Ecology of millipedes (Diplopoda) in the context of global change Jean-François
Keywords:
abundance, diversity, climate change, food quality, habitat lossAbstract
Current knowledge on the effects of climate, food quality and land cover on millipedes is reviewed, to explore the potential responses of this arthropod group to global change. Climate warming could result in higher rates of population growth and have a positive effect on the abundance of some temperate species. The generality of this finding is evaluated in relation to the life history and current distribution of species. At low latitudes, interactions with more severe droughts are likely and could affect the composition of millipede communities. Elevated atmospheric CO2 and changes in plant community composition are expected to alter leaf litter quality, a major determinant of millipede fertility. This could significantly influence population growth rates, but the warming effect will be probably more important for decades. Land cover changes, mainly due to deforestation in the tropics and land abandonment in Europe, are critical to habitat specialists and could override any other effect of global change. At the landscape scale, habitat heterogeneity seems to be a good option for millipede conservation, even at the cost of some fragmentation.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
All articles from Senckenberg’s SOIL ORGANISMS Open Access scientific journal that are made available on the Senckenberg website (www.senckenberg.de) and also www.soil-organisms.org may be read, copied, distributed, and (in limited quantity) printed for non-commercial, private, scientific purposes.
In accordance with the German Science Foundation’s „Rules for the Safeguarding of Good Scientific Practice“, references to cited articles are to be complete and correct and furnished with a link to the website of the Senckenberg journal in question.
The Senckenberg Society for Nature Research (Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, SGN) is a member of the Leibniz Association (Leibniz-Gemeinschaft) and is therefore committed to the idea of Open Access as explained in the Berlin Declaration (Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Scientific Knowledge, Berliner Erklärung über den offenen Zugang zu wissenschaftlichem Wissen).
Open Access is understood to mean the charge-exempt public access to scientific results via the internet. The users should be able to read, copy, print, search within, and reference the full text without limitation and to use it in any conceivable lawful manner without financial, legal or technical hindrance.
This applies also to the SGN, which publishes various scientific series. Some scientific journals are made available to the public via Open Acess in addition to printed copies.