Relative importance of habitat area, connectivity, management and local factors for vascular plants: spring ephemerals in boreal semi-natural grasslands

Raatikainen, Katja M.; Heikkinen, Risto K.; Luoto, Miska

doi:10.1007/s10531-008-9462-9

Cited by 21 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…This implies that bees, especially generalists profit from nearby calcareous grasslands and highly connected landscapes could have positive effects on the fitness of wild bees due to shorter foraging distances. Effects and importance of habitat connectivity differ among recent studies [28], [37], [40], [72] and are therefore controversially discussed [15], [16], [73]. In contrast to butterflies or plants [37], [71] the species richness of bees has not yet been shown to be influenced by habitat connectivity in studies that tested this factor [39], [40], [74].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trait-Specific Responses of Wild Bee Communities to Landscape Composition, Configuration and Local Factors

2014

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Land-use intensification and loss of semi-natural habitats have induced a severe decline of bee diversity in agricultural landscapes. Semi-natural habitats like calcareous grasslands are among the most important bee habitats in central Europe, but they are threatened by decreasing habitat area and quality, and by homogenization of the surrounding landscape affecting both landscape composition and configuration. In this study we tested the importance of habitat area, quality and connectivity as well as landscape composition and configuration on wild bees in calcareous grasslands. We made detailed trait-specific analyses as bees with different traits might differ in their response to the tested factors. Species richness and abundance of wild bees were surveyed on 23 calcareous grassland patches in Southern Germany with independent gradients in local and landscape factors. Total wild bee richness was positively affected by complex landscape configuration, large habitat area and high habitat quality (i.e. steep slopes). Cuckoo bee richness was positively affected by complex landscape configuration and large habitat area whereas habitat specialists were only affected by the local factors habitat area and habitat quality. Small social generalists were positively influenced by habitat area whereas large social generalists (bumblebees) were positively affected by landscape composition (high percentage of semi-natural habitats). Our results emphasize a strong dependence of habitat specialists on local habitat characteristics, whereas cuckoo bees and bumblebees are more likely affected by the surrounding landscape. We conclude that a combination of large high-quality patches and heterogeneous landscapes maintains high bee species richness and communities with diverse trait composition. Such diverse communities might stabilize pollination services provided to crops and wild plants on local and landscape scales.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trait-Specific Responses of Wild Bee Communities to Landscape Composition, Configuration and Local Factors

2014

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“…However, the extent of seminatural grassland has declined dramatically in Europe over the past 60 years, mainly through the processes of agricultural intensification, abandonment and land-use change (Strijker 2005). The remaining areas have been negatively affected by fragmentation (Helm et al 2006;Raatikainen et al 2008;Krauss et al 2010) and other deleterious external influences, such as eutrophication through atmospheric nitrogen deposition (Stevens et al 2010). As a result, a large proportion of threatened species in Europe are those of semi-natural grassland habitats (Pärtel et al 2005;van Swaay et al 2006;EEA 2010), and increasing numbers of studies are devoted to understanding the ecological processes affecting grassland biodiversity in order to improve conservation and restoration measures (e.g., Koper and Nudds 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Both local and landscape factors determine plant and Orthoptera diversity in the semi-natural grasslands of Transylvania, Romania

et al. 2014

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Semi-natural grassland supports a large proportion of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Europe, however, it is continuing to be destroyed or degraded. In addition to the clear role of local management in these processes, there is increasing evidence for wider landscape-scale effects on species richness and community composition of plants and animals. Most of this evidence comes from studies in highly altered western European landscapes with only fragments of remaining semi-natural grassland. In contrast, Eastern European countries such as Romania still contain large areas of semi-natural grassland, but this habitat is threatened by agricultural intensification and homogenization. We analyzed vascular plant and Orthoptera communities from species-rich pastures in Southern Transylvania, Romania, against a range of local and landscape factors. Species richness of plants had a highly significant positive relationship with landscape heterogeneity. Orthoptera species richness and abundance were negatively correlated with plant species richness, and increased with proportion of grassland in the landscape and local vegetation height. The results suggest that large and species-rich grassland communities can be significantly affected by both local and landscape scale land use changes, but effects Communicated by Jan C Habel. Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (can vary within and between taxonomic groups. Conservation measures such as agrienvironment schemes should therefore seek to address landscape scale processes better, promoting a range of low-intensity land use practices in order to support a variety of landscape types.

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“…; Wilson & Meurk ), while aspect and slope are reported to be the main drivers of grassland composition in the boreal region (Raatikainen et al. ). The importance of the altitudinal/climatic gradient in compositional variation was confirmed in our study area, despite differences in the regional climate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Raatikainen et al. ; Cingolani et al. ) may reflect differences in the spatial scale of such studies (Auestad et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of beta‐diversity variation inBromus erectussemi‐natural dry grasslands

Burrascano

Anzellotti

Carli

et al. 2012

Applied Vegetation Science

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Questions What are the main drivers of variation in beta‐diversity for Bromus erectus semi‐natural dry grasslands of habitat 6210(*) at different scales? How should environmental variables and spatial patterns be taken into account to conserve the maximum possible beta‐diversity within the habitat? Location Central Italy. Methods We used 195 vegetation relevés distributed in three nested extents: a single mountain, a mountain chain and southern Lazio. Multiple regression on distance matrices was performed using dissimilarity matrices based on: (1) species abundances as response variables; (2) spatial coordinates and environmental parameters (altitude, slope, percentage of rock and stone coverage, aspect, annual rainfall) as explanatory variables. The two groups of explanatory variables were used separately to partition the variation, and jointly to assess the relative contribution of each individual variable. Those variables found to significantly affect beta‐diversity were used to: (1) compare beta‐diversity levels between a set of randomly selected and a set of stratified relevés; and (2) analyse the habitat distribution across environmental gradients. These analyses, together with the curves describing the relationships between spatial distances and composition dissimilarities, were used to inform management decisions for the habitat. Results Most of the variance was explained by environmental variables, whose share was higher in the smallest and intermediate extent than in the broadest extent. Community dissimilarity increased in proportion to differences in altitude and spatial distances at every extent. Accordingly, at all the extents, the selection of relevés stratified by altitude or selected taking into account a minimum spatial distance included significantly higher levels of within‐habitat beta‐diversity, than randomly selected relevés. The relation of beta‐diversity to the variation in aspect and annual rainfall varied at different extents. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that dry grassland management plans aimed at conserving the maximum within‐habitat beta‐diversity should take into account variation in environmental variables, among which altitude proved to be a critical factor at every extent. Also, spatial distances positively affect within‐habitat beta‐diversity levels, and scale‐dependent minimum distances among habitat patches should be taken into account when selecting patches of habitat 6210(*) to be conserved in the study area.

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Relative importance of habitat area, connectivity, management and local factors for vascular plants: spring ephemerals in boreal semi-natural grasslands

Cited by 21 publications

References 69 publications

Trait-Specific Responses of Wild Bee Communities to Landscape Composition, Configuration and Local Factors

Trait-Specific Responses of Wild Bee Communities to Landscape Composition, Configuration and Local Factors

Both local and landscape factors determine plant and Orthoptera diversity in the semi-natural grasslands of Transylvania, Romania

Drivers of beta‐diversity variation inBromus erectussemi‐natural dry grasslands

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