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Journal ArticleDOI

Comparative footprint of alien, agricultural and restored vegetation on surface-active arthropods

01 Jan 2012-Biological Invasions (Springer Netherlands)-Vol. 14, Iss: 1, pp 165-177
TL;DR: The results suggest that vineyards retain a greater complement of indigenous species than alien trees, but that clearing of these aliens soon encourages establishment of indigenousspecies, an encouraging sign for restoration.
Abstract: Both invasive alien trees and agricultural conversion have major impacts on biodiversity. We studied here the comparative impact of these two types of land transformation on a wide range of surface-active arthropod species using pitfall traps, with evergreen sclerophyllous natural vegetation (fynbos) as the control. The study was in the Cape Floristic Region, a global biodiversity hotspot, where alien trees are of major concern and where vineyards replace natural fynbos vegetation. Surface-active arthropods were selected as they are species rich, relatively immobile, and occur in high abundance. We hypothesized that the impact of the two types of land cover transformation would produce similar qualitative and quantitative effects on the arthropods. We also compared the results in the transformed and natural areas with those in areas cleared of alien trees. Arthropod species richness in cleared areas was higher than in vineyards and more similar to that in natural fynbos, while alien trees had the lowest. Overall abundance scores were highest in cleared areas, closely followed by fynbos, then vineyards and lowest in alien trees. Several species were restricted to each vegetation type, including alien trees. In terms of assemblage composition, all vegetation types were significantly different, although fynbos and vineyards grouped, suggesting that vineyards have less impact on the arthropod community than do alien trees. When rare species were excluded, vineyards and cleared sites grouped, indicating some recovery but only involving those species that were common and habitat tolerant. Our results suggest that vineyards retain a greater complement of indigenous species than alien trees, but that clearing of these aliens soon encourages establishment of indigenous species. Although there were significant differences in soil moisture and litter depth within and between vegetation types, we did not record them as significantly affecting species richness or abundance, even in alien vegetation, an encouraging sign for restoration.

Summary (2 min read)

Introduction

  • Yet there is little knowledge on the comparative impact, or footprint, of these two types of human-induced land transformations on this biodiversity, so the authors investigate here the comparative impact of IATs and vineyards on soil-surface arthropod diversity, and compare it with patches where IATs had been removed.
  • The authors chose this group of arthropods as it is species-rich, occurs in high abundance, and most species are relatively immobile (therefore allowing spatially-explicit interpretation of the arthropod data).

Study area and methods

  • Study sites Sampling was in three nature reserves and seven wine estates within the CFR (Table 1).
  • This reserve was considered due to the presence of mountain fynbos adjacent to invasive alien trees (i.e. Pinus and Hakea spp.).
  • Arthropod samples from each trap set were combined, resulting in one sample per sampling station (i.e. 1000 pitfall traps gave 500 samples per sampling period, making 1 500 samples over the three sampling periods).
  • Multiple comparisons of the means were made using Bonferroni methodology (Legendre and Legendre 1998).
  • Multivariate analysis, using Primer Ver. 5 (Clarke and Gorley 2001), was used to detect trends and to explore the differences in arthropod assemblages between different vegetation types.

Results

  • In turn, IATs and vineyards were significantly different from each other in species richness, and both were not comparable to either fynbos or CIATs (Fig. 1).
  • Classification of different vegetation types in terms of arthropod abundance gave three different nodes (Fig. 2).
  • Cleared = vegetation cleared of invasive alien trees, natural = fynbos, IATs = invasive alien trees Fig. 2 Classification tree of vegetation in terms of mean arthropod abundance.
  • These arthropod species can be considered as typical of associated vegetation types, although L. humile is alien (Table 6).

Discussion

  • Species richness and abundance in the different vegetation types.
  • In terms of overall abundance, invaded areas were much poorer than vineyards, indicating greater impact of alien trees over that of vineyards.
  • Yet species richness of the cleared areas was close to that of fynbos, showing that clearing of alien trees increases species richness, an encouraging sign for restoration.
  • This is not surprising because alien trees can impoverish the local terrestrial fauna even over a few metres (Samways et al. 1996).

Conclusions

  • This suggests that conversion of vineyards to more biodiversity friendly farming methods, as outlined by Gaigher and Samways (2010), has a good base on which to work.
  • In turn, clearing of alien trees will continue to benefit biodiversity recovery, but it will take time for the original set of species to return, as it is only the common, and presumably more habitattolerant, species which readily recover.
  • Acknowledgments Financial support was from the Centre for Invasion Biology and the Andrew Mellon Foundation.
  • Rejoyce Gavhi, Rozwivhona Magoba, Mbula Tshikalange, Adam Johnson, Tshilidzi Muofhe and Sne Mchunu kindly assisted in the field.
  • The authors also appreciate the very constructive criticisms of two anonymous referees which greatly improved the manuscript.

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ORIGINAL PAPER
Comparative footprint of alien, agricultural and restored
vegetation on surface-active arthropods
Rembu N. Magoba
Michael J. Samways
Received: 21 October 2010 / Accepted: 4 April 2011
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
Abstract Both invasive alien trees and agricultural
conversion have major impacts on biodiversity. We
studied here the comparative impact of these two
types of land transformation on a wide range of
surface-active arthropod species using pitfall traps,
with evergreen sclerophyllous natural vegetation
(fynbos) as the control. The study was in the Cape
Floristic Region, a global biodiversity hotspot, where
alien trees are of major concern and where vineyards
replace natural fynbos vegetation. Surface-active
arthropods were selected as they are species rich,
relatively immobile, and occur in high abundance.
We hypothesized that the impact of the two types of
land cover transformation would produce similar
qualitative and quantitative effects on the arthropods.
We also compared the results in the transformed and
natural areas with those in areas cleared of alien trees.
Arthropod species richness in cleared areas was
higher than in vineyards and more similar to that in
natural fynbos, while alien trees had the lowest.
Overall abundance scores were highest in cleared
areas, closely followed by fynbos, then vineyards and
lowest in alien trees. Several species were restricted to
each vegetation type, including alien trees. In terms of
assemblage composition, all vegetation types were
significantly different, although fynbos and vineyards
grouped, suggesting that vineyards have less impact on
the arthropod community than do alien trees. When
rare species were excluded, vineyards and cleared sites
grouped, indicating some recovery but only involving
those species that were common and habitat tolerant.
Our results suggest that vineyards retain a greater
complement of indigenous species than alien trees, but
that clearing of these aliens soon encourages estab-
lishment of indigenous species. Although there were
significant differences in soil moisture and litter depth
within and between vegetation types, we did not record
them as significantly affecting species richness or
abundance, even in alien vegetation, an encouraging
sign for restoration.
Keywords Alien vegetation Agricultural
conversion Restoration Arthropods Cape Floristic
Region
Introduction
Invasion by alien tree species is a global environ-
mental problem (Mack et al. 2000; Richardson and
Pys
ˇ
ek 2006), affecting movement patterns of animals,
including insects (Wood and Samways 1991), and
threatening their habitats (Armstrong and van
Electronic supplementary material The online version of
this article (doi:10.1007/s10530-011-9994-x) contains
supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
R. N. Magoba M. J. Samways (&)
Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology,
and Centre for Invasion Biology, University
of Stellenbosch, P/Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
e-mail: samways@sun.ac.za
123
Biol Invasions
DOI 10.1007/s10530-011-9994-x

Hensbergen 1996; Samways et al. 1996; Richardson
and van Wilgen 2004; Samways and Taylor 2004).
However, different ecosystems vary considerably in
their susceptibility to invasion (Chytry
´
et al. 2008),
with the impacts of alien tree species in natural
systems being dependent on invader attributes and on
characteristics of the invaded community (Mason and
French, 2008). Invasive alien trees (IATs) are wide-
spread in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), South
Africa, and their success attributed to their good
colonizing abilities, especially in disturbed areas
(Holmes and Richardson 1999). In many parts of the
world, alien trees are the main component of
commercial forestry, with these trees often spreading
from planting sites (Simberloff et al. 2010). IATs
such as Pinus, Acacia and Eucalyptus species are of
major commercial importance in South Africa, but
they are also a threat to water supplies and biodiver-
sity (Wittenberg and Cock 2001; Le Maitre et al.
2004), especially in the CFR (Macdonald and
Richardson 1986).
Another impact on natural systems is conversion
to agriculture, which changes ecosystem composition
and function (Donald and Evans 2006), and its
biodiversity (Turin and den Boer 1988; Newton 2004;
Gaigher and Samways 2010). Agriculture is one of
the most significant human-induced disturbances that
threatens terrestrial biodiversity (Sala et al. 2000;
Tilman et al. 2001), affecting the availability of
suitable terrestrial habitats (Feber et al. 1996; Warren
et al. 1997; Jeanneret et al. 2003; Kleijn and van
Langevelde 2006). For example, vegetation structure
is important to some arthropods because it can affect
their ability to thermoregulate and reproduce (Holl
1996). However, vegetation loss for agricultural
purposes does not threaten all arthropods equally
(Fleishman et al. 1999), with some relatively small-
scale agriculture maintaining open, early seral bio-
topes favoured by some arthropod species (Shreeve
and Mason 1980; Sibatani 1980).
The regional focus for this study is the CFR, a
global biodiversity hotspot (Mittermeier et al. 2005)
and a world centre of plant diversity and endemism
(Linder 2005; Proches¸ and Cowling 2006), with 67%
of plant species endemic to the region (Linder 2005
).
It is also an important area for many rare and
endemic arthropod species (Johnson 1992; Picker and
Samways 1996; Wright and Samways 1998;
Giliomee 2003; Proches¸ and Cowling 2006; Proches¸
et al. 2009). Of significance here is that both invasive
alien trees (IATs) and agriculture, especially vine-
yards, have an impact on this biodiversity (Rouget
et al. 2003). Yet there is little knowledge on the
comparative impact, or footprint, of these two types
of human-induced land transformations on this bio-
diversity, so we investigate here the comparative
impact of IATs and vineyards on soil-surface arthro-
pod diversity, and compare it with patches where
IATs had been removed. We chose this group of
arthropods as it is species-rich, occurs in high
abundance, and most species are relatively immobile
(therefore allowing spatially-explicit interpretation of
the arthropod data). We hypothesized that the quan-
titative and qualitative adverse footprint in its entirety
(interior and edge) of IATs and vineyards on
arthropod diversity is the same, as they are both, at
least to the human eye, major transformations of
landscape matrix at the spatial scale of the patch.
Study area and methods
Study sites
Sampling was in three nature reserves and seven wine
estates within the CFR (Table 1). At each of these ten
localities, transects were established, so that the focal
land cover/land use types (hereafter referred to as
‘vegetation type’) were adjacent to each other. In
total, there were 36 transects, each 256 m in length.
Half of the transect, i.e. 128 m, was on either side of
the boundary of land use/land cover types, with the
exception of two transects (128 m in length) that
were established across native vegetation and small
IAT fragments (Table 1). Vegetation type was in four
categories: natural fynbos (evergreen schlerophyllous
shrublands characterized by graminoids of the Res-
tionaceae, and shrubs of the Ericaceae and Protea-
ceae), IATs, cleared of invasive alien trees (CIATs),
and vineyards. These resulted in six different pairs of
vegetation types (Table 1).
Natural fynbos was relatively untransformed by
human activity and selected from the nature reserve
and the wine farms with less than 10% alien tree
vegetation. Natural fynbos was predominantly moun-
tain fynbos, with common plant species being geo-
phytes Watsonia borbonica, Cyphia phyteuma and
Chasmanthe aethiopica; herbs Gymnodiscus capillaris
R. N. Magoba, M. J. Samways
123

and Dimorphotheca pluvialis; shrubs Aspalathus forb-
esii, A. aspalathoides, Lebeckia sepiaria, Lotononis
prostrata, Hymenolepis crithmoides, Protea compacta,
P. repens, P. neriifolia, and Salix species, as well
as various ericas. IATs was considered a vegetation
type with more than 90% alien trees, mainly Acacia
Table 1 Details of the study sites and transects
Category Site name Locality Pair of vegetation Transect
length (m)
No. pitfall
traps
Vineyards Vergelegen E: 34.09206
S: 18.89851
Cleared IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
Cleared IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
Cleared IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
Cleared IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
IATs Cleared IATs 256 28
IATs Cleared IATs 256 28
Bilton E:34.01431
S:18.87259
Vineyard IATs 256 28
Vineyard IATs 256 28
Vineyard IATs 256 28
Vineyard Natural Fynbos 256 28
Vineyard Natural Fynbos 256 28
Stellenzicht-Driekoppen E:34.98575
S:18.95216
Vineyard Cleared IATs 256 28
Vineyard Cleared IATs 256 28
Waterford E: 34.06625
S: 18.87626
Vineyard IATs 256 28
IATs Cleared IATs 256 28
Rustenberg E: 33.96862
S: 18.9354
Vineyard Cleared IATs 256 28
Vineyard Cleared IATs 256 28
Vineyard Natural Fynbos 256 28
Vineyard Natural Fynbos 256 28
Vineyard Natural Fynbos 256 28
Vineyard Natural Fynbos 256 28
Vineyard IATs 256 28
Dornier E: 34.01731
S: 18.86607
Vineyard IATs 256 28
Waterford-Driekoppen E: 34.0063
S: 18.87639
Vineyard Cleared IATs 256 28
Vineyard Cleared IATs 256 28
Nature Reserves Jonkershoek E: 33.98317 IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
S: 18.94967 IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
IATs Natural Fynbos 128 24
IATs Natural Fynbos 128 24
Helderberg E: 34.00535 IATs Cleared IATs 256 28
S: 18.8748 IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
Hottentots Holland E: 34.06436 IATs Cleared IATs 256 28
IATs Cleared IATs 256 28
S: 18.87469 Cleared IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
Cleared IATs Natural Fynbos 256 28
Total number of pitfall traps 1000
IATs invasive alien trees
Comparative footprint of alien, agricultural and restored vegetation
123

mearnsii, A. longifolia, A. saligna, Hakea sericea,
H. drupacea, Pinus Pinaster, P. radiata, Eucalyptus
lehmannii, E. diversicolor and Populus trees, with an
understorey of grasses and forbs. Since 2000, farmers
together with government authorities started clearing
these invasive alien trees, with follow-up clearing
undertaken at least every 3 years. Physical or manual
and chemical control methods were applied during IAT
clearing. In essence, IATs were cut and herbicides
applied to the remaining mainstem. Only organic
vineyards were considered. Organic vineyard manage-
ment involves no application of artificial fertilizers as
the soils are relatively fertile through permanent cover
crop (i.e. wheat), and only apply pesticides when
absolutely necessary. One application of chemical
agent chlorpyrifos was applied during early August to
control mealybugs which are the vectors of a viral
disease of the vines.
The 9800 ha Jonkershoek nature reserve com-
prises the Jonkershoek mountains and portions of the
upper Jonkershoek valley where large Radiata pine
(Pinus radiata) plantations are a distinctive feature
bordering fynbos vegetation. This reserve was con-
sidered due to the presence of mountain fynbos
adjacent to invasive alien trees (i.e. Pinus and Hakea
spp.). The 286 ha Helderberg nature reserve has
mountain fynbos dominated mainly by protea spe-
cies. This site was chosen for its IATs adjacent to a
site cleared of IATs (i.e. Pinus spp.). The Hottentots
Holland nature reserve is 42 000 ha and comprises
the Hottentots Holland mountains with the presence
of pristine mountain fynbos adjacent to IATs (i.e.
P. radiata).
Sampling
Sampling of the arthropods was on three occasions
(August-October 2006, May–July 2007 and Novem-
ber 2007–January 2008), when soil surface charac-
teristics (i.e. soil moisture with radioactive moisture-
density gauge (Troxler 3411-B) and leaf litter depth
by inserting a steel rod, 4 mm in diameter, into the
leaf-litter until the harder soil layer was reached)
were also measured. Pitfall traps were used to sample
arthropods as this method is particularly good for
comparative studies of soil-surface active arthropods
(Samways et al. 2010). The 256 m transects consisted
of a trap-set of two individual pitfall traps, 1 m apart,
placed at log 2 intervals: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 m
on either side of the boundary between two adjoining
vegetation types to ensure all species across
the whole vegetation type were accounted for. The
reason for this layout of traps was because the
‘footprint’ of any one patch has both interior and
edge, with a cross over at approximately 30 m
(Samways and Moore 1991; J.S. Pryke unpublished
data). The aim was to give approximate equal
weighting to both interior and edge, while at the
same time having a sampling programme that was
practical in terms of time, hence the log 2 intervals.
This is a study of a land mosaic consisting of
patchwork of land use types, making a reference site
of a small-sized patch of fynbos being more appro-
priate than an extensive nature reserve so as to
compare different types of patches of comparative
size. Furthermore, beta diversity is very high in
extensive natural habitats and we did not want to
invoke another variable into the data. It was not the
intention here to unpack all the complex details of
edge effects for the different taxa but rather to
compare patches in their entirety in a variety of
landscape contexts (see Wiens et al. 1993). However,
two transects, between IATs and fynbos, were each
four traps short, owing to unavailability of extensive
sites (Table 1). The total was 1000 pitfall traps (two
per set, fourteen sets per transect, six transects per
vegetation type pair and six vegetation pairs from
four vegetation types, minus eight traps) (Table 1).
Pitfall traps for sampling arthropods were 500 ml
plastic honey jars, each containing a replaceable
paper cups, 8 cm diameter, 12 cm deep. Each trap
was one-third filled with 70% ethylene glycol. Traps
remained closed during non-sampling periods, and
opened for five consecutive days without rain
(Borgelt and New 2006). Samples then were washed
in water, and transferred to 70% ethanol.
Sampling in vineyards was under vine rows to
minimize impact of disturbance by farm activity. All
pitfall traps were established three months prior
initial sampling to eliminate ‘digging effects’.
Arthropod samples from each trap set were com-
bined, resulting in one sample per sampling station
(i.e. 1000 pitfall traps gave 500 samples per sam-
pling period, making 1 500 samples over the three
sampling periods).
Arthropods were identified to species, or where
this was not possible, assigned to morphospecies.
Voucher specimens are in the Entomology Museum,
R. N. Magoba, M. J. Samways
123

Stellenbosch University, although spiders are in the
National Collection of Arachnida, National Museum,
Pretoria. Identification was by keys and expert
opinion.
Data analyses
Species accumulation curves, using EstimateS
version 8.0.0 with samples randomized 50 times
(Colwell 2006), were produced for all vegetation types
separately, and for all combined. Non-parametric
species estimators were used to provide the best
overall arthropod species estimates for all vegetation
types (Hortal et al. 2006). The incidence based
Coverage Estimator (ICE) is a robust and accurate
estimator of species richness (Chazdon et al. 1998),
whereas Chao2 and Jackknife estimators provide the
least biased estimates should insufficient sampling be
an issue (Colwell and Coddington 1994), and were
calculated here using EstimateS (Colwell 2006) for
all vegetation types separately and for all combined.
As arthropod species richness was normally dis-
tributed and variance homogeneous, one-way analy-
sis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on species
richness data. However, log transformations were
used for abundance data. Multiple comparisons of the
means were made using Bonferroni methodology
(Legendre and Legendre 1998). ANOVA was used to
test for differences between means of populations.
ANOVAs were performed on the selected envi-
ronmental variables in the different vegetation types
using SPSS v17 software (SPSS Inc. 2006), and
significance level was set at a P-value [0.05. Where
the ANOVAs were not significant, the analysis was
terminated. However, where the result was signifi-
cant, it was investigated further using multi-compar-
ison tests.
Classification trees, using CHAID growth limits
(SPSS Inc. 2006) determined the relationship
between the vegetation types in terms of species
richness and abundance relative to environmental
variables. Significance level for splitting nodes and
merging categories was 0.05, and the significance
values were adjusted using Bonferroni methodology.
Correlations between species richness and abundance
with environmental variables for all vegetation types,
separately and collectively, were calculated using
Spearman’s Rank Order Coefficient, since the data
were not normally distributed.
Multivariate analysis, using Primer Ver. 5 (Clarke
and Gorley 2001), was used to detect trends and to
explore the differences in arthropod assemblages
between different vegetation types. Bray-Curtis sim-
ilarity coefficients were used to derive similarity
matrices of arthropod data, then clustering dendro-
grams and non-metric, multi-dimensional scaling
(NMDS) ordination plots to detect trends in similar-
ity. The main advantage of NMDS is its greater
ability to represent complex relations accurately in
low-dimensional space (Clarke and Warwick 2001).
Joint absences in the NMDS were ignored to
emphasize similarity in common or rare species,
comparing only percentage composition (Clarke and
Warwick 2001). The dendrograms were group-aver-
age linking on Bray-Curtis species similarities from
standardized abundance data.
Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to
determine whether arthropods from the different
vegetation types fell into distinct groups (Clarke
and Warwick 2001). PCA considers a different
starting point by making different assumptions about
the definition of (dis)similarity of samples being
compared. Rare species were excluded from the PCA,
so that the species retained were more comparable
with the number of samples (Clarke and Warwick
2001). Distances between vegetation types on the
ordination attempt to match the corresponding dis-
similarities in arthropod assemblage composition i.e.
similar vegetation types would have very similar
arthropod assemblages, while vegetation types that
are dissimilar would have few species in common, or
the same species at very different levels of abun-
dance. However, PCA can produce inconclusive
results, so the data were further analyzed using
cluster analysis for determining how the vegetation
types varied, and how they grouped in terms of their
arthropod assemblages. Cluster analysis produces
results that broadly agree with PCA (Clarke and
Warwick 2001), and usually it is much easier to
observe grouping in cluster analysis than in PCA.
Nevertheless, it may be easier to understand what the
groupings indicate if they have been produced by
PCA. Therefore, using a combination of cluster
analysis and PCA is an effective approach.
Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) tests the hypoth-
esis that there are no assemblage differences between
groups of samples specified, here vegetation type
(Clarke and Warwick 2001). R is approximately zero
Comparative footprint of alien, agricultural and restored vegetation
123

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, soil surface active arthropods were sampled using pitfall traps, and compared species richness and abundance in different vegetation types with various levels of soil compaction and other soil variables.
Abstract: Soil compaction is a major threat to natural resources. However, little information is available on the impacts of soil compaction on arthropod diversity especially relative to different types of vegetation, land use and restoration activities. In response to this dearth of information, we studied soil compaction, as well as percentage soil moisture and mean leaf litter depth, associated with four vegetation types: natural vegetation (fynbos, the historic condition), agricultural land (vineyards), invasive alien trees, and vegetation cleared of invasive alien trees (recovering vegetation). Our study took place in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa, a biodiversity hotspot, yet also an area of intense viticulture and heavy invasion by alien plants. We sampled soil surface-active arthropods using pitfall traps, and compared species richness and abundance in different vegetation types with various levels of soil compaction and other soil variables. Overall, vineyards had the highest soil compaction while natural fynbos and aliens had low and comparable compaction. For both arthropod species richness and abundance, the order of the four vegetation types was, from highest to lowest: natural fynbos, alien cleared sites, vineyards, and alien infested sites. Level of soil compaction negatively correlated with arthropod species richness but not with abundance. Neither soil moisture nor leaf litter depth on their own significantly affected arthropod species richness or abundance. While alien trees overall had a strong negative effect on both arthropod species richness and abundance, and much more so than vineyards, the situation is reversible, with removal of aliens being associated with rapid recovery of soil structure and of arthropod assemblages. This is an encouraging sign for restoration.

11 citations


Cites background from "Comparative footprint of alien, agr..."

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TL;DR: Recovery was rapid, with the assemblages in some restored sites resembling those in untransformed sites after only 6 years, indicating a high level of resilience and recovery in these systems.
Abstract: Many wetland systems are being lost or degraded by human activities such as plantation forestry. Therefore, efforts to restore these wetland systems are important for biodiversity recovery. We assess the recovery of arthropod assemblages that occupy hydromorphic grassland topsoil and leaf litter after the removal of exotic pine trees. We sampled arthropods in three biotopes (natural untransformed hydromorphic grasslands, restored hydromorphic grasslands, and commercial pine plantations) replicated across a large‐scale timber‐grassland mosaic in the KwaZulu‐Natal Midlands, South Africa. In the restored sites, overall species richness, as well as species richness of spiders, ants, and orthopterans, was significantly higher than in plantations, and was as high as in natural, untransformed sites. Additionally, overall assemblage structure along with spider, beetle, ant, and orthopteran assemblages showed no significant differences between restored and natural grasslands. Therefore, pine tree removal enables recovery of these arthropod taxa to levels similar to those in natural hydromorphic grassland. Recovery was rapid, with the assemblages in some restored sites resembling those in untransformed sites after only 6 years, indicating a high level of resilience and recovery in these systems. Contrary to expectations, time since pine removal had a negative effect on arthropod recovery. This was due to the strongly negative effect of alien invasive American bramble (Rubus cuneifolius), which was most common in older restored sites, causing deviation from their restoration trajectory. The potential for arthropod recovery in these hydromorphic grasslands is high, but successful restoration is dependent on ongoing appropriate grassland management, especially removal of bramble.

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TL;DR: In this paper, spatial patterns of spiders in different transformed biotopes bordering remnant fynbos natural vegetation patches, determine direction of associated edge effects, and identify environmental factors influencing spider local distribution.
Abstract: Protected areas alone cannot conserve all biodiversity; we must also conserve biodiversity within production landscapes. Little is known about spider diversity in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) biodiversity hotspot and factors driving spider diversity in transformed landscapes. Here, we assess spatial patterns of spiders in different transformed biotopes bordering remnant fynbos natural vegetation patches, determine direction of associated edge effects, and identify environmental factors influencing spider local distribution. Spiders were sampled along replicated transects running from remnant patches into three different transformed biotopes: old-fields (abandoned farmland), vineyards, and alien tree plantations. Spider Shannon diversity within old-fields and plantations did not differ from remnant patches, which had the highest diversity, whereas vineyards had the lowest. Overall, spider diversity was consistently high around habitat boundaries, regardless of land use type. Vineyards showed sharp declines in spider diversity along the remnant-vineyard transect, compared to other transects. Spider assemblages within vineyards was significantly different compared to remnant patches and old-fields, whereas other land-uses showed greater similarity. Plant species richness within the transformed biotope core increased overall spider diversity, benefiting plant-dwelling assemblages, but negatively influencing ground-dwelling assemblages. Herbaceous plant cover was driving assemblages within vineyards, whereas Restionaceae plant cover drove assemblages within old-fields. Furthermore, amount of natural vegetation in the landscape influenced spider assemblages within transformed biotopes. Our results show that old-fields have great potential to increase structural and functional connectivity within agricultural mosaics, and their rehabilitation is recommended. Furthermore, increasing plant diversity throughout the transformed landscape can soften the landscape and benefit spider diversity.

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Book ChapterDOI
01 Sep 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focused more specifically on the ecological impacts of intensively managed tree-based biomass production systems, and it is structured according to the scale of impacts, i.e. the landscape level and site level.
Abstract: In Chaps. 4, 5 and 6 of this book, we discussed the production and procurement of biomass from various sources, including extensively managed systems such as woodlands, and much more intensively managed systems such as short-rotation bio-energy plantations. It is generally accepted that intensive, production orientated land uses will have an impact on carbon stocks, biodiversity, growth resource use or resource quality (Achten and Verchot 2011; German et~al. 2011). Some of these impacts may be exacerbated if exotic species are used in the system. Conversely, the ecological impacts on areas of low management intensity or near natural vegetation are usually lower. This chapter will focus more specifically on the ecological impacts of intensively managed tree-based biomass production systems, and it is structured according to the scale of impacts, i.e. the landscape level and site level. At both levels, we have attempted to highlight the major threats to sustained productivity and the provision of ecosystem services. However, even intensive biomass production systems can arguably be managed in ways that mitigate the ecological impacts of such systems. This chapter will therefore also focus on some case studies where ecological impacts could be limited or mitigated through the adoption of specific management strategies.

8 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In both countries, associations between FRic of wild bees and flowering plants were positive both in organic and in conventional vineyards, and the use of diverse cover crop seed mixtures to enhance plant flowering diversity in inter‐rows, to increase wild bee richness in viticultural landscapes.
Abstract: Wild bees are threatened by multiple interacting stressors, such as habitat loss, land use change, parasites, and pathogens. However, vineyards with vegetated inter-rows can offer high floral resources within viticultural landscapes and provide foraging and nesting habitats for wild bees. Here, we assess how vineyard management regimes (organic vs. conventional; inter-row vegetation management) and landscape composition determine the inter-row plant and wild bee assemblages, as well as how these variables relate to functional traits in 24 Austrian and 10 South African vineyards. Vineyards had either permanent vegetation cover in untilled inter-rows or temporary vegetation cover in infrequently tilled inter-rows. Proportion of seminatural habitats (e.g., fallows, grassland, field margins) and woody structures (e.g., woodlots, single trees, tree rows) were used as proxies for landscape composition and mapped within 500-m radius around the study vineyards. Organic vineyard management increased functional richness (FRic) of wild bees and flowering plants, with woody structures marginally increasing species richness and FRic of wild bees. Wild bee and floral traits were differently associated across the countries. In Austria, several bee traits (e.g., lecty, pollen collection type, proboscis length) were associated with flower color and symmetry, while in South African vineyards, only bees' proboscis length was positively correlated with floral traits characteristic of Asteraceae flowers (e.g., ray-disk morphology, yellow colors). Solitary bee species in Austria benefitted from infrequent tillage, while ground nesting species preferred inter-rows with undisturbed soils. Higher proportions of woody structures in surrounding landscapes resulted in less solitary and corbiculate bees in Austria, but more aboveground nesting species in South Africa. In both countries, associations between FRic of wild bees and flowering plants were positive both in organic and in conventional vineyards. We recommend the use of diverse cover crop seed mixtures to enhance plant flowering diversity in inter-rows, to increase wild bee richness in viticultural landscapes.

7 citations


Cites background from "Comparative footprint of alien, agr..."

  • ...…mainly of non- native invasive species, which probably do not provide habitat for many of the native bee species, as plant species richness and ground- dwelling arthropod diversity decline under stands of alien trees (Magoba & Samways, 2012; Richardson et al., 1989; Schoeman & Samways, 2011)....

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References
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01 Jan 2001

11,748 citations


"Comparative footprint of alien, agr..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...Rare species were excluded from the PCA, so that the species retained were more comparable with the number of samples (Clarke and Warwick 2001)....

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  • ...Joint absences in the NMDS were ignored to emphasize similarity in common or rare species, comparing only percentage composition (Clarke and Warwick 2001)....

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  • ...Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to determine whether arthropods from the different vegetation types fell into distinct groups (Clarke and Warwick 2001)....

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  • ...The main advantage of NMDS is its greater ability to represent complex relations accurately in low-dimensional space (Clarke and Warwick 2001)....

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  • ...Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) tests the hypothesis that there are no assemblage differences between groups of samples specified, here vegetation type (Clarke and Warwick 2001)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
10 Mar 2000-Science
TL;DR: This study identified a ranking of the importance of drivers of change, aranking of the biomes with respect to expected changes, and the major sources of uncertainties in projections of future biodiversity change.
Abstract: Scenarios of changes in biodiversity for the year 2100 can now be developed based on scenarios of changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide, climate, vegetation, and land use and the known sensitivity of biodiversity to these changes. This study identified a ranking of the importance of drivers of change, a ranking of the biomes with respect to expected changes, and the major sources of uncertainties. For terrestrial ecosystems, land-use change probably will have the largest effect, followed by climate change, nitrogen deposition, biotic exchange, and elevated carbon dioxide concentration. For freshwater ecosystems, biotic exchange is much more important. Mediterranean climate and grassland ecosystems likely will experience the greatest proportional change in biodiversity because of the substantial influence of all drivers of biodiversity change. Northern temperate ecosystems are estimated to experience the least biodiversity change because major land-use change has already occurred. Plausible changes in biodiversity in other biomes depend on interactions among the causes of biodiversity change. These interactions represent one of the largest uncertainties in projections of future biodiversity change.

8,401 citations


"Comparative footprint of alien, agr..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Agriculture is one of the most significant human-induced disturbances that threatens terrestrial biodiversity (Sala et al. 2000; Tilman et al. 2001), affecting the availability of suitable terrestrial habitats (Feber et al. 1996; Warren et al. 1997; Jeanneret et al. 2003; Kleijn and van Langevelde…...

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  • ...Agriculture is one of the most significant human-induced disturbances that threatens terrestrial biodiversity (Sala et al. 2000; Tilman et al. 2001), affecting the availability of suitable terrestrial habitats (Feber et al....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Given their current scale, biotic invasions have taken their place alongside human-driven atmospheric and oceanic alterations as major agents of global change and left unchecked, they will influence these other forces in profound but still unpredictable ways.
Abstract: Biotic invaders are species that establish a new range in which they proliferate, spread, and persist to the detriment of the environment. They are the most important ecological outcomes from the unprecedented alterations in the distribution of the earth's biota brought about largely through human transport and commerce. In a world without borders, few if any areas remain sheltered from these im- migrations. The fate of immigrants is decidedly mixed. Few survive the hazards of chronic and stochastic forces, and only a small fraction become naturalized. In turn, some naturalized species do become invasive. There are several potential reasons why some immigrant species prosper: some escape from the constraints of their native predators or parasites; others are aided by human-caused disturbance that disrupts native communities. Ironically, many biotic invasions are apparently facilitated by cultivation and husbandry, unintentional actions that foster immigrant populations until they are self-perpetuating and uncontrollable. Whatever the cause, biotic invaders can in many cases inflict enormous environmental damage: (1) Animal invaders can cause extinctions of vulnerable native species through predation, grazing, competition, and habitat alteration. (2) Plant invaders can completely alter the fire regime, nutrient cycling, hydrology, and energy budgets in a native ecosystem and can greatly diminish the abundance or survival of native species. (3) In agriculture, the principal pests of temperate crops are nonindigenous, and the combined expenses of pest control and crop losses constitute an onerous "tax" on food, fiber, and forage production. (4) The global cost of virulent plant and animal diseases caused by parasites transported to new ranges and presented with susceptible new hosts is currently incalculable. Identifying future invaders and taking effective steps to prevent their dispersal and establishment con- stitutes an enormous challenge to both conservation and international commerce. Detection and management when exclusion fails have proved daunting for varied reasons: (1) Efforts to identify general attributes of future invaders have often been inconclusive. (2) Predicting susceptible locales for future invasions seems even more problematic, given the enormous differences in the rates of arrival among potential invaders. (3) Eradication of an established invader is rare, and control efforts vary enormously in their efficacy. Successful control, however, depends more on commitment and continuing diligence than on the efficacy of specific tools themselves. (4) Control of biotic invasions is most effective when it employs a long-term, ecosystem- wide strategy rather than a tactical approach focused on battling individual invaders. (5) Prevention of invasions is much less costly than post-entry control. Revamping national and international quarantine laws by adopting a "guilty until proven innocent" approach would be a productive first step. Failure to address the issue of biotic invasions could effectively result in severe global consequences, including wholesale loss of agricultural, forestry, and fishery resources in some regions, disruption of the ecological processes that supply natural services on which human enterprise depends, and the creation of homogeneous, impoverished ecosystems composed of cosmopolitan species. Given their current scale, biotic invasions have taken their place alongside human-driven atmospheric and oceanic alterations as major agents of global change. Left unchecked, they will influence these other forces in profound but still unpredictable ways.

6,195 citations


"Comparative footprint of alien, agr..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Invasion by alien tree species is a global environmental problem (Mack et al. 2000; Richardson and Pyšek 2006), affecting movement patterns of animals, including insects (Wood and Samways 1991), and threatening their habitats (Armstrong and van Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10....

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  • ...Invasion by alien tree species is a global environmental problem (Mack et al. 2000; Richardson and Pyšek 2006), affecting movement patterns of animals, including insects (Wood and Samways 1991), and threatening their habitats (Armstrong and van Electronic supplementary material The online version…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The importance of using 'reference' sites to assess the true richness and composition of species assemblages, to measure ecologically significant ratios between unrelated taxa, toMeasure taxon/sub-taxon (hierarchical) ratios, and to 'calibrate' standardized sampling methods is discussed.
Abstract: Both the magnitude and the urgency of the task of assessing global biodiversity require that we make the most of what we know through the use of estimation and extrapolation. Likewise, future biodiversity inventories need to be designed around the use of effective sampling and estimation procedures, especially for 'hyperdiverse' groups of terrestrial organisms, such as arthropods, nematodes, fungi, and microorganisms. The challenge of estimating patterns of species richness from samples can be separated into (i) the problem of estimating local species richness, and (ii) the problem of estimating the distinctness, or complementarity, of species assemblages. These concepts apply on a wide range of spatial, temporal, and functional scales. Local richness can be estimated by extrapolating species accumulation curves, fitting parametric distributions of relative abundance, or using non-parametric techniques based on the distribution of individuals among species or of species among samples. We present several of these methods and examine their effectiveness for an example data set. We present a simple measure of complementarity, with some biogeographic examples, and outline the difficult problem of estimating complementarity from samples. Finally, we discuss the importance of using 'reference' sites (or sub-sites) to assess the true richness and composition of species assemblages, to measure ecologically significant ratios between unrelated taxa, to measure taxon/sub-taxon (hierarchical) ratios, and to 'calibrate' standardized sampling methods. This information can then be applied to the rapid, approximate assessment of species richness and faunal or floral composition at 'comparative' sites.

4,245 citations


"Comparative footprint of alien, agr..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...…species richness (Chazdon et al. 1998), whereas Chao2 and Jackknife estimators provide the least biased estimates should insufficient sampling be an issue (Colwell and Coddington 1994), and were calculated here using EstimateS (Colwell 2006) for all vegetation types separately and for all combined....

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  • ...1998), whereas Chao2 and Jackknife estimators provide the least biased estimates should insufficient sampling be an issue (Colwell and Coddington 1994), and were calculated here using EstimateS (Colwell 2006) for all vegetation types separately and for all combined....

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Journal ArticleDOI
13 Apr 2001-Science
TL;DR: Should past dependences of the global environmental impacts of agriculture on human population and consumption continue, 109 hectares of natural ecosystems would be converted to agriculture by 2050, accompanied by 2.4- to 2.7-fold increases in nitrogen- and phosphorus-driven eutrophication of terrestrial, freshwater, and near-shore marine ecosystems.
Abstract: During the next 50 years, which is likely to be the final period of rapid agricultural expansion, demand for food by a wealthier and 50% larger global population will be a major driver of global environmental change. Should past dependences of the global environmental impacts of agriculture on human population and consumption continue, 10(9) hectares of natural ecosystems would be converted to agriculture by 2050. This would be accompanied by 2.4- to 2.7-fold increases in nitrogen- and phosphorus-driven eutrophication of terrestrial, freshwater, and near-shore marine ecosystems, and comparable increases in pesticide use. This eutrophication and habitat destruction would cause unprecedented ecosystem simplification, loss of ecosystem services, and species extinctions. Significant scientific advances and regulatory, technological, and policy changes are needed to control the environmental impacts of agricultural expansion.

3,606 citations


"Comparative footprint of alien, agr..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Agriculture is one of the most significant human-induced disturbances that threatens terrestrial biodiversity (Sala et al. 2000; Tilman et al. 2001), affecting the availability of suitable terrestrial habitats (Feber et al. 1996; Warren et al. 1997; Jeanneret et al. 2003; Kleijn and van Langevelde…...

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  • ...Agriculture is one of the most significant human-induced disturbances that threatens terrestrial biodiversity (Sala et al. 2000; Tilman et al. 2001), affecting the availability of suitable terrestrial habitats (Feber et al....

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Frequently Asked Questions (1)
Q1. What are the contributions in "Comparative footprint of alien, agricultural and restored vegetation on surface-active arthropods" ?

The authors studied here the comparative impact of these two types of land transformation on a wide range of surface-active arthropod species using pitfall traps, with evergreen sclerophyllous natural vegetation ( fynbos ) as the control. The study was in the Cape Floristic Region, a global biodiversity hotspot, where alien trees are of major concern and where vineyards replace natural fynbos vegetation. In terms of assemblage composition, all vegetation types were significantly different, although fynbos and vineyards grouped, suggesting that vineyards have less impact on the arthropod community than do alien trees. Their results suggest that vineyards retain a greater complement of indigenous species than alien trees, but that clearing of these aliens soon encourages establishment of indigenous species. Although there were significant differences in soil moisture and litter depth within and between vegetation types, the authors did not record them as significantly affecting species richness or abundance, even in alien vegetation, an encouraging sign for restoration.