twice as high than for the clear-cut plots (Fig. 3). Fig. 3 The expected cumulative number of scuttle fly species as a function of number of sampled individuals in four habitat types. Estimated species richness, corrected for species unseen in samples, is given in the box. Data from BF, TF and LOXO-101 research buy BPF are pooled (unpublished material) Of the two post-windstorm habitats in PF, the left-windthrow habitat was more diverse (diversity expressed as the cumulative number of fly species) than the MLN2238 datasheet logged-windthrow one. Among twenty-two species, common to both post-windstorm habitats, almost all (S = 20) reached a higher
abundance in left- windthrow plots (Table 1). However, the total species richness, corrected for unseen species, was higher in the logged-windthrow relative to the left- windthrow habitats. (Table 1; Fig. 3). Scuttle fly trophic structure in disturbed and intact habitats The abundance (N) of the species with saprophagous, polysaprophagous and necrophagous larvae (all as saprophagous group: S = 36) was distinctly higher (N = 82–87 %) in the scuttle fly communities
inhabiting disturbed plots, than the communities of the old-growth (N = 53.2 %) habitats. The abundance BI 6727 cost of six mycophagous species, inhabiting clear-cuts (N = 8.9 %) and four species of logged-windthrow (N = 7.8 %) plots, was significantly higher compared to the mycophagous species of old-growths (N = 3.5 %) and left-windthrow (5.3 %) areas. In contrast, the species with zoophagous Lepirudin larvae reached the highest abundance in the left-windthrow (N = 9.6 %) and old-growths (N = 5.6 %) habitats. The reaction, expressed as Chi square values computed for the species with known biology, showed a significant and positive correlation between the forests (χ 2 = 1940.8, df = 15, P < 0.0001) (Table 1; Fig. 4). Fig. 4 Contribution to the scuttle fly communities of species with different larval diet, in the four habitat types. 1 Saprophagous larvae; 2 mycophagous larvae; 3 polyphagous larvae; 4 zoophagous larvae (unpublished
material) Body size and preferences for different habitats Habitat preferences of the scuttle flies were found to be significantly correlated to their body size (Tukey’ test: P < 0.05). Smaller species (mean length ≤ 1.35 mm) preferred disturbed habitats, whereas larger species preferred intact forests. In the case of both post-windstorm areas, the mean body length of the scuttle fly species was almost identical (Fig. 5). Fig. 5 Mean body length and its standard error of the scuttle fly species in different habitats; Different letters denote statistically significant differences (Tukey’s test, P < 0.05) (unpublished material) Discussion The study has one important flaw: the sampling in Pisz Forest and the remaining forests was conducted during different periods.