The way arthropods are distributed vertically in tropical forests has been of great interest with diversity often greatest at or near the canopy top. Typically, stratification is measured up from the ground but, since the height of trees reaching the canopy top can vary, we hypothesise that distance down from the canopy top, might better explain arthropod distributions. To test this samples were collected from Australian tropical rainforest trees in both dry and wet seasons by beating foliage from five trees for each of 11 tree species at set intervals down each tree. A total of 2628 arthropods were collected. Abundant groups were Araneae, Coleoptera, Formicidae, Blattodea and Homoptera. Coleoptera were sorted to species. Since the forest was naturally disturbed by storms, height of trees reaching the canopy top ranged 10–40 m. Our results suggested that the best fit for vertical stratification, either distance from ground or distance down from the canopy, were taxon specific. For ordinal richness and abundance of arthropods the best model was distance from the ground with decreasing trends from the ground. Similarly, distance from the ground best fitted abundances of spiders, cockroaches and Homoptera. In contrast, declination from the canopy top best fitted beetle species richness and abundance, and ant abundance. The effect of vertical stratification was, however, significant only for ants in dry season: abundance of ants decreased with increasing distance down from the canopy top. We were surprised to have found taxon-specific patterns, which may be explained by highly variable canopy tree height, creating vertically heterogeneous micro-habitat conditions in this forest system.

中文翻译：

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雨林中昆虫的垂直分布是否可以通过距树冠顶部的距离或距地面的距离更好地解释？

节肢动物在热带森林中垂直分布的方式引起了人们的极大兴趣，多样性通常在树冠顶部或顶部附近最大。通常，分层是从地面向上测量的，但是由于到达树冠顶部的树木的高度可以变化，因此我们假设从树冠顶部向下的距离可能会更好地解释节肢动物的分布。为了测试该样品，在干燥和潮湿季节从澳大利亚热带雨林树木中采集样本，方法是从11棵树种中每棵以一定的间隔沿着5棵树跳动叶子。总共收集了2628节肢动物。丰富的群体是Araneae，鞘翅目，For科，Blattodea和Homoptera。鞘翅目按种类分类。由于森林自然受到暴风雨的干扰，到达树冠顶部的树木高度为10-40 m。我们的结果表明，垂直分层的最佳选择是距地面的距离或距树冠的距离。对于节肢动物的有序丰富和丰富，最好的模型是离地面的距离，离地面的趋势在减小。同样，离地面的距离最适合蜘蛛，蟑螂和同翅目的数量。相反，从树冠顶部的偏斜最适合甲虫物种的丰富度和丰度以及蚂蚁的丰度。但是，垂直分层的效果仅在干旱季节对蚂蚁才有意义：蚂蚁的丰度随着距冠层顶部的距离增加而降低。我们很惊讶地发现了特定于分类群的模式，这可以通过冠层高度的高度变化来解释，