D3446: Prescribed fire and leaf shelters shape microbial and arthropod communities in oak forests and suppress invasive spongy moth

Oak-dominated forests are keystone ecosystems that support diverse wildlife and insect communities across North America. However, in the northeastern U.S., decades of clear-cutting and poor forest management have favored fast-growing forbs and trees that outcompete oaks. After the Pennsylvania state legislature passed the 2009 Prescribed Burning Practices Act, state land managers have relied more on prescribed fires to promote ecosystem health and oak resilience on public forests and wildlands. In this study, we investigate how these recently implemented prescribed burnings influence oak-associated arthropod communities. We used clear vane traps to sample five oak forests in Pennsylvania with recent burn history, collecting arthropod communities in burned and unburned plots. We expect fire to restructure these communities in ways that  favor insects that colonize recovering forest habitats with abundant young, growing plant resources. As essential primary consumers, insects are crucial food sources for birds and mammals, and promote forest health as a whole. Our findings will inform future forest management plans by contextualizing the effect of controlled burns on insect community stability.