Factors affecting Sciomyzidae (Diptera) across a transect at Skealoghan Turlough (Co. Mayo, Ireland)

Abstract

Sciomyzid flies, which have potential as bio-indicators, were sampled by sweep-net surveys at a turlough in the west of Ireland. Turloughs are ephemeral wetlands (unique to Ireland), which flood from groundwater in winter and empty in the summer, during that time, they are frequently grazed.The weekly survey consisted of ten linear sweeps (5 m 9 1 m) in each of six homogeneous and contiguous vegetation zones throughout the summer of 2004. The fauna was dominated by univoltine species with Ilione albiseta being particularly abundant, though species displaying a range of phenologies and life histories were also present. Species richness and total abundance were significantly higher in the two zones with the highest hydroperiods. Mantel tests showed that the species matrix was significantly co-structured with permanent features of the physical environment, but not with stochastic sampling variables related to weather conditions. Mantel correllograms displayed typical patterns of autocorrelation for hydroperiod, soil moisture and soil pH in each zone and vegetation height, vegetation length and Ellenberg moisture index (weighted for vegetation composition) in each sweep-path. No patterns of autocorrelation were evident for distance among zones, area of patch of vegetation zone sampled, area of the vegetation zone on the whole turlough, soil mass-loss-on-ignition and Ellenberg N and reaction indices. These results provide strong evidence for high microhabitat specificity in Sciomyzidae at this site and indicate a major influence of vegetation structure and hydrological regime on their ecology.

Challenges in Assessing Ecological Impacts of Construction and Demolition Waste on Wetlands: A Case Study

“…Sweep net sampling also showed a significant (P=0.005) difference between infill and wetland, with P. coryleti being a significant (P<0.005) indicator species for wetland. These findings support previous studies showing that sciomyzids display limited movement and are habitat specific (Speight, 2004;Vala & Brunel, 1987;Williams et al, 2009Williams et al, , 2010.…”

“…With this in mind, we concentrated on wetland biological groups such as plants which are sensitive to chemical changes in their environment (LaPaix et al2009;Pardo et al, 2011) and Diptera (families and morphospecies), shown to be influenced by vegetation structure (Hughes et al, 2000;King & Brazner, 1999;Whiles and Goldowitz, 2001). In particular, we identified marsh flies (Diptera: Sciomyzidae), to species level since they have been shown to reflect a range of wetland conditions (Murphy et al, 2012;Speight, 1986;Williams et al, 2009Williams et al, , 2010. While plants are frequently used in isolation to assess habitats, we included invertebrate groups in this study given that, apart from charismatic invertebrate species such as butterflies, policy makers can often be unaware of problems associated with general invertebrate conservation (Cardoso et al, 2011).…”

“…Aerial invertebrates were also sampled at one site (WG2) using a sweep net (50cm diameter x 67 cm bag depth and 30.5cm handle length) (Williams et al, 2009) every two weeks in 2010 (19 th May to 22 nd September) allowing comparison of catches caught by sweep-netting with the pan trap method. Eight parallel sweep paths (ten metres long with a two metre buffer zone between each) were marked out using bamboo canes on both the wetland and the infill.…”

“…The observation here that these species were all either exclusively found on wetlands, or had a large majority on the wetlands, highlights their sedentary nature and usefulness as bioindicators of wetland habitat change. The low number of sciomyzid individuals collected is a trait of the family which is not unknown, although there are some species (such as I. albiseta) that are often found in high numbers (Williams et al, 2009;Williams et al, 2010).…”

Ellenberg's indicator values support prediction of suitable habitat for pre-diapause larvae of endangered butterfly Euphydryas aurinia

“…On the contrary, animal ecologists seldom use EIVs to address ecological questions, and only a few researchers have tested this approach so far. Significant relationships have been found between EIVs and the diversity of Sciomyzid flies [16], butterflies [17–20] and molluscs [21]. In addition, EIVs are sometimes used to characterize the ecological properties of habitats of studied animal assemblages, e.g.…”