1
|
Martínez-Núñez C, Gossner MM, Maurer C, Neff F, Obrist MK, Moretti M, Bollmann K, Herzog F, Knop E, Luka H, Cahenzli F, Albrecht M. Land-use change in the past 40 years explains shifts in arthropod community traits. J Anim Ecol 2024; 93:540-553. [PMID: 38509643 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
Understanding how anthropogenic activities induce changes in the functional traits of arthropod communities is critical to assessing their ecological consequences. However, we largely lack comprehensive assessments of the long-term impact of global-change drivers on the trait composition of arthropod communities across a large number of species and sites. This knowledge gap critically hampers our ability to predict human-driven impacts on communities and ecosystems. Here, we use a dataset of 1.73 million individuals from 877 species to study how four functionally important traits of carabid beetles and spiders (i.e. body size, duration of activity period, tolerance to drought, and dispersal capacity) have changed at the community level across ~40 years in different types of land use and as a consequence of land use changes (that is, urbanisation and loss of woody vegetation) at the landscape scale in Switzerland. The results show that the mean body size in carabid communities declined in all types of land use, with particularly stronger declines in croplands compared to forests. Furthermore, the length of the activity period and the tolerance to drought of spider communities decreased in most land use types. The average body size of carabid communities in landscapes with increased urbanisation in the last ~40 years tended to decrease. However, the length of the activity period, the tolerance to drought, and the dispersal capacity did not change significantly. Furthermore, urbanisation promoted increases in the average dispersal capacities of spider communities. Additionally, urbanisation favoured spider communities with larger body sizes and longer activity periods. The loss of woody areas at the landscape level was associated with trait shifts to carabid communities with larger body sizes, shorter activity periods, higher drought tolerances and strongly decreased dispersal capacities. Decreases in activity periods and dispersal capacities were also found in spider communities. Our study demonstrates that human-induced changes in land use alter key functional traits of carabid and spider communities in the long term. The detected trait shifts in arthropod communities likely have important consequences for their functional roles in ecosystems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Martínez-Núñez
- Agroecology and Environment, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Estación Biológica de Doñana EBD (CSIC), Seville, Spain
| | - Martin M Gossner
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Corina Maurer
- Agroecology and Environment, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Felix Neff
- Agroecology and Environment, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Martin K Obrist
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Marco Moretti
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Kurt Bollmann
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Felix Herzog
- Agroecology and Environment, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Eva Knop
- Agroecology and Environment, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Henryk Luka
- Department of Crop Sciences, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Frick, Switzerland
| | - Fabian Cahenzli
- Department of Crop Sciences, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, Frick, Switzerland
| | | |
Collapse
|
2
|
Slade EM, Ong XR. The future of tropical insect diversity: strategies to fill data and knowledge gaps. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2023; 58:101063. [PMID: 37247774 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2023.101063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The decline of insect diversity is a much-discussed, yet understudied phenomenon, particularly in the tropics, where the majority of insect abundance, diversity and biomass is found. Integrated approaches involving traditional taxonomic methods, new molecular approaches, and novel monitoring and identification tools and applications are needed to address related and challenging questions regarding how many species of tropical insects exist, their distributions and natural history, the relative impacts of global change drivers on insect diversity across complex tropical landscapes, and the effects of insect declines on ecosystem functions and services. The main barriers to addressing these challenges are a lack of capacity and funding for research on insects in tropical countries and a lack of recognition of their importance for ecosystem functioning and human wellbeing. Insects must be brought into policy agendas, local capacity and funding through cross-boundary collaborations and equitable scientific practices increased, and their importance emphasized.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor M Slade
- Tropical Ecology & Entomology Lab, Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore.
| | - Xin Rui Ong
- Tropical Ecology & Entomology Lab, Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Forister ML, Black SH, Elphick CS, Grames EM, Halsch CA, Schultz CB, Wagner DL. Missing the bigger picture: Why insect monitoring programs are limited in their ability to document the effects of habitat loss. Conserv Lett 2023. [DOI: 10.1111/conl.12951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - S. H. Black
- The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation Portland Oregon
| | - C. S. Elphick
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Connecticut Storrs Connecticut
| | - E. M. Grames
- Department of Biology University of Nevada Reno Nevada
| | - C. A. Halsch
- Department of Biology University of Nevada Reno Nevada
| | - C. B. Schultz
- School of Biological Sciences Washington State University Vancouver Washington
| | - D. L. Wagner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Connecticut Storrs Connecticut
| |
Collapse
|