COMMUNITY AND ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY Herbivorous Insect Response to Group Selection Cutting in a Southeastern Bottomland Hardwood Forest

Malaise andpitfall trapswereused to sampleherbivorous insects in canopygaps created by group-selection cutting in a bottomland hardwood forest in South Carolina. The traps were placed at the centers, edges, and in the forest adjacent to gaps of different sizes (0.13, 0.26, and 0.50 ha) and ages (1 and 7 yr old) during four sampling periods in 2001.Overall, the abundance and species richness of insect herbivores were greater at the centers of young gaps than at the edge of young gaps or in the forest surrounding young gaps. Therewerenodifferences in abundance or species richness among old gap locations (i.e., centers, edges, and forest), andwe collected signiÞcantlymore insects in young gaps than old gaps. The insect communities in old gaps were more similar to the forests surrounding themthanyounggapcommunitieswere to their respective forest locations, but the insect communities in the two forests locations (surrounding young and old gaps) had the highest percent similarity of all. Although both abundance and richness increased in the centers of young gaps with increasing gap size, these differenceswere not signiÞcant.We attribute the increased numbers of herbivorous insects to the greater abundance of herbaceous plants available in young gaps.