Feeding-season production in the desert millipede Orthoporus ornatus (Girard) (Diplopoda)
- 31 August 1976
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Oecologia
- Vol. 24 (3), 265-276
- https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00345478
Abstract
Production during an assumed 131-day feeding season in 1974 was estimated for Orthoporus ornatus between 4.0 and 12.0 mm in midsegment width at Tornillo Flat, Big Bend National Park, Texas. A conservative density estimate in 1973 of 1,302 millipedes ha-1 involved daily specimen removal from three, 929-m2 plots for a month. Each plot typified a different aspect of local desert vegetation; most specimens came from the plot with greatest plant diversity and relatively high (20%) cover. Production calculations using 1973 density estimates were based on increase in size-class specific dry weight (minus gut contents) between 14 May and 21 September, 1974. Production ha-1 of cuticle and tissue was estimated at 0.85 kg (1972 kcal), while that of tissue alone came to 0.29 kg (1971 kcal). Orthoporus ornatus from Albuquerque, New Mexico increased in dry weight during 92 days in 1974 more rapidly and to a greater extent than comparable size classes at Tornillo Flat. An estimated feeding-season energy budget based on ash-free values of shrub food eaten at Tornillo Flat indicated ingestion ha-1 of 3,434 g (13,712 kcal) and defecation of 3,181 g (9,187 kcal). An independent estimate of ingestion based on known ingestion rates was 8,851 g ha-1. Considering probable net primary production at Tornillo Flat, local O. ornatus exert a trophic impact similar to that of other large invertebrate detritivores elsewhere.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Food, ingestion rates, and assimilation in the desert millipede Orthoporus ornatus (Girard) (Diplopoda)Oecologia, 1975
- Behavioural thermoregulation of Orthoporus ornatus (Diplopoda: Spirostreptidae) in three desert habitatsZoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 1975
- Density, Dispersion, and Composition of Desert Termite Foraging Populations and Their Relationship to Superficial Dead Wood 1Environmental Entomology, 1975
- Foraging Ecology and Relative Importance of Subterranean Termites in Chihuahuan Desert EcosystemsEnvironmental Entomology, 1975
- Respiratory metabolism of the desert millipede Orthoporus ornatus (Girard) (Diplopoda)Oecologia, 1974
- Consumption of Primary Production by a Population of Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys Merriami) in the Mojave DesertEcological Monographs, 1973
- Exploitation of deciduous leaf litter by Apheloria montana (Diplopoda: Eurydesrriidae)Pedobiologia, 1973
- Water relations in a desert millipede Orthoporus ornatus (Girard) (Spriostreptidae)Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology, 1972
- Energetics of isopod populations in a forest of central JapanPopulation Ecology, 1969
- Productivity of high and low density populations of Japonaria laminata armigera (Diplopoda) in a warm‐temperate forest ecosystemPopulation Ecology, 1967