Forest disturbance and arthropods: Small-scale canopy gaps drive invertebrate community structure and composition

In forest ecosystems, disturbances that cause tree mortality create canopy gaps, increase growth of understory vegetation, and alter the abiotic environment. These impacts may have interacting effects on populations of ground‐dwelling invertebrates that regulate ecological processes such as decomposition and nutrient cycling. A manipulative experiment was designed to decouple effects of simultaneous disturbances to the forest canopy and...