Abstract
Brackish marshes resulting from embankments are a rare habitat in Europe and for which there is little knowledge of the entomofauna. There is an urgent need to document the insect diversity and its unique properties in the light of ongoing habitat losses. The current study focuses on snail-killing flies in the remaining Belgian brackish marshes, in particular the role of soil salinity in determining their diversity and how it compares with that in freshwater marshes. Snail-killing fly communities in brackish marshland were relatively species poor and clearly different from those in freshwater, yet species richness and abundance increased with decreasing soil salinity. We recorded no habitat-specific species, but Tetanocera arrogans was more abundant in brackish marshes. Malaise traps proved to be a successful and repeatable method of sampling sciomyzid communities, the species composition of which was strongly site-specific. We conclude that extant Belgian brackish marshes have poor to moderately rich snail-killing fly communities that lack unique species. Richness and abundance, however, increased as soil salinity decreased.
Highlights
Saltmarsh and brackish marsh occur globally along sheltered coasts and in estuaries and have been altered or degraded by humans for many centuries, especially in Northern Europe
The current study focuses on snail-killing flies in the remaining Belgian brackish marshes, in particular the role of soil salinity in determining their diversity and how it compares with that in freshwater marshes
Polder brackish marshes are a rare habitat in Belgium and Europe and there is little known about their entomofauna
Summary
Saltmarsh and brackish marsh occur globally along sheltered coasts and in estuaries and have been altered or degraded by humans for many centuries, especially in Northern Europe. 40% of the current territory of the Netherlands was previously saltmarsh (Airoldi & Beck, 2007; Gedan et al, 2008; Janssen et al, 2017). In Western-Europe, an inland subtype of Atlantic saltmarshes that are no longer tidal as they are permanently cut off from the sea are common. These marshes are situated next to the coastline or in estuaries and are a result of embankments of tidal saltmarsh and brackish marsh. It is suggested that PBM differ biologically from their tidal counterpart, knowledge is scarce especially of the biodiversity and specificity of the invertebrate community (Zwaenepoel et al, 2002)
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