Butterfly assemblages in residential gardens are driven by species’ habitat preference and mobility

Olivier, Théophile; Schmucki, Reto; Fontaine, Benoît; Villemey, Anne; Archaux, Frédéric

doi:10.1007/s10980-015-0299-9

Cited by 37 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Simultaneously, the fragmentation of the remaining habitat types is expected to filter for mobile species (Piano et al, 2017;Rochat et al, 2017;Sattler et al, 2010). For instance, it has been shown for butterflies that the increased costs associated with investment in higher dispersal ability eventually result in enhanced chances of survival in urban environments (Olivier, Schmucki, Fontaine, Villemey, & Archaux, 2016;Rochat et al, 2017;Wood & Pullin, 2002). Moreover, the UHI-effect is expected to favour thermophilic, warm-adapted species (Brans, Govaert, et al, 2017;Piano et al, 2017), although adaptive thermal evolution to urbanization happens intraspecifically too (Brans, Jansen, et al, 2017).…”

Section: F I G U R E 4 Increase In Community-weighted Means (Cwms) Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization‐driven homogenization is more pronounced and happens at wider spatial scales in nocturnal and mobile flying insects

Merckx

Dyck

2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim We test whether urbanization drives biotic homogenization. We hypothesize that declines in abundance and species diversity of aerial insects are exacerbated by the urbanization‐driven loss of species with low habitat generalism, mobility and warm‐adaptedness. We predict this homogenization to be more pronounced for nocturnal taxa, and at wider scales for mobile taxa. Location Belgium. Time period Summers 2014–2015. Major taxa studied Lepidoptera. Methods We compare communities along urbanization gradients using a shared, replicated and nested sampling design, in which butterflies were counted within 81 grassland and macro‐moths light‐trapped in 12 woodland sites. We quantify taxonomic and functional community composition, the latter via community‐weighted means and variation of species‐specific traits related to specialization, mobility and thermophily. Using linear regression models, variables are analysed in relation to site‐specific urbanization values quantified at seven scales (50–3,200 m radii). At best‐fitting scales, we test for taxonomic homogenization. Results With increasing urbanization, abundance, species richness and Shannon diversity severely declined, with butterfly and macro‐moth declines due to local‐ versus landscape‐scale urbanization (200 vs. 800–3,200 m radii, respectively). While taxonomic homogenization was absent for butterflies, urban macro‐moth communities displayed higher nestedness than non‐urban communities. Overall, communities showed mean shifts towards generalist, mobile and thermophilous species, displaying trait convergence too. These functional trait models consistently fit best with urbanization quantified at local scales (100–200 m radii) for butterfly communities, and at local to wider landscape scales (200–800 m radii) for macro‐moth communities. Main conclusions Urban communities display functional homogenization that follows urbanization at scales linked to taxon‐specific mobility. Light pollution may explain why homogenization was more pronounced for the nocturnal taxon. We discuss that urbanization is likely to impact flying insect communities across the globe, but also that impacts on their ecosystem functions and services could be mitigated via multi‐scale implementation of urban green infrastructure.

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Section: F I G U R E 4 Increase In Community-weighted Means (Cwms) Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization‐driven homogenization is more pronounced and happens at wider spatial scales in nocturnal and mobile flying insects

Merckx

Dyck

2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…Likewise, in Venezuela, the higher bird diversity in traditional towns relative to recent suburbs is thought to be partly due to their proximity to protected areas (Sanz and Caula 2015). Urban environments are likely to pose even greater barriers to less mobile taxa (Concepción et al 2015, Olivier et al 2016. Secondly, the successful urban adjustment of nectar opportunistic birds is facilitated by large vegetated areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban nectarivorous bird communities in Cape Town, South Africa, are structured by ecological generalisation and resource distribution

Coetzee

Barnard

Pauw

2018

Journal of Avian Biology

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Biological communities are increasingly faced with novel urban habitats and their response may depend on a combination of biological and habitat traits. The response of pollinator species to urban habitats are of particular importance because all species involved in the pollination mutualism may be affected. Nectarivorous bird communities worldwide show varying tolerances to urban areas, but studies from Africa are lacking. We investigated nectarivorous bird communities in a medium‐sized South African city and asked which biological and garden traits best predict the community assembly of specialist and opportunistic nectarivorous birds. Information was collected on garden traits and the frequency of nine nectarivorous bird species for 193 gardens by means of a questionnaire. Information on biological traits of birds was obtained from published literature. Habitat generalism and tree nesting were identified as the most important biological traits influencing bird occurrence in gardens. A greater diversity of indigenous bird‐pollinated plants and the presence of sugar water feeders increased the numbers of nectar specialist birds and species richness of nectarivorous birds. While bird baths increased the species richness of nectar specialist birds, opportunistic birds’ urban adjustment was further facilitated by large vegetated areas in gardens and limited by the distance to the nearest natural habitat. In conclusion, though some biological traits and dispersal barriers seem to limit urban adjustment, a combination of natural and artificial nectar resource provisioning could facilitate this adjustment.

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“…The selection of species and species groups was based on habitat preferences (Spiss 2014). The species and species groups used in Viel-Falter were similar to those used by Olivier et al (2015) for butterfly monitoring in private gardens in France.…”

Section: Simplified Assessment Schemementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While international experience has shown that involving qualified volunteers can substantially contribute to the implementation of such monitoring tasks Burgess et al 2016), only few studies have focused on laypeople or pupils (cf. Abadie et al 2008;Ballard et al 2017;Olivier et al 2015). Therefore, we developed and applied a specific assessment scheme suitable for pupils or any other layperson, to systematically collect data on butterflies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplified and still meaningful: assessing butterfly habitat quality in grasslands with data collected by pupils

et al. 2017

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Butterfly assemblages in residential gardens are driven by species’ habitat preference and mobility

Cited by 37 publications

References 62 publications

Urbanization‐driven homogenization is more pronounced and happens at wider spatial scales in nocturnal and mobile flying insects

Urbanization‐driven homogenization is more pronounced and happens at wider spatial scales in nocturnal and mobile flying insects

Urban nectarivorous bird communities in Cape Town, South Africa, are structured by ecological generalisation and resource distribution

Simplified and still meaningful: assessing butterfly habitat quality in grasslands with data collected by pupils

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