Ground beetle species in heathland fragments in relation to survival, dispersal, and habitat preference

Vries, H. H. de; Boer, P.J. den; Dijk, Th.S. van

doi:10.1007/bf00328449

Cited by 96 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This is consistent with island biogeography theory (MacArthur and Wilson 1967) and previous SAR studies including beetles (e.g., Lövei et al 2006;Magura et al 2001;Vries de et al 1996). The SAR model that best explained the relationship was the quadratic power function (Chiarucci et al 2006;Dengler 2009), where the fitted SA-curve shows a rapid initial increase in the number of sand species followed by a peak at around 2.5-3 ha and then a decrease (Fig.…”

Section: Species-area Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…The same pattern has been observed for other terrestrial habitat islands, in which positive SARs have only been found for the habitatspecific species (Lövei et al 2006;Magura et al 2001;Vries de et al 1996). This can be explained by an influence of the surrounding matrix where matrix species invade the habitat island resulting in an increase of species richness along the edges (Cook et al 2002;Ewers and Didham 2006;Magura 2002;Niemelä 2001).…”

Section: Influence Of the Surrounding Matrixsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…When considering terrestrial habitat patches, however, the SAR can be distorted by species invading from the surrounding matrix into the habitat edges (Cook et al 2002;Ewers and Didham 2006). Accordingly, in several cases positive SA-relationships have been observed for habitat-specific species, but not for total species numbers (Lövei et al 2006;Magura et al 2001;Vries de et al 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sand pits as habitats for beetles (Coleoptera): does area affect species number and composition?

Lönnberg¹,

Jonsell²

2012

Biodivers Conserv

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Species living in open sandy habitats are declining in northern Europe because of habitat loss and degradation. However, mining of sand creates potential new habitats for these species in the form of sand pits. In this study we investigated the beetle fauna in sand pits in order to determine what kind of sand pits are the most valuable for conservation, in terms of sand pit area (primarily) and the proportion of sand material, vegetation cover, tree cover and edge habitats. Thirteen sand pits in Uppsala County, Sweden, ranging in size from 0.02 to 18 ha, were included in this study. A total of 2,500 individuals of beetles, belonging to 256 species, were sampled by pitfall traps. Thirty-nine of the species were classified as specialized sand-dwelling species and two were Swedish Red List species. We found that the area of sand pits affects both species number and species composition of beetles. A positive species-area relationship was found, best explained by a quadratic power function, for the habitat-specific species (i.e., sand species). Our recommendation is to prioritize sand pits with areas between 0.3 and 5 ha, with preference towards the lower end of this range, for conserving sand-dwelling beetles.

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Section: Species-area Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Influence Of the Surrounding Matrixsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sand pits as habitats for beetles (Coleoptera): does area affect species number and composition?

Lönnberg¹,

Jonsell²

2012

Biodivers Conserv

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“…In the nature reserves, the conditions for grey hair-grass vegetation are more favourable: more dynamic (blowing sand, grazing, recreational activities), less eutrophication from traffic and targeted nature management. Furthermore, the smaller size of the vegetation patches in the roadside verges probably also negatively influences the species diversity, because the probability of colonisation is lower and that of the populations dying out is higher (Hopkins & Webb, 1984;De Vries et al, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The focus is on the hypothesis that roadside verges are of lower quality for stenotopic species. In the verges, the expectation is to find a lower species number or abundance, over-representation of certain species (low evenness), few large species, or the absence of poor dispersers (De Vries et al, 1996;Den Boer, 1990).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) in roadside verges with grey hair-grass vegetation

Noordijk¹,

Schaffers²,

Sýkora³

2008

Eur. J. Entomol.

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Abstract. Roadside verges in densely populated areas are often a significant addition to the total semi-natural area and as such may contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. Furthermore, they can enhance the ecological cohesion of a region, especially when the existing nature reserves are small and/or highly fragmented. We investigated the occurrence of ground beetles and spiders in six highway verges with grey hair-grass vegetation in the Veluwe region, The Netherlands. Total species number in the verges was similar to the values found in nearby nature reserves with comparable vegetation, but the ground beetles tended to be more abundant in the reserves. Many stenotopic species were present in the verges, confirming the significant conservation value of this habitat. However, compared with the nature reserves, there were fewer species of stenotopic ground beetles and the stenotopic spiders were less abundant in the verges. From our knowledge of the biology and ecology of the species captured it seems likely that this is attributable to differences in "habitat quality". In the verges, species preferring bare sand are scarcer, and the weighted mean body length of ground beetles is shorter than in nature reserves. This suggests that the sward in the road verges is too dense and the suitable vegetation too patchy to sustain some of the stenotopic species. Habitat analyses support this contention: Compared with the nature reserves, the verges had proportionally less bare sand, more herb and tree cover and the vegetation patches were smaller. The strategy suggested to promote stenotopic species entails removing encroaching trees and shrubs from the verges in order to expand the nutrient-poor zone and (re-)create pioneer conditions. Subsequent management should aim at further improving the road verges as extensions of nutrient-poor habitat.

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Ecological Consequences of Habitat Fragmentation

Didham

2010

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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Habitat fragmentation is the process by which habitat loss results in the division of large, continuous habitats into smaller, more isolated habitat fragments. Habitat fragmentation is one of the most important processes contributing to population decline, biodiversity loss, and alteration of community structure and ecosystem functioning in anthropogenically-modified landscapes. Many thousands of individual scientific studies now show unequivocal evidence for the impacts of patch area, edge effects, patch shape complexity, isolation, and landscape matrix contrast on population and community dynamics in mosaic landscapes. However, striking disparities in the results of individual studies across differing taxa and differing ecosystems have raised considerable debate about the relative importance of the different mechanisms underlying fragmentation effects, and even debate about the utility of the 'habitat fragmentation' concept in general. Resolution of this debate lies in clear discrimination of the direct and indirect causal relationships among patch versus landscape variables. The most important recent advances in our understanding of the ecological effects of habitat fragmentation all stem from recognition of the strong context dependence of ecosystem responses, including spatial context dependence at multiple scales, time lags in population decline, trait dependence in species responses, and synergistic interactions between habitat fragmentation and other components of global environmental change.

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Ground beetle species in heathland fragments in relation to survival, dispersal, and habitat preference

Cited by 96 publications

References 15 publications

Sand pits as habitats for beetles (Coleoptera): does area affect species number and composition?

Sand pits as habitats for beetles (Coleoptera): does area affect species number and composition?

Diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) in roadside verges with grey hair-grass vegetation

Ecological Consequences of Habitat Fragmentation

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