Responses of arthropods to large-scale manipulations of dead wood in a managed loblolly pine forest

Arthropods were sampled in managed loblolly pine stands receiving the following treatments: 1) all dead wood removed, 2) many logs added, 3) many snags (i.e., standing dead trees) added, 4) reference. Because there were no differences among treatments in the overall abundance, richness, diversity or composition of ground-dwelling arthropods or saproxylic (i.e., dependent on dead wood) beetles, we cannot recommend inputting large amounts of dead wood in similar forests for conservation purposes. However, the persistence of saproxylic beetles requires that an adequate amount of dead wood is available in the landscape and we recommend that it be retained whenever possible.