Webbläsaren som du använder stöds inte av denna webbplats. Alla versioner av Internet Explorer stöds inte längre, av oss eller Microsoft (läs mer här: * https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Var god och använd en modern webbläsare för att ta del av denna webbplats, som t.ex. nyaste versioner av Edge, Chrome, Firefox eller Safari osv.

Porträtt av Henrik Smith. Foto.

Henrik Smith

Professor

Porträtt av Henrik Smith. Foto.

Trait-dependent responses of flower-visiting insects to distance to semi-natural grasslands and landscape heterogeneity

Författare

  • Johan Ekroos
  • Maj Rundlöf
  • Henrik Smith

Summary, in English

Protecting semi-natural grasslands may through spill-over benefit species richness and abundance of flower-visiting insects in linear habitats, such as uncultivated field boundaries, in agricultural landscapes. However, whether local diversity increases both with decreasing distance from potential source habitats and increasing landscape heterogeneity is poorly known due to a general lack of studies replicated at the landscape scale. We analysed if local assemblages of bumblebees, butterflies and hoverflies in linear uncultivated habitats increased with increasing distance to the nearest semi-natural grassland in 12 replicated landscapes along a gradient of landscape heterogeneity in Scania, Southern Sweden. Species richness and abundance of bumblebees and butterflies, but not hoverflies, decreased with increasing distance to semi-natural grasslands, but none of these groups were related to increasing landscape heterogeneity. Further analyses on trait-specific groups revealed significant decreases in the abundance of sedentary and grassland specialist butterflies with increasing distance to assumed source populations, whereas this was not the case concerning mobile species and grassland generalists. The abundance of all bumblebee trait groups decreased with increasing distance to semi-natural grasslands, but only some species (those nesting above ground, with long colony cycles and with small colony sizes) also increased with increasing landscape heterogeneity. We conclude that local species assemblages of flower-visiting insects in linear habitat elements were mainly affected by the occurrence of nearby semi-natural grasslands. In order to conserve diverse assemblages of flower-visiting insects, including the ecological services they provide, it is important to conserve semi-natural grasslands dispersed throughout agricultural landscapes.

Avdelning/ar

  • Centrum för miljö- och klimatvetenskap (CEC)
  • Biodiversitet
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Biodiversitet och bevarandevetenskap

Publiceringsår

2013

Språk

Engelska

Sidor

1283-1292

Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie

Landscape Ecology

Volym

28

Issue

7

Dokumenttyp

Artikel i tidskrift

Förlag

Springer

Ämne

  • Ecology
  • Earth and Related Environmental Sciences

Nyckelord

  • Agricultural intensity
  • Breeding habitat preference
  • Colony cycle
  • length
  • Colony size
  • Habitat specialist
  • Larval diet
  • Mobility

Status

Published

Forskningsgrupp

  • Biodiversity and Conservation Science

ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt

  • ISSN: 1572-9761