Character of woodland fragments affects distribution of myriapod assemblages in agricultural landscape.

Ondřej Horňák,Bořivoj Šarapatka,Ivan Hadrián Tuf,Andrej Mock

doi:10.3897/zookeys.930.48586

Ondřej Horňák, Bořivoj Šarapatka + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.930.48586

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Abstract

Fragments of woodland fulfil many irreplaceable functions in the agricultural landscape including being the main source of biodiversity of soil invertebrates. Due to intensive farming and land use changes, especially in the second half of the 20th century, fragments of woodland in agricultural landscape almost disappeared. This has led to a decrease in the diversity of invertebrates, especially those for which the presence of these woodland habitats in the landscape is a key element for survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of fragments of woodland (characterised by their area, vegetation structure, the amount of leaf litter layer and soil moisture) on the distribution of centipedes and millipedes (Myriapoda) in the agricultural landscape of South Moravia (Czech Republic). Myriapods were collected using pitfall traps during summer in 2016 and 2017. Results showed that activity-density of myriapods is positively correlated with thickness of the leaf litter layer. Moreover, the species richness of centipedes is positively correlated with increasing size of fragments of woodland although higher centipedes’ activity-density was found in rather uniform woodlands in term of diversity of tree species.

Highlights

Wood fragments, windbreaks, and other wood elements represent an integral part of the agricultural landscape, defined as a mosaic of fields and uncultivated natural or semi-natural areas (Burel 1996)
Due to dominance of P. complanatus, this millipede was usually the only species caught and 14 sites were without surface-dwelling millipede activity during our research
We focused on several characteristics of the environment, which, as we supposed, could affect the species richness and abundance of these myriapods

Summary

Introduction

Wood fragments, windbreaks, and other wood elements represent an integral part of the agricultural landscape, defined as a mosaic of fields and uncultivated natural or semi-natural areas (Burel 1996). They were created by human planting primarily or they are remnants of formerly wooded landscape (Burel and Baudry 1989). Centipedes (Chilopoda) are soil predators that feed on larvae and adults of other small invertebrates and significantly reduce the abundance of other invertebrates (Voigtländer 2011) Both these groups of myriapods are sources of food for other animals (Stašiov et al 2017)

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