TY - GEN A1 - Damptey, Frederick Gyasi A1 - Opuni-Frimpong, Emmanuel A1 - Ayine Nsor, Collins A1 - Addai, James A1 - Kwame Debrah, Daniel A1 - Schnerch, Benjamin A1 - Bentsi-Enchill, Felicity A1 - Korjus, Henn T1 - Taxonomic and community composition of epigeal arthropods in monoculture and mixed tree species plantations in a deciduous forest of Ghana T2 - Journal of Forestry Research N2 - Tropical forests provide several ecosystem services and functions and support approximately two-thirds of the world’s biodiversity but are seriously threatened by deforestation. Approaches to counteract this menace have revolved around aforestation with several or a single tree species. We thus investigated how plantation forests with either a single or several tree species infuenced arthropod taxonomic and community composition using pitfall traps to sample selected groups of epigeal arthropods (Araneae, Coleoptera, Orthoptera and Hymenoptera) and with environmental variables assessed simultaneously. Our results revealed 54 taxonomic groups with signifcantly higher taxonomic richness, activity density, and diversity in the mixed stands than in the monoculture stands. The significant differences in community composition were mainly driven by families including Lycosidae, Formicidae, Staphylinidae, Scotylidae, Hydrophilidae, Gryllidae and Scarabaeidae and were explained by distinct habitat characteristics (canopy openness, litter depth, deadwood volume, and tree height). While the diverse tree communities and heterogeneous vegetation structure ofered food and habitat resources for diverse arthropod groups, the allelopathic nature coupled with homogenous stand characteristics of the Tectona grandis stands in the monoculture suppressed the growth of understorey vegetation that could otherwise serve as food and habitat resources for arthropods, which might have led to limited activities and diversity of arthropods in the monoculture plantation stands. The fndings thus highlight the need to promote mixed tree plantations in degraded tropical areas, especially when restoring biodiversity is the prime management focus. KW - Arthropod community KW - Forest plantations KW - Structural complexity KW - Tree diversity KW - Tropical deforestation Y1 - 2022 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-UBICO/frontdoor/index/index/docId/29684 VL - 34 IS - 3 SP - 641 EP - 653 ER -