The Chilopoda (Myriapoda) of the Khentey-Mountain Range, Northern Mongolia. Communities of different forest-types under a varying fire regime

The Khentey-Mountain Range, a "hotspot" of biodiversity in Mongolia, stretches from the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar in north-eastern direction towards the Russian border and beyond. A variety of forest types (Light Taiga, Dark Taiga, Mixed Taiga) covers the slopes and intermixes with steppe areas. Wild fires are frequent and a part of ecosystem dynamics. The Chilopoda are one of the most important groups of carnivorous soil arthropods, but little is known about their diversity in Mongolia and response to fires. We sampled chilopods in 94 plots in different forest types with varying fire regime, in three locations in the West, South and East Khentey. Each plot included five pitfall traps and a hand sampling of soil and litter. We recorded ten species of Chilopoda in the Khentey-Mountain region, eight Lithobiomorpha and two Geophilomorpha. Lithobius giganteus Sseliwanoff, 1881 and Lithobius alticus (Loksa, 1965) were by far the most widespread centipede species. Species richness of Chilopoda communities was higher in the West than in the South and East, which was presumably caused by higher precipitation and the resulting higher diversity of the forests. Within the Western Khentey species richness of Chilopoda and tree species increased simultaneously. Generally, we found the highest diversity of Chilopoda at higher altitudes, which corresponds with the increasing precipitation, and -exclusively for the Lithobiomorpha – with locations in floodplain forests. Altogether there was little influence of fire on the diversity and individual density of Chilopoda, although freshly burnt areas provided a short term attraction to certain species.