The structure of temperate yellowjacket communities is affected by land development and loss of forest cover

Abstract

As anthropogenic disturbance continues to encroach on natural areas, it is imperative to establish how this disturbance affects species assemblages. Yellowjackets are important predators of a wide range of arthropods, acting as natural population control in many ecosystems. This study seeks to explore how Vespinae community structure shifts with increasing land development in a temperate North American environment. 2 Yellowjackets were sampled from May to September 2019 using heptyl butyrate and acetic acid plus isobutanol traps. Sampling sites represented a gradient of developed landscapes, from fully forested to entirely developed. Seven species from the genera Dolichovespula and Vespula were trapped during the study. 3 Yellowjacket community structure was found to be significantly affected by the amount of land development. These results were driven by the replacement of Vespula consobrina with Vespula germanica in urban landscapes. A high level of development, greater than 75%, reduced species abundance relative to the fully forested landscapes, primarily due to the loss of Vespula pensylvanica and V. consobrina. 4 Our results highlight that the replacement of forested areas with urban development causes a shift in yellowjacket community composition, favouring generalist scavengers (e.g. V. germanica) and threatening the abundance of forest specialists such as V. consobrina.