TY - GEN A1 - Michalko, Radek A1 - Košulič, Ondřej A1 - Martinek, Petr A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus T1 - Disturbance by invasive pathogenic fungus alters arthropod predator – prey food webs in ash plantations T2 - Journal of Animal Ecology N2 - 1. According to the disturbance-succession theory, natural disturbances support biodiversity and are expected to increase the complexity of food-webs in for-est ecosystems by opening canopies and creating a heterogeneous environment. However, a limited number of studies have investigated the impact of disturbance by invasive pathogenic species and succession on arthropod predator–prey food-webs in forest ecosystems.2. Hymenoscyphus fraxineus is a pathogenic fungus of ash trees that is invasive in Europe and causes massive dieback, mainly of the common ash Fraxinus excelsioracross its native range. Here we investigated how this pathogenic fungus affects food- webs of web- building spiders and their prey in understorey vegetation of ash plantations.3. In 23 young and middle-aged ash plantations that were distributed along a gradi-ent of infestation by H. fraxineus (29%– 86% infestation), we measured the vegeta-tion structure (canopy openness, shrub coverage, herb/grass coverage), the trait composition of local spider communities (web type, body size), the prey availabil-ity and the prey intercepted by spider webs. We then evaluated the multivariate prey composition (prey type, body size) and network properties.4. Hymenoscyphus fraxineus opened the ash tree canopy, which resulted in denser shrub coverage. The dense shrub vegetation changed the composition of web types in local spider communities and increasing fungus infestation resulted in reduced mean body size of spiders. Infestation by H. fraxineus reduced the avail-ability of predaceous Coleoptera and increased the availability of herbivorous Coleoptera as potential prey. The mean body size of captured prey and the per capita capture rates of most prey groups decreased with increasing fungus in-festation. Hymenoscyphus fraxineus infestation indirectly reduced the complexity in bipartite networks and the trophic functional complementarity in local web- building spider communities. The plantation age affected the vegetation structure but did not affect the studied food-webs.5. Forest disturbance by the invasive pathogen affected four trophic levels (plant– herbivore–coleopteran intermediate predator–top predator web- building spiders) and, contrary to the disturbance-succession theory, disturbance by the fungus simplified the web- building spider- prey food-webs. The results support the view that H. fraxineus represents a threat to the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the simplified ecosystems of ash plantations. KW - body size KW - Fraxinus KW - Hymenoscyphus fraxineus KW - indirect interaction KW - network KW - spider Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13537 SN - 1365-2656 SN - 0021-8790 VL - 90 IS - 9 SP - 2213 EP - 2226 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Khum, Warbota A1 - Košulič, Ondřej A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Michalko, Radek T1 - The invasive pathogenic fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus alters predator–herbivore–ash food webs. T2 - Biological Invasions Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-022-02900-9 SN - 1573-1464 SN - 1387-3547 IS - 25 SP - 125 EP - 131 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Tölgyesi, Csaba A1 - Bátori, Zoltán A1 - Pascarella, John A1 - Erdős, László A1 - Török, Péter A1 - Batáry, Péter A1 - Birkhofer, Klaus A1 - Scherer, Laura A1 - Michalko, Radek A1 - Košulič, Ondřej A1 - Zaller, Johann G. A1 - Gallé, Róbert T1 - Ecovoltaics: Framework and future research directions to reconcile land-based solar power development with ecosystem conservation T2 - Biological Conservation N2 - Renewable energy production is gaining momentum globally as a way to combat climate change without drastically reducing human energy consumption. Solar energy offers the fastest developing solution. However, ground-mounted solar panels have a high land requirement, which leads to conflicts with other land use types, particularly agriculture and biodiversity conservation. The dual land use of agrivoltaics, i.e., continuing agricultural production under and between solar panels, may alleviate farmers' concerns, but less effort has been made to reconcile solar development with biodiversity conservation. Here we provide a framework for creating a win-win situation for this growing challenge using recent literature on solar park habitats complemented with ecological theories. We also highlight important knowledge gaps that future research should address. Our framework uses a unique land-sharing approach and is based on five pillars that cover key aspects of solar park planning and maintenance: (1) eco-smart siting in the landscape, which considers ecological interactions with the landscape matrix and trade-offs between multiple small vs. fewer large solar parks; (2) eco-smart park layout to address the ecological aspects of the spatial configuration of solar park infrastructure; (3) creation of diverse, novel grassland ecosystems with high ecosystem service provisioning capacity using a trait-based ecosystem design approach; (4) management of the novel ecosystem throughout the lifespan of the solar parks; and (5) ensuring stakeholder engagement to integrate this in a viable business model with high community acceptance. With this framework, we open the way for a new multifunctional land use type: the ecovoltaic park. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110242 SN - 0006-3207 VL - 285 ER -