Small-scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approach
Semi-natural grasslands are characterized by high biodiversity and require multifaceted approaches to monitor their biodiversity. Moreover, grasslands comprise a multitude of microhabitats, making the scale of investigation of fundamental importance. Despite their wide distribution, grasslands are h...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2021-12-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/12517.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827608997981585408 |
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| author | Michele Mugnai Clara Frasconi Wendt Paride Balzani Giulio Ferretti Matteo Dal Cin Alberto Masoni Filippo Frizzi Giacomo Santini Daniele Viciani Bruno Foggi Lorenzo Lazzaro |
| author_facet | Michele Mugnai Clara Frasconi Wendt Paride Balzani Giulio Ferretti Matteo Dal Cin Alberto Masoni Filippo Frizzi Giacomo Santini Daniele Viciani Bruno Foggi Lorenzo Lazzaro |
| author_sort | Michele Mugnai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Semi-natural grasslands are characterized by high biodiversity and require multifaceted approaches to monitor their biodiversity. Moreover, grasslands comprise a multitude of microhabitats, making the scale of investigation of fundamental importance. Despite their wide distribution, grasslands are highly threatened and are considered of high conservation priority by Directive no. 92/43/EEC. Here, we investigate the effects of small-scale ecological differences between two ecosites present within the EU habitat of Community Interest of semi-natural dry grasslands on calcareous substrates (6210 according to Dir. 92/43/EEC) occurring on a Mediterranean mountain. We measured taxonomic and functional diversity of plant and ant communities, evaluating the differences among the two ecosites, how these differences are influenced by the environment and whether vegetation affects composition of the ant community. Our results show that taxonomic and functional diversity of plant and ant communities are influenced by the environment. While vegetation has no effect on ant communities, we found plant and ant community composition differed across the two ecosites, filtering ant and plant species according to their functional traits, even at a small spatial scale. Our findings imply that small-scale monitoring is needed to effectively conserve priority habitats, especially for those that comprise multiple microhabitats. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:23:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-34795c5cc4f243c5977da7263a796e8b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:23:44Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-34795c5cc4f243c5977da7263a796e8b2023-12-03T07:09:22ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592021-12-019e1251710.7717/peerj.12517Small-scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approachMichele Mugnai0Clara Frasconi Wendt1Paride Balzani2Giulio Ferretti3Matteo Dal Cin4Alberto Masoni5Filippo Frizzi6Giacomo Santini7Daniele Viciani8Bruno Foggi9Lorenzo Lazzaro10Department of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Biology, University of Florence, Firenze, ItalySemi-natural grasslands are characterized by high biodiversity and require multifaceted approaches to monitor their biodiversity. Moreover, grasslands comprise a multitude of microhabitats, making the scale of investigation of fundamental importance. Despite their wide distribution, grasslands are highly threatened and are considered of high conservation priority by Directive no. 92/43/EEC. Here, we investigate the effects of small-scale ecological differences between two ecosites present within the EU habitat of Community Interest of semi-natural dry grasslands on calcareous substrates (6210 according to Dir. 92/43/EEC) occurring on a Mediterranean mountain. We measured taxonomic and functional diversity of plant and ant communities, evaluating the differences among the two ecosites, how these differences are influenced by the environment and whether vegetation affects composition of the ant community. Our results show that taxonomic and functional diversity of plant and ant communities are influenced by the environment. While vegetation has no effect on ant communities, we found plant and ant community composition differed across the two ecosites, filtering ant and plant species according to their functional traits, even at a small spatial scale. Our findings imply that small-scale monitoring is needed to effectively conserve priority habitats, especially for those that comprise multiple microhabitats.https://peerj.com/articles/12517.pdfBiodiversityFunctional traitsMulti-taxaPriority habitatTaxonomic diversityMediterranean |
| spellingShingle | Michele Mugnai Clara Frasconi Wendt Paride Balzani Giulio Ferretti Matteo Dal Cin Alberto Masoni Filippo Frizzi Giacomo Santini Daniele Viciani Bruno Foggi Lorenzo Lazzaro Small-scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approach PeerJ Biodiversity Functional traits Multi-taxa Priority habitat Taxonomic diversity Mediterranean |
| title | Small-scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approach |
| title_full | Small-scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approach |
| title_fullStr | Small-scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Small-scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approach |
| title_short | Small-scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approach |
| title_sort | small scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approach |
| topic | Biodiversity Functional traits Multi-taxa Priority habitat Taxonomic diversity Mediterranean |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/12517.pdf |
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