Plant cover associated with aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) mediates insect community composition in steppes of Northwest China

Zhao, Zhijun; Reddy, Gadi V. P.; Wei, Shuhua; Zhu, Ming; Zhang, Kaiyang; Yu, Hao; Wang, Zhanjun; Qi, Jiaguo; Zhang, Rong

doi:10.1016/j.aspen.2018.01.017

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In general, Site A has a lower plant cover, and more collected beetles. This might be counterintuitive if tenebrionid abundance were enhanced by productivity, which is expected to be higher in Site B, because of the positive relationship between vegetation cover and productivity [75]. However, in our specific case, this might be explained by assuming that a more scattered plant distribution could force beetles to concentrate them, and hence to increase their density, near the sparse plants in the less vegetated site, whereas, in the more vegetated site, beetles were more dispersed and hence assumed a lower density, a pattern already observed in the tenebrionids inhabiting coastal dunes [76,77].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Fine-Scale Vegetation Characteristics Drive Insect Ensemble Structures in a Desert Ecosystem: The Tenebrionid Beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Inhabiting the Ulan Buh Desert (Inner Mongolia, China)

Niu

Ren

Lin³

et al. 2020

Insects

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In community ecology, ensembles are defined as phylogenetically bounded groups of species that use a similar set of resources within a community. Tenebrionids are a conspicuous faunal component of Asian deserts, but little is known about their community ecology. We investigated if tenebrionids associated with different plant species constitute ensembles with a different ecological structure. Sampling was done with pitfall traps placed beneath the most common plant species. Tenebrionid abundance patterns were modelled by fitting rank–abundance plots. The association between tenebrionid species and plant species was tested using contingency tables. Differences in ensemble diversity were investigated by diversity profiles. All ensembles were fitted by the geometric series model. Tenebrionid species were differently associated with different plant species. Diversity profiles indicate that different ensembles have different diversity patterns, because of differences in species relative abundance. Tenebrionids form different ensembles associated with the different dominant plant species. All these ensembles are, however, characterized by similar patterns of dominance, following the “niche pre-emption” model, and a steep decline in the diversity profiles. This indicates that similar environmental conditions lead to similar insect ensemble organization, although the most abundant species may vary, which suggests a role for microhabitat selection.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Fine-Scale Vegetation Characteristics Drive Insect Ensemble Structures in a Desert Ecosystem: The Tenebrionid Beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Inhabiting the Ulan Buh Desert (Inner Mongolia, China)

Niu

Ren

Lin³

et al. 2020

Insects

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“…The number of insect individuals captured in the field was counted for each card, and the mean values ± SE were then calculated. Based on family level, Shannon–Wiener index

(H = - \sum_{i = 1}^{k} (P_{i}) (l_{n} P_{i}))

was used to compute the diversity of insect arthropods in four steppe types, respectively (Zhao et al, ). The insects were then classified into four functional groups (herbivore, pollinator, predator, and parasitic wasp).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study area was located in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwest China, which was a part of in Eurasian Steppe. Totally, there were four steppe types (meadow steppe (MS), typical steppe (TS), desert steppe (DS), and steppe desert ( SD )) in Ningxia, which were widely distributed in Eurasian Steppe (Bai et al, ; Zhao et al, ). The four steppe types accounted for more than 90% of total steppe in Ningxia, which also had significant differences of plant biomass and species composition (see ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric response of different functional insect groups to low‐grazing pressure in Eurasian steppe in Ningxia

Zhao

Wei

Zhang

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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In recent years, the continued loss and fragmentation of steppe has caused decreased ecosystem functions and species losses in insect diversity. In the 2000s, the Chinese government developed a series of national projects, such as the construction of enclosures, to conserve natural ecosystems, including steppe. However, the effects of these enclosures on steppe arthropod community are largely unknown. In the present study, we selected enclosed and low‐grazing regions at eight National Grassland Fixed Monitoring Stations to examine the compositional differences in four insect functional groups and their associated ecological functions. The results showed that diversity significantly differed between the enclosed and low‐grazing regions, with the number of insect families being significantly higher in enclosed regions than in regions with low‐grazing pressure. The responses of the insect community to steppe management also varied among the four groups (herbivores, predators, parasitoids, and pollinators). The abundances of herbivores, predators, and parasitoids were higher in enclosed regions than in low‐grazing regions, while there was no significant difference in pollinators. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the predator/prey ratio between enclosed regions and low‐grazing regions in any of the steppe types. The parasitic wasp/prey ratio was higher in enclosed regions than in low‐grazing regions in meadow steppe and typical steppe, while there were no significant differences between the enclosed and low‐grazing regions in desert steppe and steppe desert. Herbivores were observed to benefit much more from enclosures than predators, parasitoids, and pollinators. Therefore, we recommend low‐grazing should be considered in steppe conservation, which could conserve biodiversity and achieve biocontrol functions of arthropod community.

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“…The average yearly evaporation and annual precipitation are 2,075.1 mm and 276 mm, respectively. The precipitation is unevenly distributed throughout the year and about 70% falls from June to September [43,44].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These two steppe types consist of significantly different plants and species communities. Thus, each type is further divided into different community types according to the constructive plant species [1,44].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat Fragmentation Effects on Community Composition of Carabid in Steppes of Northwest China

Wei¹,

Huang²,

Zhu³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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It is well known that human activities and climate change have increased steppe habitat loss and fragmentation in Northwest China. Carabid beetles are often used as bioindicators of environmental change because they are extremely sensitive to disturbance. We chose 42 landscapes (18 fragmented and 24 continuous) in both desert and typical steppes of Northwest China to examine the influence of habitat loss and fragmentation on carabid beetle communities. The results showed the largest correlation coefficient between carabid communities and landscape compositions within a 7-km spatial scale in both desert and typical steppes. Further, the response of carabid communities to habitat fragmentation was species-specific in both desert and typical steppes. Habitat fragmentation in the desert steppe had positive effects on the richness and abundance of carabid communities, while in the typical steppe, the effects were negative. Additionally, habitat fragmentation significantly decreased the abundance of two common carabid species in the desert steppe. Therefore, the effects of habitat fragmentation on carabid biodiversity differ with species characteristics and habitat traits, where plant communities, soil structure, and microclimate vary in the different steppe types. The results of this study provide experimental evidence and technical support for biodiversity conservation management in the steppes of Northwest China.

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Plant cover associated with aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) mediates insect community composition in steppes of Northwest China

Cited by 10 publications

References 44 publications

Fine-Scale Vegetation Characteristics Drive Insect Ensemble Structures in a Desert Ecosystem: The Tenebrionid Beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Inhabiting the Ulan Buh Desert (Inner Mongolia, China)

Fine-Scale Vegetation Characteristics Drive Insect Ensemble Structures in a Desert Ecosystem: The Tenebrionid Beetles (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) Inhabiting the Ulan Buh Desert (Inner Mongolia, China)

Asymmetric response of different functional insect groups to low‐grazing pressure in Eurasian steppe in Ningxia

Habitat Fragmentation Effects on Community Composition of Carabid in Steppes of Northwest China

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