Does land use and land cover affect adult communities of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT)? A systematic review with meta-analysis.

Abstract

We conducted a systematic review to better understand this gap and analyzed i) in which global regions are studies usually conducted, ii) the taxon studied, iii) sampling methods and iv) how authors collaborated in these studies. We also tested the relationship between different types of land use and land cover and adult EPT communities using a meta-analysis. We searched for relevant articles on the website Web of Science, using specific words related to the subject. We found 454 papers and selected 31 of them for the scientometric analysis, as they were in accordance with our objectives, and eight for the meta-analysis. Among this subset, we observed that study areas and collaborations among authors were largely restricted to a few countries in Europe and North America. Most studies used the group Trichoptera, probably due to its diversity and the longevity of the adults compared to other groups. Light traps were the most common sampling method, most likely due to their efficiency in capturing flying insects with nocturnal habits. The greatest differences in adult EPT communities were found between open areas (moorland and prairie) and forest areas. This result indicated that the conversion of forest habitats into open areas negatively impacts adult EPT communities. Our systematic review can be an important tool to help researchers choose appropriate collection methods and taxonomic groups to work with in studies on impacts of land use change on adult EPT communities.