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Population dynamics of two sympatric isopod species in a pine forest in central Java, Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

K. Vink  and
E. Sri Purwanti
K. Vink
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Ecotoxicology, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
E. Sri Purwanti
Affiliation:
Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Jl. Diponegoro 52–60, Salatiga 50711, Indonesia
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Abstract

The populations of two dominant isopod species in a Pinus merkusii forest on the southern slope of mount Ungaran in central Java, Indonesia, were periodically sampled during one year using Tullgren extractions from soil cores. The aim of the research was to collect more information about the life-cycles of tropical isopods by analysing size-class distributions of two sympatric isopod species, belonging to the genus Burmoniscus. Biomass of the populations was estimated from length-weight conversions established for each species in the laboratory. The efficiency of the Tullgren extraction method was estimated by comparison to hand sorting; no difference was found between these methods.

The abundance of the two species differed significantly with time. Burmoniscus Sp. A was more abundant during the wet season, whereas the population fluctuations of Burmoniscus Sp. B were more spread over the year. Reproduction of both species took place in the wet season. Burmoniscus Sp. A had one generation per year, while for Burmoniscus Sp. B the situation was unclear due to extensive overlap of size classes. Comparisons were made with isopod abundance in other tropical and temperate forests. The mean density of the two species found in this study was 258 m-2 for Burmoniscus Sp. A and 272 m-2 for Burmoniscus Sp. B, while biomass was 80.4 mg m-2 and 37.6 mg m-2, respectively. The data suggest that densities of isopods in tropical pine forests may be considerably higher than in comparable temperate ecosystems.

Keywords

IndonesiaIsopodapopulation dynamicspine forestsize classbiomassBurmoniscuslife-cyclephenology
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , August 1994 , pp. 417 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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