Exoskeletons and economics: indoor arthropod diversity increases in affluent neighbourhoods |
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| Authors: | Misha Leong Matthew A Bertone Keith M Bayless Robert R Dunn Michelle D Trautwein |
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| Institution: | 1California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA;2Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA;3Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA;4Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Abstract: | In urban ecosystems, socioeconomics contribute to patterns of biodiversity. The ‘luxury effect’, in which wealthier neighbourhoods are more biologically diverse, has been observed for plants, birds, bats and lizards. Here, we used data from a survey of indoor arthropod diversity (defined throughout as family-level richness) from 50 urban houses and found that house size, surrounding vegetation, as well as mean neighbourhood income best predict the number of kinds of arthropods found indoors. Our finding, that homes in wealthier neighbourhoods host higher indoor arthropod diversity (consisting of primarily non-pest species), shows that the luxury effect can extend to the indoor environment. The effect of mean neighbourhood income on indoor arthropod diversity was particularly strong for individual houses that lacked high surrounding vegetation ground cover, suggesting that neighbourhood dynamics can compensate for local choices of homeowners. Our work suggests that the management of neighbourhoods and cities can have effects on biodiversity that can extend from trees and birds all the way to the arthropod life in bedrooms and basements. |
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| Keywords: | biodiversity socioeconomics income urban ecosystem indoor biome landscape ecology |
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