Fine-scale substrate heterogeneity does not affect arthropod communities on green roofs.

Bracha Y Schindler,Merav Seifan,Leon Blaustein,Amiel Vasl,Gyongyver J Kadas,David Gurevich

doi:10.7717/peerj.6445

Bracha Y Schindler, Merav Seifan + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6445

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Abstract

Green roofs, which are roofs with growing substrate and vegetation, can provide habitat for arthropods in cities. Maintaining a diversity of arthropods in an urban environment can enhance the functions they fill, such as pest control and soil development. Theory suggests that the creation of a heterogeneous environment on green roofs would enhance arthropod diversity. Several studies have examined how arthropod diversity can be enhanced on green roofs, and particularly whether substrate properties affect the arthropod community, but a gap remains in identifying the effect of substrate heterogeneity within a green roof on the arthropod community. In this paper, it is hypothesized that creating heterogeneity in the substrate would directly affect the diversity and abundance of some arthropod taxa, and indirectly increase arthropod diversity through increased plant diversity. These hypotheses were tested using green roof plots in four treatments of substrate heterogeneity: (1) homogeneous dispersion; (2) mineral heterogeneity—with increased tuff concentration in subplots; (3) organic heterogeneity—with decreased compost concentrations in subplots; (4) both mineral and organic heterogeneity. Each of the four treatments was replicated twice on each of three roofs (six replicates per treatment) in a Mediterranean region. There was no effect of substrate heterogeneity on arthropod diversity, abundance, or community composition, but there were differences in arthropod communities among roofs. This suggests that the location of a green roof, which can differ in local climatic conditions, can have a strong effect on the composition of the arthropod community. Thus, arthropod diversity may be promoted by building green roofs in a variety of locations throughout a city, even if the roof construction is similar on all roofs.

Highlights

Green roofs, which are roofs containing growing substrate and planted with vegetation, can provide habitat for a diversity of plant species and arthropod species in an urban setting
If substrate heterogeneity results in higher plant diversity, there could be an indirect effect on arthropod diversity; diversity may be higher overall, because of the diversity of niches provided by the plants
The overall composition of the arthropod communities was expected to differ based on the substrate types of each treatment, at the alpha diversity level, but found no significant effect of treatment on community composition, while in both years different roofs had different communities (PERMANOVA, Proof = 0.001, Fig. 2), indicative of beta diversity among roofs

Summary

Introduction

Green roofs, which are roofs containing growing substrate and planted with vegetation, can provide habitat for a diversity of plant species and arthropod species in an urban setting. Heterogeneous environments that provide a diversity of niches may promote greater biodiversity (Stein, Gerstner & Kreft, 2014). There are relatively few studies of the effects of heterogeneity in soil on biodiversity (Stein, Gerstner & Kreft, 2014), but this subject should be of interest since soil heterogeneity could theoretically contribute to greater plant diversity (Vasl & Heim, 2016). The green roof setting allowed for controlled manipulation of substrate at a scale relevant for plants and arthropods, as well as contributing to knowledge on the building of biodiverse green roofs

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