Pub Date : 2025-03-27DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.009
Edina Török , Riho Marja , Ágota Réka Szabó , Róbert Gallé , Péter Batáry
Plant invasion and habitat fragmentation are significant global drivers threatening biodiversity. Synergistic interactions between these processes can lead to even more significant biodiversity loss than when they act alone. However, their effects on flower visiting insects and their food resources are complex and lack a general consensus. In this two-year study, we analysed the structural changes in plant-flower visitor networks in response to the interaction between common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) invasion and fragment size. We selected natural forest-steppe grassland fragments along a gradient of fragment sizes in Hungary by designating invaded and control areas in each to survey flower visitors and their food plants before and during milkweed flowering. We found that Shannon diversity and generality of networks were significantly lower in milkweed-invaded areas compared to control areas during milkweed flowering. More diverse networks were observed in the control areas. Functional complementarity and the cluster coefficient of networks were significantly higher in milkweed-invaded areas compared to control areas during milkweed flowering. However, we found no effect of fragment size. Our results showed that during its flowering period, milkweed significantly impacted and simplified flower-visiting insect networks. The flowers of the invasive milkweed attracted flower visitors with suitably long tongues, potentially disrupting local flower-visiting species. Our research highlights that exploring networks provides valuable insights into the indirect consequences of plant invasion and offers new knowledge for habitat restoration efforts.
{"title":"Invasive common milkweed strongly simplifies insect flower-visiting networks","authors":"Edina Török , Riho Marja , Ágota Réka Szabó , Róbert Gallé , Péter Batáry","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plant invasion and habitat fragmentation are significant global drivers threatening biodiversity. Synergistic interactions between these processes can lead to even more significant biodiversity loss than when they act alone. However, their effects on flower visiting insects and their food resources are complex and lack a general consensus. In this two-year study, we analysed the structural changes in plant-flower visitor networks in response to the interaction between common milkweed (<em>Asclepias syriaca</em>) invasion and fragment size. We selected natural forest-steppe grassland fragments along a gradient of fragment sizes in Hungary by designating invaded and control areas in each to survey flower visitors and their food plants before and during milkweed flowering. We found that Shannon diversity and generality of networks were significantly lower in milkweed-invaded areas compared to control areas during milkweed flowering. More diverse networks were observed in the control areas. Functional complementarity and the cluster coefficient of networks were significantly higher in milkweed-invaded areas compared to control areas during milkweed flowering. However, we found no effect of fragment size. Our results showed that during its flowering period, milkweed significantly impacted and simplified flower-visiting insect networks. The flowers of the invasive milkweed attracted flower visitors with suitably long tongues, potentially disrupting local flower-visiting species. Our research highlights that exploring networks provides valuable insights into the indirect consequences of plant invasion and offers new knowledge for habitat restoration efforts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"85 ","pages":"Pages 1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143786159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-26DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.008
Evert Van de Schoot, Renate A. Wesselingh, Hans Van Dyck
Light pollution, caused by artificial light at night (ALAN), affects an ever-increasing area of the Earth and evidence is piling up on its negative effects on organisms, including insects. Besides direct sensory and physiological effects on adult behaviour, ALAN may also affect larval growth and developmental life cycle regulation (e.g., diapause induction). Moth species whose larvae are mainly diurnal may also be sensitive to the disruption of the day-night cycle by ALAN, but species with such an ecological profile remained understudied so far. The garden tiger moth Arctia caja mainly shows diurnal activity at the larval stages and adults are capital breeders that do not feed at all. In a split-brood rearing experiment, caterpillars of the F1 and F2 generation from wild-caught females were individually grown under either ALAN or control-dark conditions. We tested for constraints of ALAN on larval survival and development, and the consequences for body mass. We showed evidence for increased larval mortality under ALAN conditions in both the F1 and F2 generation. ALAN caused accelerated larval development by disturbing the induction of a feeding arrest (i.e., larval diapause). Pupal mass was lower under ALAN conditions, but only so in females. Capital breeders like A. caja are expected to be particularly affected by a decrease in female body mass since this will negatively affect fecundity and adult lifespan. Therefore, our results suggest that long-term exposure of moth populations to ALAN negatively affects capital breeding performance and hence population performance.
{"title":"Artificial light at night reduces larval survival and constrains female body mass in a capital breeding moth","authors":"Evert Van de Schoot, Renate A. Wesselingh, Hans Van Dyck","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Light pollution, caused by artificial light at night (ALAN), affects an ever-increasing area of the Earth and evidence is piling up on its negative effects on organisms, including insects. Besides direct sensory and physiological effects on adult behaviour, ALAN may also affect larval growth and developmental life cycle regulation (e.g., diapause induction). Moth species whose larvae are mainly diurnal may also be sensitive to the disruption of the day-night cycle by ALAN, but species with such an ecological profile remained understudied so far. The garden tiger moth <em>Arctia caja</em> mainly shows diurnal activity at the larval stages and adults are capital breeders that do not feed at all. In a split-brood rearing experiment, caterpillars of the F<sub>1</sub> and F<sub>2</sub> generation from wild-caught females were individually grown under either ALAN or control-dark conditions. We tested for constraints of ALAN on larval survival and development, and the consequences for body mass. We showed evidence for increased larval mortality under ALAN conditions in both the F<sub>1</sub> and F<sub>2</sub> generation. ALAN caused accelerated larval development by disturbing the induction of a feeding arrest (i.e., larval diapause). Pupal mass was lower under ALAN conditions, but only so in females. Capital breeders like <em>A. caja</em> are expected to be particularly affected by a decrease in female body mass since this will negatively affect fecundity and adult lifespan. Therefore, our results suggest that long-term exposure of moth populations to ALAN negatively affects capital breeding performance and hence population performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"85 ","pages":"Pages 38-44"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-17DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.004
David Bennett , Henning Nissen , Marc Andre Maschke , Heinrich Reck , Tim Diekötter
Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) uses stationary recorders to detect wildlife in field conditions. The method has long been valuable for surveying certain species groups, especially bats. However, PAM has been limited by resource costs and availability of automatic classifiers to assist data analysis. With recent developments of inexpensive devices, such as Audiomoth, landscape-scale monitoring has become more feasible. This also opens possibilities to apply PAM to species groups that traditionally have been studied via expert-based, labour-intensive monitoring, such as transect surveys.
Utilizing recordings of Orthoptera from online databases, specialists and from our own recordings, we built a machine-learning classifier to automatically identify 17 Orthoptera species, OrthopterOSS. Assessment included the comparison of PAM to traditional transects surveys. We also compared the performance of inexpensive Audiomoth with classic Batlogger recorders for surveying Orthoptera species with PAM, at eight sites, where we also tested whether adding two additional Audiomoths in 50 m distances from the initial device towards the edge of the wildflower area would increase species detections. We also assessed how the number of species detected changed over time.
In total, we detected 20 Orthoptera species during the study. Our new classifier achieved a true positive rate of 86.4 % validated against independent test data. PAM outperformed traditional sweep netting transects overall, although differences were not statistically significant. There was no difference in species composition detected by Audiomoth v1.2 or Batlogger, the species composition detected by three Audiomoths compared to one Audiomoth and no difference between hedgerow and centre species communities. There was also no significant relationship between Orthoptera richness and the percentage of permanent semi-natural habitat in the nearby landscape.
Relatively inexpensive equipment allows for efficient PAM of Orthoptera. Our OrthopterOSS classifier could represent a useful tool for future PAM research in northern Europe, and serve as an extendable basis for studies elsewhere. If the species predictions are verified by an expert, the classifier could assist monitoring and conservation of Orthoptera at broad temporal and spatial scales.
{"title":"Recent technological developments allow for passive acoustic monitoring of Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets) in research and conservation across a broad range of temporal and spatial scales","authors":"David Bennett , Henning Nissen , Marc Andre Maschke , Heinrich Reck , Tim Diekötter","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) uses stationary recorders to detect wildlife in field conditions. The method has long been valuable for surveying certain species groups, especially bats. However, PAM has been limited by resource costs and availability of automatic classifiers to assist data analysis. With recent developments of inexpensive devices, such as Audiomoth, landscape-scale monitoring has become more feasible. This also opens possibilities to apply PAM to species groups that traditionally have been studied via expert-based, labour-intensive monitoring, such as transect surveys.</div><div>Utilizing recordings of Orthoptera from online databases, specialists and from our own recordings, we built a machine-learning classifier to automatically identify 17 Orthoptera species, OrthopterOSS. Assessment included the comparison of PAM to traditional transects surveys. We also compared the performance of inexpensive Audiomoth with classic Batlogger recorders for surveying Orthoptera species with PAM, at eight sites, where we also tested whether adding two additional Audiomoths in 50 m distances from the initial device towards the edge of the wildflower area would increase species detections. We also assessed how the number of species detected changed over time.</div><div>In total, we detected 20 Orthoptera species during the study. Our new classifier achieved a true positive rate of 86.4 % validated against independent test data. PAM outperformed traditional sweep netting transects overall, although differences were not statistically significant. There was no difference in species composition detected by Audiomoth v1.2 or Batlogger, the species composition detected by three Audiomoths compared to one Audiomoth and no difference between hedgerow and centre species communities. There was also no significant relationship between Orthoptera richness and the percentage of permanent semi-natural habitat in the nearby landscape.</div><div>Relatively inexpensive equipment allows for efficient PAM of Orthoptera. Our OrthopterOSS classifier could represent a useful tool for future PAM research in northern Europe, and serve as an extendable basis for studies elsewhere. If the species predictions are verified by an expert, the classifier could assist monitoring and conservation of Orthoptera at broad temporal and spatial scales.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"84 ","pages":"Pages 147-157"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143738516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-14DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.007
Sofia Blomqvist , Henrik G. Smith , Björn K. Klatt , Lina Herbertsson
Road verges can harbour a diversity of flowering plants and may be useful foraging habitats for pollinating insects in landscapes where flower-rich habitats are scarce. Targeted management of road verges can further enhance flower abundance, thereby potentially benefitting flower-visiting insects. However, traffic on the adjacent road could pose a risk, such that flower-rich road verges instead act as ecological traps, attracting flower-visiting insects to a hazardous environment. To investigate the suitability of road verges for the implementation of pollinator promoting actions, it is important to understand the risks associated with these habitats. By placing three commercial bumblebee colonies with individually tagged workers at each of 12 road verges, we studied whether traffic intensity influenced individual worker mortality, worker behaviour, and colony growth. We visited the colonies weekly to determine how frequently workers leaving the nest headed towards the nearest road verge and, when crossing the road, at what height they did so. Only 10 % of the departing workers were observed to cross the road and 65 % of these crossings occurred higher than 1.5 m, corresponding to the height of an average passenger car. The proportion of bees heading towards the nearest road verge when leaving the nest declined with traffic intensity. About 22 % headed towards road verge at 100 vehicles/24 h, whereas only 7 % departed in this direction at 20,000 vehicles/day. We suggest that the bumblebees avoided foraging in road verges with disturbing turbulence from passing vehicles, potentially protecting them from traffic-related mortality. Indeed, we found no evidence for traffic to influence individual worker mortality or colony weight change. We conclude that traffic does not pose a severe threat to bumblebee workers, as they avoid flying towards the road. The benefit of adapted management may therefore be limited by traffic and should be targeted to roads with low traffic.
{"title":"Bumblebee workers avoid foraging in road verges along busy roads","authors":"Sofia Blomqvist , Henrik G. Smith , Björn K. Klatt , Lina Herbertsson","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Road verges can harbour a diversity of flowering plants and may be useful foraging habitats for pollinating insects in landscapes where flower-rich habitats are scarce. Targeted management of road verges can further enhance flower abundance, thereby potentially benefitting flower-visiting insects. However, traffic on the adjacent road could pose a risk, such that flower-rich road verges instead act as ecological traps, attracting flower-visiting insects to a hazardous environment. To investigate the suitability of road verges for the implementation of pollinator promoting actions, it is important to understand the risks associated with these habitats. By placing three commercial bumblebee colonies with individually tagged workers at each of 12 road verges, we studied whether traffic intensity influenced individual worker mortality, worker behaviour, and colony growth. We visited the colonies weekly to determine how frequently workers leaving the nest headed towards the nearest road verge and, when crossing the road, at what height they did so. Only 10 % of the departing workers were observed to cross the road and 65 % of these crossings occurred higher than 1.5 m, corresponding to the height of an average passenger car. The proportion of bees heading towards the nearest road verge when leaving the nest declined with traffic intensity. About 22 % headed towards road verge at 100 vehicles/24 h, whereas only 7 % departed in this direction at 20,000 vehicles/day. We suggest that the bumblebees avoided foraging in road verges with disturbing turbulence from passing vehicles, potentially protecting them from traffic-related mortality. Indeed, we found no evidence for traffic to influence individual worker mortality or colony weight change. We conclude that traffic does not pose a severe threat to bumblebee workers, as they avoid flying towards the road. The benefit of adapted management may therefore be limited by traffic and should be targeted to roads with low traffic.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"84 ","pages":"Pages 133-139"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143683511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-12DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.006
Yuanyuan Quan , Veronica Hederström , Johan Ekroos , Pablo Menubarbe , Theresia Krausl , Yann Clough
Landscape-scale land use is important in driving species communities and interactions. However, despite increasing concerns regarding the ecological consequences of insect declines, our understanding of how the relative proportions of different land cover types influence insect herbivory in species-rich semi-natural habitats remains limited. This study assessed leaf, stem, and flower herbivory across 47 flowering forb species in 18 semi-natural grassland sites in southern Sweden, where the surrounding landscape composition was quantified by the proportions of arable crops, forests, leys, and permanent grasslands. In addition to landscape effects, we examined the mediating roles of plant traits, plant diversity, and community composition to better understand how land use affects herbivory. Proportion of permanent grasslands and arable crops had the strongest influence on herbivory. The occurrence probabilities of leaf and stem herbivory increased as the proportion of permanent grasslands increased and the proportion of arable crops decreased. For herbivory intensity, leaf chewing damage exhibited the most significant response, following a trend similar to herbivory occurrence, while flower damage intensity increased with proportion of permanent grasslands but decreased with proportion of forest. These effects were less consistent at the species level, with varying magnitudes and directions of response. Plant community composition and traits, such as plant height and Specific Leaf Area (SLA), mediated landscape composition effects on leaf chewing herbivory, such that the proportion of arable crops were linked to higher SLA and taller plants, which in turn promoted leaf chewing herbivory. Our findings highlight the importance of preserving permanent grasslands at the landscape scale for maintaining insect herbivory levels on flowering forbs in local semi-natural grasslands, and call for the need to better understand the ecosystem consequences of reduced herbivory in agricultural landscapes.
{"title":"Landscape composition influences invertebrate herbivory on flowering forbs in semi-natural grasslands","authors":"Yuanyuan Quan , Veronica Hederström , Johan Ekroos , Pablo Menubarbe , Theresia Krausl , Yann Clough","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Landscape-scale land use is important in driving species communities and interactions. However, despite increasing concerns regarding the ecological consequences of insect declines, our understanding of how the relative proportions of different land cover types influence insect herbivory in species-rich semi-natural habitats remains limited. This study assessed leaf, stem, and flower herbivory across 47 flowering forb species in 18 semi-natural grassland sites in southern Sweden, where the surrounding landscape composition was quantified by the proportions of arable crops, forests, leys, and permanent grasslands. In addition to landscape effects, we examined the mediating roles of plant traits, plant diversity, and community composition to better understand how land use affects herbivory. Proportion of permanent grasslands and arable crops had the strongest influence on herbivory. The occurrence probabilities of leaf and stem herbivory increased as the proportion of permanent grasslands increased and the proportion of arable crops decreased. For herbivory intensity, leaf chewing damage exhibited the most significant response, following a trend similar to herbivory occurrence, while flower damage intensity increased with proportion of permanent grasslands but decreased with proportion of forest. These effects were less consistent at the species level, with varying magnitudes and directions of response. Plant community composition and traits, such as plant height and Specific Leaf Area (SLA), mediated landscape composition effects on leaf chewing herbivory, such that the proportion of arable crops were linked to higher SLA and taller plants, which in turn promoted leaf chewing herbivory. Our findings highlight the importance of preserving permanent grasslands at the landscape scale for maintaining insect herbivory levels on flowering forbs in local semi-natural grasslands, and call for the need to better understand the ecosystem consequences of reduced herbivory in agricultural landscapes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"85 ","pages":"Pages 23-35"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143839209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In both natural and anthropogenic environments, predation by arthropods plays a crucial role in the control of weeds and pests. Carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are key generalist predators feeding on a wide range of prey. The composition and functionality of carabid communities are shaped by multiple factors, both at the local and landscape scale, but these effects can vary depending on the environmental context. Our aim was to explore the effects of landscape composition and local habitat type on carabid community diversity and on insect pest and weed seed predation. We sampled 96 sites belonging to three habitat types (crop field margin, semi-natural and urban green area) selected along a gradient in landscape composition across four regions in northern Italy. Carabid communities were sampled using pitfall traps, insect pest predation was assessed using dummy caterpillars and seed predation was measured using seed cards. Predation rates varied across habitat types, with both pest and seed predation rates decreasing in urban environments compared to crop field margins and semi-natural habitats. Increasing crop areas in the surrounding landscape increased carnivorous carabid diversity and abundance, which in turn increased insect pest predation, while these effects were not observed for seed predation. At the local scale, maintaining semi-natural patches and herbaceous crop field margins, especially in intensive landscapes, represents an effective measure to safeguard carabids and promote the ecosystem services provided by this key arthropod group. However, agricultural expansion at the landscape scale favored carabids and their predation activity indicating that many species are generalist, well-adapted to intensive agricultural landscapes.
{"title":"Landscape and habitat effects on pest control and seed predation by carabid beetles","authors":"Giacomo Ortis , Costanza Geppert , Andree Cappellari , Lorenzo Marini","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In both natural and anthropogenic environments, predation by arthropods plays a crucial role in the control of weeds and pests. Carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are key generalist predators feeding on a wide range of prey. The composition and functionality of carabid communities are shaped by multiple factors, both at the local and landscape scale, but these effects can vary depending on the environmental context. Our aim was to explore the effects of landscape composition and local habitat type on carabid community diversity and on insect pest and weed seed predation. We sampled 96 sites belonging to three habitat types (crop field margin, semi-natural and urban green area) selected along a gradient in landscape composition across four regions in northern Italy. Carabid communities were sampled using pitfall traps, insect pest predation was assessed using dummy caterpillars and seed predation was measured using seed cards. Predation rates varied across habitat types, with both pest and seed predation rates decreasing in urban environments compared to crop field margins and semi-natural habitats. Increasing crop areas in the surrounding landscape increased carnivorous carabid diversity and abundance, which in turn increased insect pest predation, while these effects were not observed for seed predation. At the local scale, maintaining semi-natural patches and herbaceous crop field margins, especially in intensive landscapes, represents an effective measure to safeguard carabids and promote the ecosystem services provided by this key arthropod group. However, agricultural expansion at the landscape scale favored carabids and their predation activity indicating that many species are generalist, well-adapted to intensive agricultural landscapes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"84 ","pages":"Pages 140-146"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143683512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-05DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.003
Sabina Burrascano , Lucas Chojnacki , Lorenzo Balducci , Francesco Chianucci , Elena Haeler , Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas , Yoan Paillet , Rafael B. de Andrade , Steffen Boch , Pallieter De Smedt , Markus Fischer , Itziar Garcia Mijangos , Jacob Heilmann-Clausen , Jeňýk Hofmeister , Jan Hošek , Daniel Kozák , Gergely Kutszegi , Thibault Lachat , Martin Mikoláš , Ferenc Samu , Peter Odor
Assessing multi-taxon biodiversity is crucial to understand forests’ response to environmental changes and to inform management strategies. In Europe, forest biodiversity monitoring is still scattered and heterogeneous, although a long-term monitoring network has long been advocated. Given the monitoring aims reported in various EU policies, this network should be accurately designed also through the estimation of its sampling effort, here intended as the number of sampling plots and sites.
We used a novel database of forest multi-taxon biodiversity for a pilot study to: estimate the minimum sampling effort needed to: assess variation in species richness and composition; compare these estimates with the efforts invested in the pilot database; discuss estimates’ differences across taxonomic groups and forest categories.
We focused on six taxonomic groups (vascular plants, birds, epiphytic lichens and bryophytes, wood-inhabiting fungi and saproxylic beetles) across six forest categories. Based on 6,165 plots at 2,084 different locations across Europe, we benchmarked the effort to achieve: a complete species richness estimate through interpolation/extrapolation curves, and a precise evaluation of species composition variation through multivariate standard error.
Our estimates differed widely, especially among taxonomic groups. For species richness, estimates range from 3 to 147 plots per site across 3 to 29 sites per forest category, with birds and epiphytic bryophytes requiring the least effort. For species composition, estimates range from 5 to over 25 plots per site across 5 to 20 sites per forest category, with saproxylic beetles, vascular plants, and fungi displaying the highest estimates.
The taxonomic groups requiring an effort comparable to existing data were the least diverse, all the others need greater efforts, either for species richness (e.g., saproxylic beetles), or species composition (e.g., vascular plants), or both (e.g., wood-inhabiting fungi). An effective monitoring network of European forests’ biodiversity should thoroughly account for these benchmarks and for their taxon-dependency.
{"title":"Towards an effective in-situ biodiversity assessment in European forests","authors":"Sabina Burrascano , Lucas Chojnacki , Lorenzo Balducci , Francesco Chianucci , Elena Haeler , Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas , Yoan Paillet , Rafael B. de Andrade , Steffen Boch , Pallieter De Smedt , Markus Fischer , Itziar Garcia Mijangos , Jacob Heilmann-Clausen , Jeňýk Hofmeister , Jan Hošek , Daniel Kozák , Gergely Kutszegi , Thibault Lachat , Martin Mikoláš , Ferenc Samu , Peter Odor","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Assessing multi-taxon biodiversity is crucial to understand forests’ response to environmental changes and to inform management strategies. In Europe, forest biodiversity monitoring is still scattered and heterogeneous, although a long-term monitoring network has long been advocated. Given the monitoring aims reported in various EU policies, this network should be accurately designed also through the estimation of its sampling effort, here intended as the number of sampling plots and sites.</div><div>We used a novel database of forest multi-taxon biodiversity for a pilot study to: estimate the minimum sampling effort needed to: assess variation in species richness and composition; compare these estimates with the efforts invested in the pilot database; discuss estimates’ differences across taxonomic groups and forest categories.</div><div>We focused on six taxonomic groups (vascular plants, birds, epiphytic lichens and bryophytes, wood-inhabiting fungi and saproxylic beetles) across six forest categories. Based on 6,165 plots at 2,084 different locations across Europe, we benchmarked the effort to achieve: a complete species richness estimate through interpolation/extrapolation curves, and a precise evaluation of species composition variation through multivariate standard error.</div><div>Our estimates differed widely, especially among taxonomic groups. For species richness, estimates range from 3 to 147 plots per site across 3 to 29 sites per forest category, with birds and epiphytic bryophytes requiring the least effort. For species composition, estimates range from 5 to over 25 plots per site across 5 to 20 sites per forest category, with saproxylic beetles, vascular plants, and fungi displaying the highest estimates.</div><div>The taxonomic groups requiring an effort comparable to existing data were the least diverse, all the others need greater efforts, either for species richness (e.g., saproxylic beetles), or species composition (e.g., vascular plants), or both (e.g., wood-inhabiting fungi). An effective monitoring network of European forests’ biodiversity should thoroughly account for these benchmarks and for their taxon-dependency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"84 ","pages":"Pages 121-132"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143683510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In recent decades, there has been significant progress in studying the foraging habitats of bats. However, these studies provide only a limited understanding of their requirements. Metabarcoding allows species-level identification of consumed prey, allowing us to determine their source habitats. In this study, we sampled faeces from three Rhinolophus hipposideros colonies in different climatic zones from spring to late August. Using metabarcoding, we examined how the lesser horseshoe bat diet changes over time and whether their most-consumed prey varies seasonally across landscapes. Our results show that bat diets change seasonally and differ between colonies, often presumably in response to new prey outbreaks. We deduced from the prey eaten by bats that they have varied habitat requirements. While woodland and shrubs are primary prey source habitats, bats also rely on other environments. We inferred that, in particular, open habitats are exploited more frequently than expected, indicating a high degree of plasticity in their trophic habitat needs. Therefore, protecting diverse, interconnected landscapes with varied prey is crucial for their conservation.
{"title":"Molecular dietary analysis reveals plasticity in habitat requirements of a clutter specialist bat","authors":"Miren Aldasoro , Oihane Diaz de Cerio , Danilo Russo , Nerea Vallejo , Lander Olasagasti , Urtzi Goiti , Joxerra Aihartza","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent decades, there has been significant progress in studying the foraging habitats of bats. However, these studies provide only a limited understanding of their requirements. Metabarcoding allows species-level identification of consumed prey, allowing us to determine their source habitats. In this study, we sampled faeces from three <em>Rhinolophus hipposideros</em> colonies in different climatic zones from spring to late August. Using metabarcoding, we examined how the lesser horseshoe bat diet changes over time and whether their most-consumed prey varies seasonally across landscapes. Our results show that bat diets change seasonally and differ between colonies, often presumably in response to new prey outbreaks. We deduced from the prey eaten by bats that they have varied habitat requirements. While woodland and shrubs are primary prey source habitats, bats also rely on other environments. We inferred that, in particular, open habitats are exploited more frequently than expected, indicating a high degree of plasticity in their trophic habitat needs. Therefore, protecting diverse, interconnected landscapes with varied prey is crucial for their conservation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"84 ","pages":"Pages 101-109"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143611144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-03DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2025.02.007
Ling Han , Hasbagan Ganjurjav , Guozheng Hu , Jianshuang Wu , Xuexia Wang , Yulong Yan , Yilun Hu , Guoxu Ji , Luobu Danjiu , Qingzhu Gao
Warming and nitrogen (N) deposition significantly affect soil microbial community characteristics. However, the responses of bacterial and fungal diversity to warming and N deposition, as well as the dominant influencing factors, remain unclear, especially in N-limited and low-temperature ecosystems. We employed a field-controlled experimental design with warming (W, using open-top chambers at +2 °C), N addition (N, 40 kg N ha−1 yr−1 NH4NO3), and their interaction (NW) to simulate their effects on soil microbial community composition and diversity, as well as plant community characteristics. Our results showed a significant decrease in bacterial richness (Chao1) under warming. N addition had a positive effect on bacterial richness (Chao1) but a negative effect on fungal diversity (Shannon and Chao1), which led to a considerable shift in bacterial community composition. Conversely, N addition combined with warming significantly increased fungal diversity but decreased bacterial diversity compared with N addition alone. Bacterial diversity was positively influenced by soil moisture but negatively affected by soil temperature and forb dominance. Fungal diversity was negatively influenced by soil NH4+-N content and belowground biomass. Additionally, our results showed a synergistic effect on fungi owing to changes in plant community composition, while an antagonistic effect on bacterial diversity was observed owing to reduced water and nutrient availability under warming plus N addition. Our findings underscore the importance of considering plant productivity and diversity when examining microbial diversity responses to warming and N addition in alpine meadows.
增温和氮沉降显著影响土壤微生物群落特征。然而，细菌和真菌多样性对增温和氮沉降的响应及其主要影响因素尚不清楚，特别是在限氮和低温生态系统中。采用田间对照试验设计，模拟增温（W， +2°C开顶箱）、N添加（N, 40 kg N ha - 1 yr - 1 NH4NO3）和它们的相互作用（NW）对土壤微生物群落组成和多样性以及植物群落特征的影响。结果表明，增温条件下细菌丰富度（Chao1）显著降低。添加氮对细菌丰富度（Chao1）有正向影响，但对真菌多样性（Shannon和Chao1）有负向影响，导致细菌群落组成发生较大变化。相反，与单独施氮相比，增温加氮显著增加了真菌多样性，但降低了细菌多样性。土壤湿度对细菌多样性有正向影响，土壤温度和牧草优势度对细菌多样性有负向影响。土壤NH4+-N含量和地下生物量对真菌多样性有负向影响。此外，我们的研究结果表明，由于植物群落组成的变化，真菌具有协同作用，而由于增温加氮降低了水分和养分的有效性，细菌多样性受到拮抗作用。我们的研究结果强调了在研究高寒草甸微生物多样性对增温和氮添加的响应时考虑植物生产力和多样性的重要性。
{"title":"Warming enhances the effects of nitrogen addition on fungal but not on bacterial diversity in an alpine meadow","authors":"Ling Han , Hasbagan Ganjurjav , Guozheng Hu , Jianshuang Wu , Xuexia Wang , Yulong Yan , Yilun Hu , Guoxu Ji , Luobu Danjiu , Qingzhu Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.02.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.02.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Warming and nitrogen (N) deposition significantly affect soil microbial community characteristics. However, the responses of bacterial and fungal diversity to warming and N deposition, as well as the dominant influencing factors, remain unclear, especially in N-limited and low-temperature ecosystems. We employed a field-controlled experimental design with warming (W, using open-top chambers at +2 °C), N addition (N, 40 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup> yr<sup>−1</sup> NH<sub>4</sub>NO<sub>3</sub>), and their interaction (NW) to simulate their effects on soil microbial community composition and diversity, as well as plant community characteristics. Our results showed a significant decrease in bacterial richness (Chao1) under warming. N addition had a positive effect on bacterial richness (Chao1) but a negative effect on fungal diversity (Shannon and Chao1), which led to a considerable shift in bacterial community composition. Conversely, N addition combined with warming significantly increased fungal diversity but decreased bacterial diversity compared with N addition alone. Bacterial diversity was positively influenced by soil moisture but negatively affected by soil temperature and forb dominance. Fungal diversity was negatively influenced by soil NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>-N content and belowground biomass. Additionally, our results showed a synergistic effect on fungi owing to changes in plant community composition, while an antagonistic effect on bacterial diversity was observed owing to reduced water and nutrient availability under warming plus N addition. Our findings underscore the importance of considering plant productivity and diversity when examining microbial diversity responses to warming and N addition in alpine meadows.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"84 ","pages":"Pages 110-120"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143629338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Crop losses to pests, or crop gains to diversification: what matters most? This is a pivotal question for the acceptance of crop diversification solutions by farmers and breeders. At the intraspecific level in particular, the magnitude of beneficial effects of mixing varieties on crop yield compared to disease attacks and weed invasion in the absence of pesticide remains questioned. Here, we quantified for the first time the relative importance of different types of biotic interactions – crop-crop interactions, crop-fungi interactions and crop-weed interactions, on grain yields in a region of the world where alternative agricultural practices are urgently needed to face the multiple pressures induced by global changes. We evaluated the performance of ten upland rice varieties of Madagascar highlands using a field trial where all varieties were grown in pure stands and in bi-variety mixtures. Grain production and disease attacks by Pyricularia oryzea were assessed in all varieties and plots. Weed biomass was recorded in all plots. We also measured plant traits involved in plant-plant interactions - plant height and flowering time in particular - for all plots and varieties to identify generic assembly rules for optimizing the performance of varietal mixtures. We found strong positive effects of rice mixture on both crop yield and pathogen resistance while weed biomass remained constant and high whatever the experimental condition. When statistically controlling for one pressure, we demonstrated that the beneficial effects of crop-crop interactions on yield largely overcame the negative effects of crop-fungi and crop-weed interactions. The average height of varieties in mixtures as well as their height plasticity had strong predictive power of crop yields, confirming the great potential of trait-based approaches to design innovative cropping system. Overall, the predominant, positive effect of varietal mixtures over disease and weed pressures represents a key argument for crop diversification.
{"title":"Crop gains induced by diversification exceed crop losses to diseases and weeds in a low-input rice cultivation system","authors":"Koloina Rahajaharilaza , Cyrille Violle , Bertrand Muller , Kirsten vom Brocke , Jean Benoît Morel , Rémi Pelissier , Elsa Ballini , Delphine Luquet , Perle Ramavovololona , Florian Fort , Lucie Mahaut","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Crop losses to pests, or crop gains to diversification: what matters most? This is a pivotal question for the acceptance of crop diversification solutions by farmers and breeders. At the intraspecific level in particular, the magnitude of beneficial effects of mixing varieties on crop yield compared to disease attacks and weed invasion in the absence of pesticide remains questioned. Here, we quantified for the first time the relative importance of different types of biotic interactions – crop-crop interactions, crop-fungi interactions and crop-weed interactions, on grain yields in a region of the world where alternative agricultural practices are urgently needed to face the multiple pressures induced by global changes. We evaluated the performance of ten upland rice varieties of Madagascar highlands using a field trial where all varieties were grown in pure stands and in bi-variety mixtures. Grain production and disease attacks by <em>Pyricularia oryzea</em> were assessed in all varieties and plots. Weed biomass was recorded in all plots. We also measured plant traits involved in plant-plant interactions - plant height and flowering time in particular - for all plots and varieties to identify generic assembly rules for optimizing the performance of varietal mixtures. We found strong positive effects of rice mixture on both crop yield and pathogen resistance while weed biomass remained constant and high whatever the experimental condition. When statistically controlling for one pressure, we demonstrated that the beneficial effects of crop-crop interactions on yield largely overcame the negative effects of crop-fungi and crop-weed interactions. The average height of varieties in mixtures as well as their height plasticity had strong predictive power of crop yields, confirming the great potential of trait-based approaches to design innovative cropping system. Overall, the predominant, positive effect of varietal mixtures over disease and weed pressures represents a key argument for crop diversification.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"84 ","pages":"Pages 81-91"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143579843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号