Butterflies in semi‐natural pastures and power‐line corridors – effects of flower richness, management, and structural vegetation characteristics

Berg, Åke; Ahrné, Karin; Öckinger, Erik; Svensson, Roger; Wissman, Jörgen

doi:10.1111/icad.12019

Cited by 47 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Therefore, the good suitability and quality of power line sites should be expected in these situations. On the other hand, both the aforementioned and further studies (Russel et al 2005;Lensu et al 2011;Berg et al 2013) underline the impact of management regimes on enhancing the suitability of these sites for both particular species and multi-species communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Track verges should be mown with mowing schemes that are adapted to butterfly requirements. A single stretch of tracks and tracks verges should be mown every 2-3 years in order to increase the abundance of flowering plants, to prevent succession and to provide shelter sites with taller vegetation, as has been suggested (see Saarinen et al 2005;Berg et al 2013). Track verges of good quality, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as a new alternative habitat

Kalarus

Bakowski

2015

Italian Journal of Zoology

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Natural and semi-natural habitats are declining. However, little is known of the value of artificial and human-altered habitats for biodiversity maintenance in fragmented landscapes. We hypothesized that railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as an alternative habitat. Using 200-m-long transects, we investigated species richness and two main types of β-diversity, i.e. nestedness and community dispersion, for both butterflies and their nectar plants in eight sites under an expected gradient of habitat quality -meadows, railway tracks, forest clearings and degraded meadows. Railway tracks and meadows had higher butterfly species richness than forest clearings and degraded meadow. Butterfly species distribution among sites was strongly related to the gradient of habitat quality that was measured as nectar plant composition. Railway tracks contained the widest pool of butterflies with species of various biotopes as well as a wide pool of nectar plants at a nested subset pattern of β-diversity. However, the pattern of community dispersion was opposite to what had been expected. Meadows and railway tracks, being more heterogeneous sites in terms of composition of nectar plants, supported slightly more homogeneous butterfly communities. This suggests that habitats of low quality, i.e. forest clearings and degraded meadows, have less-stable butterfly communities. We concluded that railway tracks located on sun-warmed embankments containing a reach pool of nectar plants could enable multi-species communities to persist in an environment of good suitability. Conservation managers should therefore focus on enhancing the quality of railway tracks and their vicinity through the preservation of a high abundance of various flowering plants.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as a new alternative habitat

Kalarus

Bakowski

2015

Italian Journal of Zoology

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“…Companies meet their responsibility in a number of ways, but historically the most common technique is episodic mowing, or large-scale herbicide application for inaccessible areas. In periods between treatments, this land provides early successional habitat that is used by birds (Askins et al 2012;King and Byers 2002;Confer 2002;Knight and Kawashima 1993), butterflies and moths (Berg et al 2011(Berg et al , 2013Komonen et al 2013;Schweitzer et al 2010;Wagner 2007), small mammals (Litvaitis 2001;Macreadie et al 1998;Johnson et al 1979), plants (Wagner et al 2014a, b) and wild bees (Wagner et al 2014a, b;Russell et al 2005). Although a growing body of literature is demonstrating the general importance of this habitat (e.g., Hill and Bartomeus 2016;Sydenham et al 2016), Wojcik and Buchmann in their review (2012) conclude that more detailed research on pollinators is needed to further quantify these benefits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing the conservation value of powerline corridors for wild bees through vegetation management: an experimental approach

Russell

Kaplan

et al. 2018

Biodivers Conserv

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Mounting evidence suggests declines in the abundance and diversity of wild bees. Increasing habitat that provides forage and nesting sites could boost struggling populations, particularly in urban, suburban and agricultural landscapes. The millions of acres beneath aerial electric transmission lines, sometimes referred to as easements or rights-ofway, must be kept free of tall-growing vegetation and hence have the potential to provide suitable habitat for many native species. Prior work has demonstrated that bee communities in easements managed using alternatives to episodic mowing were more diverse than in nearby open areas, however true control sites within the easements were unavailable. In order to compare vegetation management protocols, we conducted a two-year study which enabled us to directly compare transmission line easements in three locations currently undergoing Integrated Vegetation Management-a dynamic form of management involving spot removal and herbicide treatment of unwanted species (treatment) with nearby sites undergoing standard management protocols of yearly or biyearly mowing (control). Results show that treatment sites had significantly higher abundance and species richness than controls. Seasonal differences were pronounced, with the spring fauna most affected Communicated by David Hawksworth. 1 3 Electronic supplementary materialby differences in vegetation management. In addition, the older treatment sites house more social bees, more parasitic species and a more even distribution of bees across nesting guilds. Finally, we established that treatment sites had distinct bee communities, further increasing their value as sources for native bee populations in the landscape. Overall, the data clearly show the value of implementing alternative active vegetation management in the land under powerlines to achieve an increase in the abundance and diversity of wild bees.

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“…Shifting to meadow management on grass-covered slopes in public parks in Oslo would also provide larger foraging areas while avoiding conflicts with sports recreational uses. Seemingly low-value or marginal areas like road verges, power lines and railway banks also have the potential to provide valuable infrastructure for supporting pollinator populations (Berg et al 2013, Potts et al 2016. Such management approaches can both improve citizen engagement and contribute to a more sustainable urbanisation (Hall et al 2017).…”

Section: Additional Implications For Management Of Urban Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem services mapping for municipal policy: ESTIMAP and zoning for urban beekeeping

Stange¹,

Zulian²,

Rusch³

et al. 2017

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Pollinating insects are an integral part of cities' natural capital and perform an important ecosystem function with a high degree of relevance to many cultural ecosystem services. Consequently, pollinators serve as a useful proxy for assessing urban biodiversity. Beekeeping has recently emerged as a popular activity in many urban areas and a good deal of the motivation for urban beekeeping for many stems from the cultural and nonconsumptive aspects of beekeeping. Yet the recent increases in domestic honeybee densities in urban landscapes has raised concern regarding the potential threat that honeybees might pose to local populations of threatened bumblebee and solitary bee species. This issue constitutes a trade-off between the cultural ecosystem services associated with urban beekeeping and the regulation and maintenance ecosystem services of maintaining nursery populations of rare and threatened species. Municipal authorities in Oslo, Norway have proposed establishing eight "precautionary zones", within which placement of honeybee hives could be more strictly regulated. We propose a mapping and assessment approach for informing zoning decisions regarding urban honeybees, utilising a model of an urban landscape's biophysical capacity to support pollinating insects honeybees in Oslo, we identify areas in the city where domestic honeybees may be more likely to exhaust floral resources. This case also tests the policy relevance of ecosystem service mapping tools beyond awareness raising, with broader general lessons for ecosystem mapping and assessment.

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Butterflies in semi‐natural pastures and power‐line corridors – effects of flower richness, management, and structural vegetation characteristics

Cited by 47 publications

References 54 publications

Railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as a new alternative habitat

Railway tracks can have great value for butterflies as a new alternative habitat

Increasing the conservation value of powerline corridors for wild bees through vegetation management: an experimental approach

Ecosystem services mapping for municipal policy: ESTIMAP and zoning for urban beekeeping

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