Landscape-scale connectivity and fragment size determine species composition of grassland fragments
As a consequence of agricultural intensification and habitat fragmentation since the mid-20th century, biological diversity has declined considerably throughout the world, particularly in Europe. We assessed how habitat and landscape-scale heterogeneity, such as variation in fragment size (small vs....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Basic and Applied Ecology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179122000822 |
| _version_ | 1797755070389944320 |
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| author | Róbert Gallé Dávid Korányi Csaba Tölgyesi Tamás Lakatos Fabio Marcolin Edina Török Kitti Révész Ágota Réka Szabó Attila Torma Nikolett Gallé-Szpisjak Riho Marja Katalin Szitár Balázs Deák Péter Batáry |
| author_facet | Róbert Gallé Dávid Korányi Csaba Tölgyesi Tamás Lakatos Fabio Marcolin Edina Török Kitti Révész Ágota Réka Szabó Attila Torma Nikolett Gallé-Szpisjak Riho Marja Katalin Szitár Balázs Deák Péter Batáry |
| author_sort | Róbert Gallé |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As a consequence of agricultural intensification and habitat fragmentation since the mid-20th century, biological diversity has declined considerably throughout the world, particularly in Europe. We assessed how habitat and landscape-scale heterogeneity, such as variation in fragment size (small vs. large) and landscape configuration (measured as connectivity index), affect plant and arthropod diversity. We focused on arthropods with different feeding behaviour and mobility, spiders (predators, moderate dispersal), true bugs (mainly herbivores and omnivores with moderate dispersal), wild bees (pollinators with good dispersal abilities), and wasps (pollinators, omnivores with good dispersal abilities). We studied 60 dry grassland fragments in the same region (Hungarian Great Plain); 30 fragments were represented by the grassland component of forest-steppe stands, and 30 were situated on burial mounds (kurgans). Forest-steppes are mosaics of dry grasslands with small forests in a matrix of plantation forests. Kurgans are ancient burial mounds with moderately disturbed grasslands surrounded by agricultural fields. The size of fragments ranged between 0.16–6.88 ha (small: 0.16–0.48 ha, large: 0.93–6.88 ha) for forest-steppes and 0.01–0.44 ha (small: 0.01–0.10 ha and large: 0.20–0.44 ha) for kurgans. Fragments also represented an isolation gradient from almost cleared and homogenous landscapes, to landscapes with relatively high compositional heterogeneity. Fragment size, connectivity, and their interaction affected specialist and generalist species abundances of forest-steppes and kurgans. Large fragments had higher species richness of ground-dwelling spiders, and the effect of connectivity was more strongly positive for specialist arthropods and more strongly negative for generalists in large than in small fragments. However, we also found a strong positive impact of connectivity for generalist plants in small kurgans in contrast to larger ones. We conclude that besides the well-known effect of enhancing habitat quality, increasing connectivity between fragments by restoring natural and semi-natural habitat patches would help to maintain grassland biodiversity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:41:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3f1e721fa61d424b86df18186b635ee0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1439-1791 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:41:32Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Basic and Applied Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-3f1e721fa61d424b86df18186b635ee02023-08-04T05:46:39ZengElsevierBasic and Applied Ecology1439-17912022-12-01653949Landscape-scale connectivity and fragment size determine species composition of grassland fragmentsRóbert Gallé0Dávid Korányi1Csaba Tölgyesi2Tamás Lakatos3Fabio Marcolin4Edina Török5Kitti Révész6Ágota Réka Szabó7Attila Torma8Nikolett Gallé-Szpisjak9Riho Marja10Katalin Szitár11Balázs Deák12Péter Batáry13‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary; Corresponding author.‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, HungaryMTA-SZTE 'Momentum' Applied Ecology Research Group, Szeged, Közép fasor 52, H-6726 Szeged, Hungary, Department of Ecology, University of Szeged, Közép fasor 52, H-6726 Szeged, Hungary‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary; Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, P-1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal‘Lendület’ Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary; Centro de Estudos Florestais, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, P-1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary; Doctoral School of Biology, Institute of Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary; ‘Lendület’ Seed Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, Hungary‘Lendület’ Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, H-2163 Vácrátót, HungaryAs a consequence of agricultural intensification and habitat fragmentation since the mid-20th century, biological diversity has declined considerably throughout the world, particularly in Europe. We assessed how habitat and landscape-scale heterogeneity, such as variation in fragment size (small vs. large) and landscape configuration (measured as connectivity index), affect plant and arthropod diversity. We focused on arthropods with different feeding behaviour and mobility, spiders (predators, moderate dispersal), true bugs (mainly herbivores and omnivores with moderate dispersal), wild bees (pollinators with good dispersal abilities), and wasps (pollinators, omnivores with good dispersal abilities). We studied 60 dry grassland fragments in the same region (Hungarian Great Plain); 30 fragments were represented by the grassland component of forest-steppe stands, and 30 were situated on burial mounds (kurgans). Forest-steppes are mosaics of dry grasslands with small forests in a matrix of plantation forests. Kurgans are ancient burial mounds with moderately disturbed grasslands surrounded by agricultural fields. The size of fragments ranged between 0.16–6.88 ha (small: 0.16–0.48 ha, large: 0.93–6.88 ha) for forest-steppes and 0.01–0.44 ha (small: 0.01–0.10 ha and large: 0.20–0.44 ha) for kurgans. Fragments also represented an isolation gradient from almost cleared and homogenous landscapes, to landscapes with relatively high compositional heterogeneity. Fragment size, connectivity, and their interaction affected specialist and generalist species abundances of forest-steppes and kurgans. Large fragments had higher species richness of ground-dwelling spiders, and the effect of connectivity was more strongly positive for specialist arthropods and more strongly negative for generalists in large than in small fragments. However, we also found a strong positive impact of connectivity for generalist plants in small kurgans in contrast to larger ones. We conclude that besides the well-known effect of enhancing habitat quality, increasing connectivity between fragments by restoring natural and semi-natural habitat patches would help to maintain grassland biodiversity.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179122000822ArthropodDiversityForest-steppeGeneralistIsolationKurgan |
| spellingShingle | Róbert Gallé Dávid Korányi Csaba Tölgyesi Tamás Lakatos Fabio Marcolin Edina Török Kitti Révész Ágota Réka Szabó Attila Torma Nikolett Gallé-Szpisjak Riho Marja Katalin Szitár Balázs Deák Péter Batáry Landscape-scale connectivity and fragment size determine species composition of grassland fragments Basic and Applied Ecology Arthropod Diversity Forest-steppe Generalist Isolation Kurgan |
| title | Landscape-scale connectivity and fragment size determine species composition of grassland fragments |
| title_full | Landscape-scale connectivity and fragment size determine species composition of grassland fragments |
| title_fullStr | Landscape-scale connectivity and fragment size determine species composition of grassland fragments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Landscape-scale connectivity and fragment size determine species composition of grassland fragments |
| title_short | Landscape-scale connectivity and fragment size determine species composition of grassland fragments |
| title_sort | landscape scale connectivity and fragment size determine species composition of grassland fragments |
| topic | Arthropod Diversity Forest-steppe Generalist Isolation Kurgan |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179122000822 |
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