Plantations, not farmlands, cause biotic homogenisation of ground-active beetles in south-eastern Australia

Abstract

a b s t r a c tFollowing landscape change, species invasions and extinctions may lead to biotic homogenisation, resulting in increased taxonomic and functional similarity between previously distinct biotas. Biotic homogenisation is more likely to occur in landscapes where the matrix contrasts strongly with native vegetation patches. To test this, we examined the distribution of ground-active beetles in a landscape of remnant Eucalyptus open woodland patches where large areas of lower contrast matrix (farmland) are being transformed to high-contrast pine plantations in south-eastern Australia. We sampled beetles from 30 sites including six replicates of five categories; (1) remnants adjacent to farmland, (2) remnants adjacent to plantation, (3) farmland, (4) plantation, and, (5) remnants between pine plantation and farmland. Community composition in the pine matrix was similar to native patches embedded in pine (ANOSIM, Global R = 0.49, P < 0.000), which we suggest is due to biotic homogenisation. Remnant patches with edges of both farmland and pine plantation did not represent an intermediate community composition between patches surrounded by either matrix type, but rather a unique habitat with unique species. Farmland supported the greatest number of individuals (F = 9.049, df = 25, P < 0.000) and species (F = 5.875, df = 25, P = 0.002), even compared to native remnant patches. Our results suggest that matrix transformations can reduce species richness and homogenise within-patch populations. This may increase the risk of species declines in fragmented landscapes where plantations are not only replacing native vegetation patches, but also other matrix types that may better support biodiversity. Our findings are particularly concerning given expanding plantation establishment worldwide.

Impact of established shrub shelterbelts around oases on the diversity of ground beetles in arid ecosystems of Northwestern China

“…This is consistent with previous studies at the same site, in which conversion of natural grassland to irrigated cropland or pure poplar and pure pine plantations significantly decreased activity abundance and taxon richness of ground-active arthropod communities Feng et al, 2015). Sweaney et al (2015) also found that replacement of agricultural pastures by pure pine plantations resulted in significantly decreased species richness of ground-active beetle assemblages.…”

“…Sweaney et al . () also found that replacement of agricultural pastures by pure pine plantations resulted in significantly decreased species richness of ground‐active beetle assemblages.…”

“…Understanding the extent of biodiversity loss associated with land use/land cover changes at different spatial scales is a crucial research issue in biodiversity conservation (Garcia‐Tejero et al ., ). While the impacts of land use/cover changes on above‐ and belowground biodiversity have been well documented in many parts of the world (Perner & Malt, ; Garnier et al ., ; Nielsen et al ., ; Garcia‐Tejero et al ., ; Sweaney et al ., ), detailed studies are rare so far in the temperate arid regions in northwestern China (Li et al ., ; Feng et al ., ), which are facing the serious challenge of rapid landscape transformation due to large‐scale afforestation programmes (Cao, ) and land reclamation for urban and agricultural development (Chen, ; Wang et al ., ).…”

Impact of Land Reclamation on the Diversity of Darkling Beetles, (Tenebrionidae) in Arid Ecosystem of El-Kharga, New Valley Governorate, Egypt

“…Li et al (2016) concluded that shrub plantations reduce beetle diversity. Many research illustrated that the main cause of reducing the biodiversity of many terrestrial ecosystem is the changes in the land use/ cover (Garnier et al, 2006;Krauss et al, 2010;Garcia-Tejero et al, 2013;Vergnes et al, 2014;Sweaney et al, 2015). Liu et al (2015) concluded that shrub diversity and season variations are the significant factors for ground beetle assemblages in the desert ecosystem, while the responses of beetles varied among trophic and taxonomic levels.…”

Maintain Spatial Heterogeneity, Maintain Biodiversity—A Seed Bank Study in a Grazed Alpine Fen Meadow

“…To assess the similarity of the seeds, we computed Sørensen (Taguas, et al, 2015) and Bray-Curtis indices (Helsen et al, 2015) with Primer 5 (Clarke & Gorley, 2001) and checked their significance using analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) (Sweaney et al, 2015). Analysis of ordination was executed in PC-ord 5.0 (McCune & Mefford, 2005) using DCA (detrended corresponding analysis) to determine the zonation along a water depth gradient.…”