@misc{FengArvidssonSmithetal., author = {Feng, Lanya and Arvidsson, Fredrik and Smith, Henrik G. and Birkhofer, Klaus}, title = {Fallows and permanent grasslands conserve the species composition and functional diversity of carabid beetles and linyphiid spiders in agricultural landscapes}, series = {Insect Conservation \& Diversity}, volume = {14}, journal = {Insect Conservation \& Diversity}, number = {6}, issn = {1752-4598}, doi = {10.1111/icad.12520}, pages = {825 -- 836}, abstract = {The European Union reformed the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2013) to include greening measures with the aim to decrease negative impacts of farming on the environment and biodiversity. The degree to which greening measures such as permanent grassland or fallows of different ages enhance biodiversity is still debated. We investigate the effect of fallows in two different age classes and permanent grassland in the surrounding landscape on the taxonomic and functional diversity of two numerically dominant groups of natural enemies in cereal fields: soil-emerging carabid beetles (Family Carabidae, Order Coleoptera) and ground-active linyphiid spiders (Family Linyphiidae, Order Araneae). The species richness, abundance and Hill-Shannon diversity of carabids and linyphiids did not differ significantly between fallows and cereal fields and was not significantly related to the proportion of permanent grassland in the surrounding landscape. The species composition of both communities differed significantly between cereal fields and fallows. The functional distinctness, as an index reflecting the similarity among species in terms of functional traits, of linyphiids was significantly higher in fallows than in cereal fields. The trait composition of carabids was significantly related to the proportion of permanent grassland depending on field type (cereal or fallow). Our results document considerable species turnover in natural enemy communities of adjacent cereal fields and fallows, and support the assumption that older fallows (>8 years) produce functionally more diverse natural enemy communities. Maintaining fallows for a long period is an important measure to promote the functional diversity in predaceous arthropod communities.}, language = {en} } @misc{FengLysakowskiEisenschmidtetal., author = {Feng, Lanya and Lysakowski, Bartosz and Eisenschmidt, Jenny and Birkhofer, Klaus}, title = {The impact of wildfire and mammal carcasses on beetle emergence from heathland soils}, series = {Ecological Entomology}, volume = {47}, journal = {Ecological Entomology}, number = {5}, issn = {1365-2311}, doi = {10.1111/een.13179}, pages = {883 -- 894}, abstract = {Wildfires alter the composition of insect communities due to fire-induced mortality, and the post-fire vegetation and soil conditions also affect the initial re-colonisation and subsequent local emergence of adults from burnt soils. However, the impact of wildfires on re-colonisation and emergence of carrion-associated scavenging species from soils has previously been neglected. We established an experiment in an unmanaged heathland area that was affected by a severe wildfire in 2017 by adding wild boar carcasses to burnt and unburnt areas 204 days after the wildfire. Adult beetles were then collected with emergence tents at paired sites with and without carcasses and in burnt and unburnt areas from 27 April to 10 August 2018. The wildfire did not significantly affect the diversity or abundance of soil-emerging beetles. Community composition in the burnt area differed significantly from the unburnt area with higher numbers of Staphylinidae and lower numbers of phytophagous beetle families (Curculionidae and Elateridae) emerging from soils, probably reflecting the structurally simpler vegetation and reduced litter one year after the wildfire. Scavenging beetles generally colonise mammal carcasses in burnt areas to the same extent as in unburnt areas, but the post-fire conditions favoured some species with very specialised habitat preferences. A few rare species of conservation concern almost exclusively occurred in the burnt area and in most cases in combination with the presence of a carcass. This result highlights the joint importance of heathland wildfires and carcass resources for species conservation in beetle communities.}, language = {en} } @misc{FengArvidssonDjoudietal., author = {Feng, Lanya and Arvidsson, Fredrik and Djoudi, El Aziz and Birkhofer, Klaus}, title = {Terrestrial generalist predators have larger isotopic niches but rely less on aquatic prey at a natural compared to a post-mining lakeshore}, series = {Food webs}, volume = {41}, journal = {Food webs}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {2352-2496}, doi = {10.1016/j.fooweb.2024.e00368}, pages = {1 -- 9}, abstract = {The flooded pits from former opencast mining (post-mining lakes) are young aquatic ecosystems often with low primary productivity due to the high acidity. The limited availability of nutrients and simplified aquatic food webs in these artificial lakes may affect the matter fluxes towards food webs in adjacent terrestrial habitats. To understand the impact of emerging prey from a post-mining lake on terrestrial food webs and associated arthropod communities, we compared the emergence and activity of arthropods as well as the isotopic niches of generalist predators and their potential prey between lakeshores of a post-mining and a natural lake. We used aquatic and terrestrial emergence tents to sample potential prey that emerged locally (Collembola and Diptera) and pitfall traps to sample terrestrial arthropod predators (Carabidae and Araneae) from lakeshores. Community and stable isotope (δ13C and δ15N) analyses were performed to compare diversity and isotopic niches of generalist arthropod predators between the natural and post-mining lakeshores. The number of emerging aquatic and terrestrial prey did not differ significantly between lakes, but the δ15N values of aquatic emerging dipterans differed between the two lakes. Predator community diversity did not differ significantly between lakeshores, but generalist predator species from the natural lakeshore generally had larger isotopic niche sizes than the same species at the post-mining lakeshore indicating a more diverse diet. Additional estimates of diet composition suggest that predators at the natural lakeshore utilized aquatic prey to a lesser degree than at the post-mining lake, but still had a more diverse diet.}, language = {en} }