Conservation-relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels: Habitat quality is more important than habitat amount
The massive declines in terrestrial arthropods reported across Europe call for effective methods to monitor and promote biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. Previous studies vary in their support for the suitability of plants as indicators of arthropod diversity, while the potential of subset...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23001814 |
| _version_ | 1797866128084566016 |
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| author | Cynthia Tobisch Sandra Rojas-Botero Johannes Uhler Johannes Kollmann Jörg Müller Christoph Moning Sarah Redlich Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter Caryl Benjamin Jana Englmeier Ute Fricke Cristina Ganuza Maria Haensel Rebekka Riebl Lars Uphus Jörg Ewald |
| author_facet | Cynthia Tobisch Sandra Rojas-Botero Johannes Uhler Johannes Kollmann Jörg Müller Christoph Moning Sarah Redlich Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter Caryl Benjamin Jana Englmeier Ute Fricke Cristina Ganuza Maria Haensel Rebekka Riebl Lars Uphus Jörg Ewald |
| author_sort | Cynthia Tobisch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The massive declines in terrestrial arthropods reported across Europe call for effective methods to monitor and promote biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. Previous studies vary in their support for the suitability of plants as indicators of arthropod diversity, while the potential of subsets of conservation-relevant plant species to estimate arthropod richness remains to be tested. Moreover, the relative importance of plant species richness compared to other factors driving arthropod richness, such as land-use intensity, habitat amount and landscape configuration, is poorly understood. We conducted a multi-scale field study in Southern Germany, sampling vascular plants and terrestrial arthropods in four local land-use types (forest, grassland, arable field, settlement) across large-scale gradients of climate and land-use intensity. We obtained an extensive arthropod dataset using Malaise traps as sampling method and DNA metabarcoding for species identification. We compared the correlation of three sets of plant species richness (total, red-listed and biotope-indicator plants) with arthropod richness, including different trophic and taxonomic groups. Using mixed-effect models, we assessed the partial effects of plant species richness, habitat amount and landscape configuration on local arthropod richness while controlling for climate and land-use effects, and explored the environmental drivers of plant species richness. Arthropod species numbers of all trophic groups strongly responded to species numbers of plants that indicate protected habitats, while red-listed plant species richness was a key determinant for the richness of red-listed arthropods and butterflies. In most cases, plant species richness and temperature were stronger drivers of arthropod richness than the amount of surrounding semi-natural habitat and landscape configuration. While total plant species richness was highest in settlements, the richness of biotope-indicator plants was highest in forests and positively influenced by the amount of semi-natural habitat and edge density. The number of red-listed plant species increased with edge density at the landscape scale but was independent of habitat amount. We conclude that the richness of conservation-relevant plant species provides a powerful indicator of arthropod diversity, and underpins the potential of such plant lists for monitoring habitat quality. Our study highlights the importance of openings in forests for conservation of plants and arthropods as well as of preserving and restoring fragments of high-quality biotopes in agricultural and urban areas where the amount of semi-natural habitat is limited. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T23:20:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e6cecb89d14547eda21bb68bdf811be7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T23:20:12Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj.art-e6cecb89d14547eda21bb68bdf811be72023-03-22T04:36:01ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2023-04-01148110039Conservation-relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels: Habitat quality is more important than habitat amountCynthia Tobisch0Sandra Rojas-Botero1Johannes Uhler2Johannes Kollmann3Jörg Müller4Christoph Moning5Sarah Redlich6Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter7Caryl Benjamin8Jana Englmeier9Ute Fricke10Cristina Ganuza11Maria Haensel12Rebekka Riebl13Lars Uphus14Jörg Ewald15Institute of Ecology and Landscape, Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Am Hofgarten 4, 85354 Freising, Germany; Chair of Restoration Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany; Corresponding author at: Institute of Ecology and Landscape, Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Am Hofgarten 4, 85354 Freising, Germany.Chair of Restoration Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, GermanyField Station Fabrikschleichach, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyChair of Restoration Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, GermanyField Station Fabrikschleichach, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Bavarian Forest National Park, Grafenau, GermanyInstitute of Ecology and Landscape, Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Am Hofgarten 4, 85354 Freising, GermanyDepartment of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyDepartment of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyEcoclimatology, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, GermanyField Station Fabrikschleichach, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyDepartment of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyDepartment of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyProfessorship of Ecological Services, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, GermanyProfessorship of Ecological Services, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, GermanyEcoclimatology, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, GermanyInstitute of Ecology and Landscape, Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Am Hofgarten 4, 85354 Freising, GermanyThe massive declines in terrestrial arthropods reported across Europe call for effective methods to monitor and promote biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. Previous studies vary in their support for the suitability of plants as indicators of arthropod diversity, while the potential of subsets of conservation-relevant plant species to estimate arthropod richness remains to be tested. Moreover, the relative importance of plant species richness compared to other factors driving arthropod richness, such as land-use intensity, habitat amount and landscape configuration, is poorly understood. We conducted a multi-scale field study in Southern Germany, sampling vascular plants and terrestrial arthropods in four local land-use types (forest, grassland, arable field, settlement) across large-scale gradients of climate and land-use intensity. We obtained an extensive arthropod dataset using Malaise traps as sampling method and DNA metabarcoding for species identification. We compared the correlation of three sets of plant species richness (total, red-listed and biotope-indicator plants) with arthropod richness, including different trophic and taxonomic groups. Using mixed-effect models, we assessed the partial effects of plant species richness, habitat amount and landscape configuration on local arthropod richness while controlling for climate and land-use effects, and explored the environmental drivers of plant species richness. Arthropod species numbers of all trophic groups strongly responded to species numbers of plants that indicate protected habitats, while red-listed plant species richness was a key determinant for the richness of red-listed arthropods and butterflies. In most cases, plant species richness and temperature were stronger drivers of arthropod richness than the amount of surrounding semi-natural habitat and landscape configuration. While total plant species richness was highest in settlements, the richness of biotope-indicator plants was highest in forests and positively influenced by the amount of semi-natural habitat and edge density. The number of red-listed plant species increased with edge density at the landscape scale but was independent of habitat amount. We conclude that the richness of conservation-relevant plant species provides a powerful indicator of arthropod diversity, and underpins the potential of such plant lists for monitoring habitat quality. Our study highlights the importance of openings in forests for conservation of plants and arthropods as well as of preserving and restoring fragments of high-quality biotopes in agricultural and urban areas where the amount of semi-natural habitat is limited.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23001814Plant species richnessInsect diversityThreatened speciesSemi-natural areaHabitat amountEdge density |
| spellingShingle | Cynthia Tobisch Sandra Rojas-Botero Johannes Uhler Johannes Kollmann Jörg Müller Christoph Moning Sarah Redlich Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter Caryl Benjamin Jana Englmeier Ute Fricke Cristina Ganuza Maria Haensel Rebekka Riebl Lars Uphus Jörg Ewald Conservation-relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels: Habitat quality is more important than habitat amount Ecological Indicators Plant species richness Insect diversity Threatened species Semi-natural area Habitat amount Edge density |
| title | Conservation-relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels: Habitat quality is more important than habitat amount |
| title_full | Conservation-relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels: Habitat quality is more important than habitat amount |
| title_fullStr | Conservation-relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels: Habitat quality is more important than habitat amount |
| title_full_unstemmed | Conservation-relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels: Habitat quality is more important than habitat amount |
| title_short | Conservation-relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels: Habitat quality is more important than habitat amount |
| title_sort | conservation relevant plant species indicate arthropod richness across trophic levels habitat quality is more important than habitat amount |
| topic | Plant species richness Insect diversity Threatened species Semi-natural area Habitat amount Edge density |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23001814 |
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