Howe et al. (2015) Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata

Howe A, Nachman G, Lövei GL 2015. Predation pressure in Ugandan cotton fields measured by a sentinel prey method. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata DOI: 10.1111/eea.12267

Abstract

Pest suppression by natural enemies is an important ecosystem service, which is a valuable resource
to poor smallholders in developing countries. Diverse natural enemy assemblages of arthropod pre- dators and parasitoids are documented in various regions in Africa, but our knowledge of their impact on herbivores in agroecosystems remains limited.We conducted experiments in cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L. (Malvaceae), under typical local agronomic practices in Uganda to assess levels of predation pressure ascribed to natural enemies.We measured predation rates on artificial caterpillars made of plasticine glued to cotton plants. Predation pressure on cotton fields varied between 1.96 and 4.1% per day, but was not significantly influenced by cotton treatments (insecticide/no insecticide, monocropping/intercropping with Phaseolus spp.). Predation pressure in non-crop habitats adjacent to cotton fields was up to 129 higher than in the fields. Marks left on the artificial caterpillars revealed that arthropods and birds were largely accountable for predation in cotton fields, whereas arthropods and smallmammals were dominant in non-cultivated habitats.

Schindler et al. (2014) Landscape Ecology

Stefan Schindler, Zita Sebesvari, Christian Damm, Katrin Euller, Volker Mauerhofer, Anna Schneidergruber, Marianna Biró, Franz Essl, Róbert Kanka, Sophie G. Lauwaars, Christiane Schulz-Zunkel, Theo van der Sluis, Michaela Kropik, Viktor Gasso, Andreas Krug, Martin T. Pusch, Klaus Peter Zulka, Werner Lazowski, Christa Hainz-Renetzeder, Klaus Henle, Thomas Wrbka (2014): Multifunctionality of floodplain landscapes: relating management options to ecosystem services. Landscape Ecology 29 (2): 229-244.

Abstract

The concept of green infrastructure has been recently taken up by the European Commission for ensuring the provision of ecosystem services (ESS). It aims at the supply of multiple ESS in a given landscape, however, the effects of a full suite of management options on multiple ESS and landscape multifunctionality have rarely been assessed. In this paper we use European floodplain landscapes as example to develop an expert based qualitative conceptual model for the assessment of impacts of landscape scale interventions on multifunctionality. European floodplain landscapes are particularly useful for such approach as they originally provided a high variety and quantity of ESS that has declined due to the strong human impact these landscapes have experienced. We provide an overview of the effects of floodplain management options on landscape multifunctionality by assessing the effects of 38 floodplain management interventions on 21 relevant ESS, as well as on overall ESS supply. We found that restoration and rehabilitation consistently increased the multifunctionality of the landscape by enhancing supply of provisioning, regulation/maintenance, and cultural services. In contrast, conventional technical regulation measures and interventions related to extraction, infrastructure and intensive land use cause decrease in multifunctionality and negative effects for the supply of all three aspects of ESS. The overview of the effects of interventions shall provide guidance for decision makers at multiple governance levels. The presented conceptual model could be effectively applied for other landscapes that have potential for a supply of a high diversity of ESS.

 

Keywords

Multifunctional landscapes, Green infrastructure, Nature conservation, Environmental management, Multifunctionality index, Hydrological engineering, Restoration, Recreation, Provisioning services, Cultural services

Horváth et al. (2014) Bulletin of Insectology

Horváth R, Elek Z, Lövei GL (2014) Compositional changes in spider (Araneae) assemblages along an urbanisation gradient near a Danish town. Bulletin of Insectology 67: 255-262.

Abstract
Spider (Araneae) assemblages were studied over two years by pitfall trapping along an urbanisation gradient of forested habitats (rural forest - suburban forest fragment - urban forest fragment) in a Danish town, using the Globenet protocol. During the two years, we collected 4340 individuals of 90 species, with money spiders (Linyphiidae) and wolf spiders (Lycosidae) being most numerous. One species, Ero aphana, was new to the Danish fauna. In 2004, 45-47 species were captured in the habitats in various stages of urbanisation, while in 2005 (with a smaller collection effort), 28 (urban) - 37 (rural) species were captured. Twenty-five percent of the collected species occurred in all habitats, but about half of them were only collected in one of the urbanisation stages. The number of shared species was the highest between the suburban and urban habitats. The highest similarities between assemblages (characterized by the Renkonen-index) were the within-habitat, between-year comparisons, indicating assemblage stability. Species turnover between years was lowest in the rural forest and highest in the urban forest patch (56.6% vs. 41.5%). Urbanisation did not reduce diversity in terms of species richness but only a minority of the species present in forests was able to remain attached to the reduced-size forest fragments as urbanisation progressed.

Keywords

Globenet, disturbance, biodiversity, arachnids

Ferrante et al. (2014) European Journal of Entomology

Ferrante M, Lo Cacciato A, Lövei GL (2014): Quantifying predation pressure along an urbanisation gradient in Denmark by using artificial caterpillars. European Journal of Entomology 111: 649-654. doi: 10.14411/eje.2014.082

Abstract

Urbanisation results in a marked modification of habitats and influences several ecological processes, some of which give rise to beneficial ecological services. Natural pest control, the effect of predators on prey is one of such services. We quantified changes in the incidence of predation with increasing levels of urbanisation using artificial caterpillars made of green plasticine. Potential predators can be identified by the “attack marks” they leave on these artificial caterpillars. We conducted this study from May to October 2010 around the city of Sorø (Zealand, Denmark), in forests along an urbanisation gradient (rural-suburban-urban). Artificial caterpillars were placed on the ground in order to obtain an estimate of the incidence of predation at ground level. Half (50%) of the 1398 caterpillars were “attacked” and 28.8% of the bites were those of chewing insects. We attributed the majority of these to carabids, the most common group of ground-active arthropods. Chewing insects exerted the greatest predation pressure in the original forest (52.1%), with lower values recorded in the suburban (10.1%) and urban (16.4%) forest fragments. Ants were responsible for only 4.7% of the attacks in forest, 11.3% in suburban and 16.4% in urban forest fragments. Mammals exerted the highest predation pressure in suburban
habitats (22.2% vs. 4.9% in forest, and 8.1% in urban forest fragments).

Keywords

Carabidae, Formicidae, fragmentation, natural enemies, ecosystem services, predation, urbanisation, sentinel prey

Elek et al. (2014) Community Ecology

Elek Z., Lövei G.L., Bátki M. (2014): No increase in fluctuating asymmetry in ground beetles (Carabidae) as urbanisation progresses. Community Ecology 15: 131-138.

Abstract
Environmental stress can lead to a reduction in developmental homeostasis, which could be reflected in increased variability of morphological traits. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is one possible manifestation of such a stress, and is often taken as a proxy for individual fitness. To test the usefulness of FA in morphological traits as an indicator of environmental quality, we studied the effect of urbanisation on FA in ground beetles (Carabidae) near a Danish city. First, we performed a critical examina­tion whether morphological character traits suggested in the literature displayed true fluctuating asymmetry in three common predatory ground beetles, Carabus nemoralis, Nebria brevicollis and Pterostichus melanarius. Eight metrical (length of the second and third antennal segments, elytral length, length of the first tarsus segment, length of the first and second tibiae, length of the proximal and distal spines on the first femurs) and one meristic (the number of spines on the second tibiae) traits were examined. Most of them showed FA but not consistently. Females generally displayed a higher level of FA than males. Finally, we examined the changes in the level of FA in bilateral morphological traits along an urbanisation gradient (forest - suburban forest - forest fragments in urban park) to test whether environmental stress created by urbanisation is reflected in FA. Ground beetles common along a Danish urbanisation gradient did not seem to indicate differences in habitat quality by their level of FA.

Keywords
Developmental instability, Fluctuating asymmetry, Ground beetles, Urbanization

Lukács et al. (2015) Plant Biosystems

B. A. Lukács, A. Mesterházy, R. Vidéki & G. Király: Alien aquatic vascular plants in Hungary (Pannonian ecoregion): Historical aspects, data set and trends. Plant Biosystems, DOI: 10.1080/11263504.2014.987846

Abstract
Estimating the extent of biological invasions is critical in predicting the effect of exotic species. We investigated the occurrence and number of alien freshwater plants and give information on the composition of alien aquatic flora, their trend in time, invasion pathway, and their invasive character.

Keywords
Exotic, macrophyte, neophyte, non-indigenous, alien aquatic plant