Abstract
BackgroundFlooded semi-natural grasslands are endangered ecosystems throughout Europe. In Italy, amongst flooded meadows, one special type called “marcita” is strongly threatened. It is a stable flooded grassland used to produce green forage even during winter months due to the thermal properties of water coming from springs and fountains that prevent the soil from freezing. To date, some research has been carried out to investigate the role of the marcita for ornithological and herpetological communities. However, no comprehensive data on invertebrates inhabiting this particular biotope available. The aim of this study was to characterise the terrestrial entomological community of these typical winter-flooded meadows in northern Italy and, in particular, in six marcita fields located in the Ticino Valley Regional Park. We collected data on species richness and diversity of Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Araneae, Lepidoptera and Orthoptera inhabiting marcita during the summers of 2014 and 2015 and data on overwintering Coleoptera during the winter of 2014-2015. Amongst the collected species, we identified those highly linked to this habitat.New informationWe found a total of 47 ground beetle species, 35 rove beetle species, 29 spider species, one Lucanidae, 16 butterfly species and 24 grasshopper and cricket species. Most of the species were collected during the summers of 2014 and 2015, while some others were also, or exclusively, overwintering (17 ground beetles, four rove beetles and one Lucanidae) and were collected during the winter of 2014-2015.Marcita fields hosted specialised species and species typical of hygrophilous habitats, amongst which are included the butterfly Lycaena dispar, the ground beetle Dolichus halensis and the grasshopper Chrysochraon dispar. This study represents the first contribution to the knowledge of terrestrial arthropod communities associated with this particular type of winter-irrigated meadow in Europe and confirms the importance of this biotope for invertebrate conservation in agricultural landscapes.
Highlights
Flooded semi-natural grasslands are highly productive biotopes that support characteristic animal species communities (Prach et al 1996)
During the whole sampling period we found a total of 47 ground beetle species, 35 rove beetle species, 29 spider species, one Lucanidae, 16 butterfly species and 24 grasshopper and cricket species
During the winter 2014/2015, we collected 618 overwintering beetles belonging to 22 species divided as follows: 17 ground beetle species, four rove beetle species and one species belonging to Lucanidae (Table 6)
Summary
Flooded semi-natural grasslands are highly productive biotopes that support characteristic animal species communities (Prach et al 1996). Intensive practices for semi-natural water meadows include higher fertiliser and herbicide applications and the use of modern mowing techniques (Van Buskirk and Willi 2004). This results in eutrophic, structurally poor and homogeneous meadows with negative impacts on diversity, species composition and ecosystem processes (Hans et al 2020). In Italy, amongst flooded meadows, one special type called “marcita” is strongly threatened It is a stable flooded grassland used to produce green forage even during winter months due to the thermal properties of water coming from springs and fountains that prevent the soil from freezing. We identified those highly linked to this habitat
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