Successional change in the insect community of a fragmented landscape |
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Authors: | Edward A Martinko Robert H Hagen Jerry A Griffith |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Takeru Higuchi Building, 2101 Constant Avenue, Lawrence, 66047-3759, KS, USA;(2) Kansas Biological survey, Takeru Higuchi Building, 2101 Constant Avenue, 66047-3759 Lawrence, KS, USA;(3) Department of Geography, University of Kansas, Lawrence , KS, USA;(4) Present address: Department of Geography, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5051, USA |
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Abstract: | Habitat fragmentation strongly affects insect species diversity and community composition, but few studies have examined landscape
effects on long term development of insect communities. As mobile consumers, insects should be sensitive to both local plant
community and landscape context. We tested this prediction using sweep-net transects to sample insect communities for 8 years
at an experimentally fragmented old-field site in northeastern Kansas, USA. The site included habitat patches undergoing secondary
succession, surrounded by a low turf matrix. During the first 5 years, plant richness and cover were measured in patches.
Insect species richness, total density, and trophic diversity increased over time on all transects. Cover of woody plants
and perennial forbs increased each year, adding structural complexity to successional patches and potentially contributing
to increased insect diversity. Within years, insect richness was significantly greater on transects through large successional
patches (5000 m2) than on transects through fragmented arrays of 6 medium-sized (total area 1728 m2) or 15 small (480 m2) patches. However, plant cover did not differ among patch types and was uncorrelated with insect richness within years. Insect
richness was strongly correlated with insect density, but trophic and α diversities did not differ among patch types, indicating
that patch insect communities were subsets of a common species pool. We argue that differences in insect richness resulted
from landscape effects on the size of these subsets, not patch succession rates. Greater insect richness on large patches
can be explained as a community-level consequence of population responses to resource concentration. |
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Keywords: | Abundance Habitat fragmentation Insect community Insecta Old field Resource concentration Secondary succession Species diversity Species richness Sweep-net |
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