TY - GEN A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Djoudi, El Aziz A1 - Schnerch, Benjamin A1 - Michalko, Radek T1 - Climatic conditions and functional traits affect spider diets in agricultural and non-agricultural habitats worldwide T2 - Ecography N2 - Spiders are dominant predators in terrestrial ecosystems and feed on prey from the herbivore and detritivore subsystem (dual subsystem omnivory) as well as on other predators (intraguild predation). Little is known about how global change potentially affects the importance of different prey groups in predator diets. In this meta-analysis we identify the impact of climatic conditions, land-use types and functional traits of spider species on the relative importance of Hemiptera, Araneae and Collembola prey in spider diets. We use a dataset including 78 publications with 149 observational records of the diet composition of 96 spider species in agricultural and non-agricultural habitats in 24 countries worldwide. The importance of Hemiptera prey was not affected by climatic conditions and was particularily high in smaller spider species in agricultural habitats. Araneae prey was most important for actively hunting, larger spider species in non-agricultural habitats. Collembola prey was most important for small, actively hunting spider species in regions with higher temperature seasonality. Spider species with a higher importance of Araneae prey for their diet also had higher importances of Collembola and lower importances of Hemiptera prey. Future increases of temperature seasonality predicted for several regions worldwide may go along with an increasing importance of Collembola prey which also related to a higher importance of intraguild prey here. Two global change drivers predicted for many regions of the world (increasing climatic seasonality and ongoing conversion of non-agricultural to agricultural land) both hold the potential to increase the importance of Collembola prey in spider diets. The importance of Hemiptera and Araneae prey may however show contrasting responses to these two drivers. These complex potential effects of global change components and their impact on functional traits in spider communities highlight the importance to simultaneously consider multiple drivers of global change to better understand future predator–prey interactions. KW - alternative prey KW - biological control KW - climate change KW - intraguild predation KW - land-use change KW - predator–prey interactions Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.06090 SN - 1600-0587 IS - 3 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Bird, Tharina A1 - Alfeus, Martha A1 - Arvidsson, Fredrik A1 - Buxton, Mmabaledi A1 - Djoudi, El Aziz A1 - Fabiano, Ezequiel Chimbioputo A1 - Kasinda, Eva A1 - Machekano, Honest A1 - Mpofu, Precious A1 - Nghipunya, Esther N. A1 - Segaiso, Bame Alice A1 - Nyamukondiwa, Casper T1 - Smallholder agriculture in African dryland agroecosystems has limited impact on trophic group composition, but affects arthropod provision of ecosystem services T2 - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment N2 - Agricultural intensification is a major driver of biodiversity loss, but the majority of studies highlighting these threats come from industrialised agriculture in temperate countries of the global North. However, more than 30% of global food production is produced by smallholder farmers, particularly in Africa. We know very little about the impact of these farming practices on arthropod communities and associated ecosystems in dryland agroecosystems. We investigated the trophic group composition of arthropod communities (detritivorous, herbivorous, predatory & mixed feeders) and levels of associated ecosystem functions in replicated maize fields, paired adjacent natural bushveld habitats and the edge habitats between them in north-eastern Namibia and central-eastern Botswana during the dry and wet seasons. Predator activity densities differed significantly between habitats depending on the season, with higher numbers in natural habitats in the wet season but lower numbers in the dry season compared to maize fields. In general, edge habitats had higher numbers of predators than the other habitats. Predator attack rates on artificial caterpillars in both seasons and dung removal in the wet season were higher in habitats with natural vegetation (natural and edge). However, dung removal in the dry season and herbivory in the wet season were highest in the maize fields, the latter due to high level of fall armyworm infestation. Wet season multifunctionality was higher in natural habitats in Botswana, and to a lesser extent in Namibia, than in maize fields. Smallholder agriculture is not detrimental to decomposers, herbivores and mixed feeders compared to adjacent natural habitats, but may be detrimental to the provision of some ecosystem services. These results highlight the challenge of sustainably managing dryland agricultural land that is marginal for crop production, while providing smallholders with an optimal environment to benefit from the ecosystem services associated with arthropod communities. New conservation agriculture practices need to support the production of higher and more stable yields over time, while maintaining the limited impact of smallholder agriculture on biotic communities. KW - Artificial caterpillars; Biological control; Dung removal; Herbivory; Multifunctionality; Seed predation Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880923005194 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2023.108860 SN - 0167-8809 VL - 363 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Damptey, Frederick Gyasi A1 - Djoudi, El Aziz A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus T1 - Effects of post-mining forest restoration and alternative land uses on ground-dwelling arthropods in Ghana T2 - Community Ecology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s42974-023-00144-8 SN - 1588-2756 VL - 24 SP - 215 EP - 228 ER -