Effects of disturbance on the biodiversity and abundance of isopods in temperate grasslands |
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| Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China);2. Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102 (China);3. USDA, Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Center for Forest Disturbance Science, Athens GA 30602 (USA);1. University of Georgia, Department of Geography, Athens, GA 30602, USA;2. CONICET, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina;3. CONICET, University of La Plata, Argentina;4. National University of Mar del Plata, Argentina;5. CONICET-INAPL, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina;1. Cork Cancer Research Centre, Leslie C Quick Laboratory, BioSciences Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland;2. Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK;1. Health Management and Economics Research Centre, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;2. School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;3. Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK;4. Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK;1. USDA-ARS, Great Basin Rangelands Research Unit, 920 Valley Rd., Reno, NV, 89512, USA;2. University of Nevada, Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program, 1664 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV, 89557, USA;3. USDA-ARS, Forage and Range Research Lab, 696 North 1100 East, Logan, UT, 84322, USA |
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| Abstract: | Connell's ‘intermediate disturbance hypothesis’ was tested using a relatively simple, species poor isopod community in grass heaths and in a coastal sand dune grassland. Variation in diversity resulted from disturbance both to the soil profile and sward structure due to grazing. Predictions from a spatial survey were tested using a 20 years time series. These changes were related to changes in rabbit activity, anthropogenic soil disturbance and on one site, deposition of blown sand. Changes in the soil profile resulted in diversity initially increasing due to decreases in the density of the commonest species, leading to an increase in equitability. Prolonged disturbance to the soil profile both due to sand blowing onto one site and rotavating on another, lead to a reduction in diversity due to one of the species being eliminated. The isopod community was most diverse when least disturbed by grazing, of intermediate diversity under intermediate grazing intensity and least diverse when most heavily grazed. In these simple communities, differences in diversity were mostly determined by differences in equitability rather than in species richness. We conclude that maximising heterogeneity of sward structure could have advantages for the conservation of both invertebrate biodiversity and vertebrates that feed on them. |
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