To what extent does vegetation composition and structure influence beetle communities and species richness in private gardens in New Zealand?

Heezik, Yolanda van; Dickinson, Katharine J. M.; Freeman, Claire; Porter, Stephan S.; Wing, Janine; Barratt, B. I. P.

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.02.013

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Another key factor for filtering co-existing species in the rural sites could be the structural habitat variables (cover and thickness of leaf litter layer, amount of coarse woody debris, cover of herbs, shrubs, and canopy). Complex and heterogeneous habitats offer more food items, microhabitats, and shelter from adverse microclimatic conditions 51 – 53 , thereby may strongly influence the composition of ground beetle assemblages 54 , 55 . Food conditions also constitute a potential environmental filter, as colonization, survival and persistence of ground beetles in a habitat are crucially determined by available food, be that invertebrates, seeds, or plant tissues 30 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conversion from environmental filtering to randomness as assembly rule of ground beetle assemblages along an urbanization gradient

Magura

Löveï

Tóthmérész

2018

Sci Rep

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Urbanization fragments, isolates or eliminates natural habitats, and changes the structure and composition of assemblages living in the remaining natural fragments. Knowing assembly rules is necessary to support and/or maintain biodiversity in urban habitats. We hypothesized that forest communities in rural sites are organized by environmental filtering, but this may be changed by urbanization, and in the suburban and urban forest fragments replaced by randomly organized assemblages, influenced by the colonization of species from the surrounding matrix. Evaluating simultaneously the functional and phylogenetic relationships of co-existing species, we showed that at the rural sites, co-existing ground beetle species were functionally and phylogenetically more similar than expected by chance, indicating that environmental filtering was the likely process structuring these communities. Contrary to this, in urban and suburban sites, the co-occurring species were functionally and phylogenetically not different from the null model, indicating randomly structured assemblages. According to our findings, changes in environmental and habitat characteristics accompanied by urbanization lead to assemblages of randomly colonized species from the surrounding matrix, threatening proper ecosystem functioning. To reassemble stochastically assembled species of urban and suburban fragments to structured, properly functioning communities, appropriate management strategies are needed which simultaneously consider recreational, economic and conservation criteria.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conversion from environmental filtering to randomness as assembly rule of ground beetle assemblages along an urbanization gradient

Magura

Löveï

Tóthmérész

2018

Sci Rep

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“…We thus hypothesise, that (3) ground-dwelling invertebrate species richness increases with increasing garden size. High habitat and structural diversity as well as a diverse native vegetation provide more habitat niches and more varied food resources and in this way increase ground-dwelling invertebrate species richness [ 34 , 52 ]. We therefore hypothesise that (4) local garden characteristics, such as habitat diversity and structural diversity, increase the richness and alter the composition of ground-dwelling invertebrates, with different garden characteristics affecting different taxonomical groups to a different extent.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground-dwelling invertebrate diversity in domestic gardens along a rural-urban gradient: Landscape characteristics are more important than garden characteristics

et al. 2020

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Urbanisation is increasing worldwide and is regarded a major driver of environmental change altering local species assemblages. Private domestic gardens contribute a significant share of total green area in cities, but their biodiversity has received relatively little attention. Previous studies mainly considered plants, flying invertebrates such as bees and butterflies, and birds. By using a multi-taxa approach focused on less mobile, ground-dwelling invertebrates, we examined the influence of local garden characteristics and landscape characteristics on species richness and abundance of gastropods, spiders, millipedes, woodlice, ants, ground beetles and rove beetles. We assume that most of the species of these groups are able to complete their entire life cycle within a single garden. We conducted field surveys in thirty-five domestic gardens along a rural-urban gradient in Basel, Switzerland. Considered together, the gardens examined harboured an impressive species richness, with a mean share of species of the corresponding groups known for Switzerland of 13.9%, ranging from 4.7% in ground beetles to 23.3% in woodlice. The overall high biodiversity is a result of complementary contributions of gardens harbouring distinct species assemblages. Indeed, at the garden level, species richness of different taxonomical groups were typically not inter-correlated. The exception was ant species richness, which was correlated with those of gastropods and spiders. Generalised linear models revealed that distance to the city centre is an important driver of species richness, abundance and composition of several groups, resulting in an altered species composition in gardens in the centre of the city. Local garden characteristics were important drivers of gastropod and ant species richness, and the abundance of spiders, millipedes and rove beetles. Our study shows that domestic gardens make a valuable contribution to regional biodiversity. Thus, domestic urban gardens constitute an important part of green infrastructure, which should be considered by urban planners.

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“…We also found invertebrate family-specific habitat associations, which, if a habitat gradient is present could be contributing to driving these trends [59]. For example, the reduction in graminoid cover at both the moderately and highly goose-affected sites may be responsible for the increased abundances of Sciaridae and Chironomidae; families we found were both positively associated with low graminoid cover and goose pellet count, and were 3.7 and 1.9 times higher at the goose influenced sites than at the low goose influenced site.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 60%

Habitat alteration and fecal deposition by geese alter tundra invertebrate communities: Implications for diets of sympatric birds

et al. 2022

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Over the last 60 years, Arctic goose populations have increased while many sympatric tundra nesting bird populations have declined. Hyperabundant geese have well-documented effects on tundra habitats, which can alter habitat use by sympatric bird species. These habitat changes may also alter invertebrate communities and abundances, with potentially important, but as of yet, undocumented effects on insectivorous birds such as shorebirds. Here, we determined the effects of goose-induced habitat alteration on invertebrate communities and relate the observed changes to shorebird diet. At sites and habitat types representing a gradient of goose influence, we identified goose-related changes in ground cover and linked these factors to variation in invertebrate communities. We then used DNA metabarcoding to characterize the diet of six shorebird species across sites and identify inter-site variation in abundance, biomass, and timing of emergence of dominant shorebird prey items. Invertebrate diversity and richness did not vary either among sites or habitat types. However, for prey items identified as part of the shorebird diet, we found significantly higher abundances and biomasses at a moderately goose-influenced site than at either low or high goose-influenced sites. Biomass of Tipulidae, the dominant prey taxon for shorebirds at the study sites, was 7.5 times higher at the moderately goose-influenced site compared to the site where goose influence was minor. We attribute this enhancement of prey biomass to both the fertilizing effect of goose fecal pellets and the moderate grazing pressure. Many studies have documented adverse effects of overabundant geese, but here we show that a moderate degree of goose grazing can lead to enhanced biomass of invertebrates, with the potential for improved shorebird foraging success and chick growth. These benefits, however, might be outweighed by negative effects of goose-induced habitat alteration and predation pressure.

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To what extent does vegetation composition and structure influence beetle communities and species richness in private gardens in New Zealand?

Cited by 6 publications

References 58 publications

Conversion from environmental filtering to randomness as assembly rule of ground beetle assemblages along an urbanization gradient

Conversion from environmental filtering to randomness as assembly rule of ground beetle assemblages along an urbanization gradient

Ground-dwelling invertebrate diversity in domestic gardens along a rural-urban gradient: Landscape characteristics are more important than garden characteristics

Habitat alteration and fecal deposition by geese alter tundra invertebrate communities: Implications for diets of sympatric birds

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