the burn because the differences occurred at the control as well as burn site. Collembola and Oribatids also had significant differences by site; both suborders were more abundant at the burn site in all three years with no relation to the burn. These results detected no lasting effects on microarthropod populations, leading to the contention that other factors influenced population variations between years and not the prescribed burn. Environmental factors such as moisture probably contributed to the common trend in populations between the two sites. Environmental factors are density-independent, meaning their effects are constant over a large population which explains the significant increase of populations at both sites in 2006. These findings are significant because forest managers are more commonly using low-intensity prescribed fires to restore ecological health, and we have little information on how microarthropods respond to these fires.