Abstract
Insects are key components of urban ecological networks and are greatly impacted by anthropogenic activities. Yet, few studies have examined how insect functional groups respond to changes to urban vegetation associated with different management actions. We investigated the response of herbivorous and predatory heteropteran bugs to differences in vegetation structure and diversity in golf courses, gardens and parks. We assessed how the species richness of these groups varied amongst green space types, and the effect of vegetation volume and plant diversity on trophic- and species-specific occupancy. We found that golf courses sustain higher species richness of herbivores and predators than parks and gardens. At the trophic- and species-specific levels, herbivores and predators show strong positive responses to vegetation volume. The effect of plant diversity, however, is distinctly species-specific, with species showing both positive and negative responses. Our findings further suggest that high occupancy of bugs is obtained in green spaces with specific combinations of vegetation structure and diversity. The challenge for managers is to boost green space conservation value through actions promoting synergistic combinations of vegetation structure and diversity. Tackling this conservation challenge could provide enormous benefits for other elements of urban ecological networks and people that live in cities.
Highlights
Heteropteran bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera; bugs for brevity) comprise a hyperdiverse monophyletic clade of insects distributed worldwide[13,14]
The survey yielded 91 bug species (75 herbivores and 16 predators) from 19 families (Tables S1–S4). This represents approximately 20% of the total bug gamma diversity estimated for Victoria, Australia[32], and agrees well with the bug species richness found in other temperate urban areas[33]
Our study demonstrates that there are significant differences in the capacity of different green space types to support diverse herbivorous and predatory bug communities
Summary
Heteropteran bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera; bugs for brevity) comprise a hyperdiverse monophyletic clade of insects distributed worldwide[13,14]. The positive effects of complex vegetation structure and high plant diversity may not be general across all insect taxa and functional groups[23], highlighting the relevance of incorporating trophic- and species-specific responses when investigating the generality of ecological patterns across different ecosystem types. These urban green spaces, are often unintentionally managed and contain a range of both early- and late-succession vegetation features (e.g. turf grass lawns, patches of unmanaged vegetation, trees, shrubs) Understanding how this diversity of habitat structures impacts insects and other animal taxa will inform potential management practices that could promote biodiversity. In this study we assess the impact of different vegetation management practices on herbivorous and predatory insects by examining heteropteran bug responses to variation in vegetation structure and plant diversity in different urban green space types (golf courses, residential gardens, public parks). (1) Assess how species richness of herbivorous and predatory bugs varies amongst green space types; and (2) quantify the magnitude of the effect of vegetation volume and plant species diversity on bug trophic (i.e., herbivorous or predatory) and species-specific occupancy
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