Ecology, management and monitoring of grey dunes in Flanders

Provoost, Sam; Ampe, Carole; Bonte, Dries; Cosyns, Eric; Hoffmann, Maurice

doi:10.1007/bf02818940

Cited by 17 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…As subdivision of the P. monticola population in the fragmented landscape dates back to the early 1980s, fast interdemic microevolution of aerial dispersal (or an adjustment of the behavioural threshold to perform dispersal) may have occurred in relation to recent fragmentation of short grasslands in the dune landscape (Provoost et al 2004). A similar case of reduced dispersal propensity has been described in weedy, short-lived and wind-dispersed plants of inshore islands in Canada (Cody & Overton 1996).…”

Section: Selection Against Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 81%

Geographical variation in wolf spider dispersal behaviour is related to landscape structure

et al. 2006

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Theoretical studies suggest that mechanisms underlying habitat and population structure are important for shaping inter-and intraspecific variation in dispersal behaviour. Empirical evidence, especially in organisms living in spatially structured populations, however, is scarce. We investigated the relation between habitat configuration (patch size, connectivity) and dispersal by studying variation in tiptoe behaviour in the dune wolf spider, Pardosa monticola, under standardized laboratory conditions. Tiptoe behaviour prepares spiderlings for ballooning and can hence be considered as a precursor of aerial dispersal. The proportion of individuals that displayed tiptoe behaviour was highest in offspring from grasslands in a large dune landscape where habitat was continuously available, intermediate in offspring originating from a fragmented landscape, and lowest in offspring originating from a small and extremely isolated grassland patch. At the level of the fragmented landscape, variation was related to size and connectivity of four subpopulations. Both between and within landscapes, maternal condition had no effect on offspring dispersal. These results indicate that changes in habitat configuration from a large, connected landscape towards a small, fragmented one may lead to a decrease in dispersal rates, even at small spatial scales. Hence, behavioural traits narrowly linked to dispersal evolve towards less mobile phenotypes in small, isolated habitats, indicating high dispersal costs and low efficacy for gene flow in a spider species restricted to fragmented habitats.

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Section: Selection Against Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 81%

Geographical variation in wolf spider dispersal behaviour is related to landscape structure

et al. 2006

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“…Vegetation of grey dunes includes Atlantic moss dominated dunes (mainly Tortula ruralis) as well as dune grassland (with a distinct organic soil layer) belonging to the Cladonio-Koelerietalia in the case of lime-rich grey dune and to the Trifolio-Festucetalia ovinae in the case of decalcified grey dunes (Provoost et al 2002). Climatological conditions are extreme, with high temperature and low humidity in the summer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low propensity for aerial dispersal in specialist spiders from fragmented landscapes

Bonte

Vandenbroecke

Lens

et al. 2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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159

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Aerial dispersal by ballooning is a passive flight, by which wind drag generates an upward lift on a silk thread. It is likely to reflect an aerial lottery, in which the absence of flight direction control is a serious cost for long-distance dispersal in a fragmented landscape. For species occurring in one patchily distributed habitat type, dispersal should evolve in a different way from morphological traits, directly linked to active dispersal. Therefore, we expect that if the risk of landing in an unsuitable habitat is lower than the probability of reaching a suitable habitat, selection should benefit a well-developed ballooning behaviour. We investigated interspecific variation in the ballooning-initiating tiptoe behaviour as it is linked to spider dispersal performance. Our results indeed indicate that ballooning performance is negatively related to habitat specialization in spiders from patchy grey dunes, so habitat specialists are characterized by poorly developed dispersal behaviour. These findings are concordant with recent insights that dispersal is selected as risk spreading in generalists, while it is selected against in specialist species.

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“…Grey dunes, known as ''Fixed coastal dunes'' are most readily defined using plant communities. Vegetation includes Atlantic moss dominated dunes (mainly Tortula ruralis) as well as dune grassland (with a distinct organic soil layer) belonging to the CladonioKoelerietalia syntaxon in case of lime rich grey dune, and to the Trifolio-Festucetalia ovinae syntaxon in case of decalcified grey dunes (Provoost et al 2002). In this study, only grey dunes without substantial soil development were surveyed since they are the habitat of both study species (see further).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ecologically it is merely the dry component of the ''stressed dune landscape''. The main differentiating processes are related to dune fixation, soil formation and vegetation development (Provoost et al 2002). At present, rough grass and scrub encroachment result in a severe fragmentation within a matrix of dense dune vegetation (shrubs, dense grassland).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In each of the 52 grey dune patches, at least five traps were randomly placed, depending on the patch area. Patches were digitized from aerial orthophotographs with a Geographic Information System (Arcview 3.1) and discrimination of vegetation types was based on vegetation-specific red (RED) and near-infrared (NIR) reflectance values (Provoost et al 2002). Because of its high activity during this season, the use of pitfall traps have been shown to be very useful in catching this typical spider species living within this habitat (Bonte et al 2004c).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatial Association Between a Spider Wasp and Its Host in Fragmented Dune Habitats

Bonte

Maelfait

2005

Journal of Arachnology

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ABSTRACT. In patchily distributed habitats, species potentially occur wherever conditions are suitable or show a restricted distribution, influenced by patch quality, geometry and configuration. If patch isolation appears to be the main determinant of the species' distribution then dispersal ability is supposed to be limited. Although only scarce literature is available, dispersal limitation seems to be an important factor in determining the spatial population structure in spiders. In this paper, we document on the spatial population structure of the rare wolf spider Alopecosa fabrilis, restricted to fragmented grey dunes along the Flemish coast (Belgium) and ask whether its distribution appears to be affected by aspects of patch configuration. Simultaneously, we investigated whether the local distribution of its main parasitoid, the spider wasp Arachnospila rufa (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae) was associated with its host. Our results indicate that A. fabrilis shows an aggregative population structure, which is determined by the distance to nearest occupied patch, indicating that spatially correlated habitat quality probably determine its occurrence. Although spider wasps are generally characterized as non-specialists, the almost complete covariation between its spatial occurrence and that of A. fabrilis, indicates that spider hunting wasps may, at least temporally and locally, show a restricted host-range. As a result, the presence of a rather generalist parasitoid is a good predictor for the presence of nocturnal and burrowing dune wolf spider.

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Ecology, management and monitoring of grey dunes in Flanders

Cited by 17 publications

References 13 publications

Geographical variation in wolf spider dispersal behaviour is related to landscape structure

Geographical variation in wolf spider dispersal behaviour is related to landscape structure

Low propensity for aerial dispersal in specialist spiders from fragmented landscapes

Spatial Association Between a Spider Wasp and Its Host in Fragmented Dune Habitats

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