Effects of forest fragmentation on species richness and composition of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae and Brachinidae) in urban landscapes

To clarify the effects of forest fragmentation in urban landscapes on the abundance, species richness, dominance, and species composition of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae and Brachinidae), we compared the beetles collected in 12 pitfall traps from April to July and from September to November between three continuous suburban forests and eight isolated urban forests (0.06–1.02 ha), most of which were in the precincts of shrines and temples in Hanshin District, Honshu, Japan. A total of 28 species and 4178 individuals of ground beetles were collected. Segregation of urban forests from continuous suburban forests has changed the species composition and resulted in the loss of some large‐sized forest species and the addition of some non‐forest species. Simpson's index of dominance (λ) also increased in the urban forests. The richness of forest species markedly decreased with the reduction in forest area but not with the distance from continuous forests, although the species richness of non‐forest species did not change with them. Also, species composition changed only with forest area. These findings indicate that continuous forests do not necessary serve as a “mainland” for urban forest species and that every urban habitat, however small in size, acts as a temporary reservoir of species. In comparison with populations of small‐sized species, populations of large‐sized forest species appeared to decline more readily during forest fragmentation.     

Comparing iDNA from mosquitoes and flies to survey mammals in a semi-controlled Neotropical area

Ingested-derived DNA (iDNA) from insects represents a powerful tool for assessing vertebrate diversity because insects are easy to sample, have a diverse diet and are widely distributed. Because of these advantages, the use of iDNA for detecting mammals has gained increasing attention. Here we aimed to compare the effectiveness of mosquitoes and flies to detect mammals with a small sampling effort in a semi-controlled area, a zoo that houses native and non-native species. We compared mosquitoes and flies regarding the number of mammal species detected, the amount of mammal sequence reads recovered, and the flight distance range for detecting mammals. We also verified if the combination of two mini-barcodes (12SrRNA and 16SrRNA) would perform better than either mini-barcode alone to inform local mammal biodiversity from iDNA. To capture mosquitoes and flies, we distributed insect traps in eight sampling points during 5 days. We identified 43 Operational Taxonomic Units from 10 orders, from the iDNA of 17 mosquitoes and 46 flies. There was no difference in the number of species recovered per individual insect between mosquitoes and flies, but the number of flies captured was higher, resulting in more mammal species recovered by flies. Eight species were recorded exclusively by mosquitoes and 20 by flies, suggesting that using both samplers would allow a more comprehensive screening of the biodiversity. The maximum distance recorded was 337 m for flies and 289 m for mosquitoes, but the average range distance did not differ between insect groups. Our assay proved to be efficient for mammal detection, considering the high number of species detected with a reduced sampling effort.     

Habitat disturbance and hydrological parameters determine the body size and reproductive strategy of alluvial ground beetles

Environmental variability is the main driver for the variation of biological characteristics (life-history traits) of species. Therefore, life-history traits are particularly suited to identify mechanistic linkages between environmental variability and species occurrence and can help in explaining ecological patterns. For ground beetles, few studies directly related species traits to environmental variables. This study aims to analyse how life-history traits of alluvial ground beetles are controlled by environmental factors. I expected that the occurrence of species and the occurrence of specific traits are closely related to hydrological and disturbance parameters. Furthermore I expected most of the trait-variation to be explained by a combination of environmental variables, rather than by their isolated effects. Ground beetles were sampled in the year 2005 in floodplain grassland along the Elbe River in Germany. I used redundancy analysis to quantify the effects of hydrological, sediment, and disturbance related parameters on both species occurrence and species traits. I applied variation partitioning to analyse which environmental compartments explain most of the trait variation. Species occurrence and trait variation were both mainly controlled by hydrological and flood disturbance parameters. I could clearly identify reproductive traits and body size as key traits for floodplain ground beetles to cope with the environmental variability. Furthermore, combinations of hydrological, habitat disturbance, habitat type, and species diversity parameters, rather than their isolated effects, explained large parts of ground beetle trait variation. Thus, a main conclusion of this study is that ground beetle occurrence is mainly determined by complex, multi-scale interactions between environmental variability and their life-history traits.     

哀牢山不同类型亚热带森林地表凋落物及土壤节肢动物群落特征

分别于2005年4月（干热季）、6月（雨季）和12月（干热季）,采用样线法对哀牢山中山湿性常绿阔叶林、山顶苔藓矮林和滇山杨次生林地表凋落物及其中的土壤节肢动物群落进行了调查.结果表明： 凋落物现存总量、C储量和C/N在干、湿季均表现为苔藓矮林＞滇山杨林＞常绿阔叶林,N储量差异不大.蜱螨目和弹尾目是3林地凋落物层节肢动物群落的优势类群,双翅目幼虫、鞘翅目、蚁类和同翅目为常见类群,3林地凋落物层土壤节肢动物群落相似性系数极高.3林地凋落物层土壤节肢动物群落密度(ind·m^-2)没有显著差异,但相对密度(ind·g^-1)呈现出常绿阔叶林和滇山杨林显著高于苔藓矮林;土壤节肢动物密度季节变化呈现干季（4月和12月）显著高于雨季（6月）,群落香农多样性指数差异不显著.干热季(4月)3林地枯枝落叶现存量与其土壤节肢动物群落和主要类群密度呈显著正相关关系,而在干冷季(12月)凋落物总现存量与其土壤节肢动物群落及蜱螨目相对密度则呈显著负相关关系;弹尾目和鞘翅目密度与地表凋落物层的N储量也有显著的正相关关系.哀牢山亚热带森林凋落物及其土壤节肢动物群落的发展与森林植被结构密切相关, 其群落个体数量和多样性受森林地表凋落物的调控, 但林内其他环境因素如温湿度对森林凋落物层土壤动物个体数的季节变动也有明显影响.     

茶园间作不同绿肥对节肢动物群落结构和多样性的影响

【目的】研究在茶园中合理间作绿肥对茶园节肢动物群落结构和多样性的影响。【方法】本文在茶园中分别设间作铺地木兰+罗顿豆、圆叶决明+白三叶、白三叶+平托花生3种不同绿肥组合处理,并设不间作绿肥、常规除草的茶园为对照。【结果】间作不同绿肥均能提高茶园节肢动物群落的物种丰富度和群落多样性,提高茶园捕食性天敌昆虫、蜘蛛和寄生性天敌在茶园冠层群落的比率;不同处理茶园冠层节肢动物Shannon-wiener多样性指数(H)、Simpson指数(D)和均匀度指数变化趋势基本一致;茶冠层的节肢动物群落多样性指数在4类不同处理茶园间差异显著;间作绿肥增加了茶园的生物多样性,4类不同处理茶园茶冠层群落相似性系数在0.741~0.892之间,表明4类不同处理茶园冠层群落在物种组成上有较高的相似性。4类不同处理茶园害虫与天敌两类群功能团的丰盛度之间成显著的正相关,表明天敌对害虫的空间数量跟随效应强,主要表现为二者数量间的相互作用。灰色关联度分析表明在4类不同处理茶园中的群落节肢动物物种数/个体数、天敌物种数/害虫物种数、害虫丰富度与多样性指数和均匀度指数的关联系数较高,反应了群落的多样性和稳定性。【结论】间作增强了茶园群落的生物多样性,提高害虫天敌的种类和个体数,有利有效发挥天敌对有害生物的生态控制。     

Effects of mushroom size on the structure of a mycophagous arthropod community: Comparison between infracommunities with different types of resource utilization

The effects of the size of a patchy resource on the structure of a mycophagous arthropod community were examined by comparing numerical responses to the size of individual mushrooms between visitor and dweller communities. A total of 17 fungal genera in nine families were identified during the 13month survey period. A total of 35 arthropod families from nine orders were recorded, with the Hypogastruridae (Collembola) forming 97% of the number of individuals in the visitor community. The response of the visitor community (i.e. number of families, number of individuals, density per mushroom size and diversity) to mushroom size varied in each survey month according to hypogastrurid density. The response of the community composition to mushroom size also varied monthly with hypogastrurid density. In the dweller community, 12 families in three orders were recorded, and one coleopteran and five dipteran families accounted for 90% of the number of individuals. Although the density of dwellers in a mushroom varied between months, the response of the community properties to mushroom size was consistent throughout the survey period. Community composition varied monthly with mushroom size. These results suggest that the size of individual mushrooms is likely to have a greater effect on the structure of dweller communities than visitor communities. Thus, the characteristics of a patchy resource may exert different impacts on the structure of different arthropod communities utilizing the same resource, but in a different manner.     

Genetic architecture of body size in mammals

Much of the heritability for human stature is caused by mutations of small-to-medium effect. This is because detrimental pleiotropy restricts large-effect mutations to very low frequencies.     

水土保持型牧草苇状羊茅(Festuca arundinacea Schreb)节肢动物群落结构

对水土保持型牧草苇状羊茅节肢动物群落的系统调查,根据节肢动物群落中物种的营养和取食关系将总群落划分为天敌亚群落和非天敌亚群落(含害虫和中性昆虫),以调查到的节肢动物种类、个体数量结合各群落生态学指标分析总群落及亚群落的结构组成.结果表明:共查得苇状羊茅节肢动物139种分属68科;非天敌亚群落为总群落主要成分,相对多度为0.7661,其中优势种为同翅目昆虫;天敌亚群落相对多度为0.2339;优势种为蜘蛛类天敌.优势集中性和优势度分析表明非天敌亚群落>总群落>天敌亚群落;均匀度指数除5、9月份外,均表现为天敌亚群落>总群落>非天敌亚群落;多样性指数除4、5月份外,均表现为总群落>非天敌亚群落>天敌亚群落.     

Body size and measurement of species diversity in large grazing mammals

Species are by definition different from each other. This fact favours ranking rather than additive indices. However, ecologists have measured species diversity in terms of species richness, or by combining species richness with the relative abundance of species within an area. Both methods raise problems: species richness treats all species equally, while relative abundance is not a fixed property of species but varies widely temporally and spatially, and requires a massive sampling effort. The functional aspect of species diversity measurement may be strengthened by incorporating differences between species such as body size as a component of diversity. An index of diversity derived from a measure of variation in body size among species is proposed for large grazing mammals. The proposed diversity index related positively to species abundance, indicating that the use of body size as a surrogate for diversity is adequate. Because the proposed index is based on presence or absence data, the expensive and time consuming counting of individuals per species in each sampling unit is not necessary.     

Zooplankton community size structure and taxonomic composition affects size-selective grazing in natural communities

The body size of an individual zooplankton is well related to its grazing rate and to the range of particle sizes it can ingest, and since cladocerans and copepods feed differently, they follow different relationships. Based on these general patterns in individual organisms, we tested whether the size structure and taxonomic composition of more complex natural zooplankton communities are related to their in situ grazing rate and to the range of algal sizes they graze. We compared community grazing rates on individual algal taxa in two communities dominated by small cladocerans, three communities dominated by large cladocerans and three copepod-dominated communities. Small algae were usually grazed most intensively, but grazing rates were poorly related to algal size alone. The range in size of grazed algae increased with increasing mean zooplankton body size, but differed systematically with their taxonomic composition. Communities dominated by Ceriodaphnia or Holopedium grazed a narrower size range of algae [maximum greatest axial length dimension (GALD)=16–36 μm)] than communities with large biomasses of Bosmina or Daphnia (maximum GALD=28–78 μm). Copepod-dominated communities followed the same general relationship as cladocerans. Daphnia-dominated communities grazed the broadest range of algal sizes, and their total grazing rates were up to 2.4 times their grazing rates on small (<35 μm) “highly edible” algae, a difference of similar magnitude to those found in successful trophic cascade biomanipulations. Received: 31 March 1998 / Accepted: 19 October 1998     

广西生态茶园和普通茶园的节肢动物群落结构和稳定性分析

为了解广西生态茶园与普通茶园节肢动物群落结构特点及其稳定性,本文采用Shannon-Wiener多样性指数（H′）、群落物种优势度指数（D）、丰富度指数（J）、物种均匀度指数（E）等分析了茶园节肢动物群落的多样性结构,应用群落相似度指数对生态茶园和普通茶园节肢动物的群落相似性进行了分析,用灰色关联度方法综合分析多样性指数与优势度、均匀度等6个特征参数间关系的密切程度。结果表明,在广西茶园节肢动物共34种,其中害虫（螨）17种,优势种群是：小贯小绿叶蝉Empoasca onukii Matsuda、茶蓟马Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood、蚜虫、白粉虱Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood;天敌8种,优势种群是：棕管巢蛛Clubiona japonicola Boeset Str.、八斑球腹蛛Theridion octomaculatum Boes. et Str.、异色瓢虫Harmonia axyridis(Pallas);中性昆虫9种,优势种群是：蚊虫、蚁类。多样性指数、群落均匀度指数与物种优势度在生态茶园比普通茶园高。生态茶园的群落稳定性比普通茶园的强。不同茶园间的群落相似性指数q在0.444~0.9355之间,群落间相似性关系在中等不相似与极度相似之间。与多样性指数密切相关的前3位群落特征参数依次是群落物种优势度、益害物种的个体数比、丰富度,其中关系最密切的特征参数是群落物种优势度。研究结果为茶园害虫的综合防控提供了理论依据。     

Zooplankton body size and community structure: Effects of thermal and toxicant stress

Episodic heat waves and an increase in pesticide use are widely cited as consequences of climatic warming. Recent studies show that these stressors often cause declines in the mean body size of zooplankton. Results from laboratory and field studies, as well as observations from both thermal- or toxicant-stressed natural systems, show (1) reductions in mean body size within stressed populations, or (2) changes in community composition that favor small-bodied over large-bodied species. During the past decade, it has become widely accepted that a shift in zooplankton body size can dramatically affect water clarity, rates of nutrient regeneration and fish abundances. Thus, climatic warming and associated change in pesticide use has the potential to cause striking change in the structure and functioning of temperate-zone lakes.     

Dispersal as a key element of community structure: the case of ground beetles on lake islands

In order to study the influence of dispersal ability on community structure of ground beetles (carabidae), 15 lake islands and 2 mainland sites of the lake Mamry archipelago, northern Poland, were sampled by using pitfall traps. Of the 71 ground beetle species detected, 47 were macropterous, 16 wing-dimorphic and 8 brachypterous. Macropterous species had lower site abundances and occupied fewer sites than dimorphic and brachypterous species. There were trends from macropterous to brachypterous species towards a nested distribution across the sites and towards over-dispersed (aggregated) species co-occurrences. Canonical correspondence analysis pointed to site isolation and area as main factors influencing site abundance and spatial distribution. Our results imply that further studies on species co-occurrences and community assembly have to consider dispersal ability as a key element influencing ecological distributions at the regional scale.     

不同调查方法对转基因棉田节肢动物群落构成及生物多样性的影响

【目的】明确不同生育期调查方法对棉田物种结构和生物多样性的影响,以期选择合适的生育期调查方法开展转基因棉花的安全性研究。【方法】于2016和2017年,选择2个新型转基因棉花(GGK2,N15-5)及其亲本(K312,J14)为材料,使用3种调查方法对棉田节肢动物群落进行调查:(1)在整个生育期每7 d调查一次(5月上旬—9月中下旬);(2)主要生育期调查(5月中旬、6月中旬、7月中旬、8月中旬和9月中旬)和(3)6月中旬—8月下旬期间的3个棉铃虫发生高峰期调查。计算出不同调查方法下的棉田节肢动物群落个体总数、物种丰富度、多样性指数、均匀性指数和优势集中性指数。【结果】3种方法对物种个体总数和物种丰富度影响最大,第1种方法数值最大,第3种方法数值最小。2016年,转抗除草剂基因棉田(GGK2)与其亲本(K312)相比,3种调查方法得到的物种个体总数在节肢动物群落和害虫亚群落差异显著,其他指数无差异。此外,2016年与2017年相比,相同棉田中的多样性指数、均匀性指数和优势集中性指数均无明显差异。【结论】不同生育期调查方法仅对物种个体总数和物种丰富度有影响,而对多样性指数、均匀性指数和优势集中性指数无显著影响。因此,在转基因生物安全研究中可根据不同的研究目的选择合适的生育期开展调查。