摘要 : To contribute to understanding the importance of successional habitat to insect diversity and assist biodiversity management in globally imperilled alvar ecosystems, we surveyed three groups of arthropods in an Ottawa Valley, Onta... 展开 To contribute to understanding the importance of successional habitat to insect diversity and assist biodiversity management in globally imperilled alvar ecosystems, we surveyed three groups of arthropods in an Ottawa Valley, Ontario, alvar landscape. Using pitfall traps and sweeping, we compared grasshopper (Orthoptera), ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae), and spider (Araneae) diversity in two sites on the same successional gradient: an unburned climax alvar woodland and a corresponding burned woodland that had developed into alvar shrubland nine years after fire. Between-site species similarity was 47.4% for orthopterans (9 species), 6.9% for ground beetles (2 species), and 40.9% for spiders (10 species). Both sites included regionally rare orthopterans and ground beetles. For all three groups species richness and density was higher on the burned site. The value of Brillouin's biodiversity index was higher for both orthopterans and ground beetles in the burned site but higher for spiders in the unburned alvar woodland. These results provide evidence for: (1) the importance of successional habitat to insect diversity, (2) the value of alvar shrublands to overall alvar landscape biodiversity, and (3) the potential value of fire in maintaining alvar biodiversity. 收起