Abstract:
Urbanization is rapidly influencing the abundance and diversity of arthropods. Within urban systems, managed turfgrass is a prominent land cover which can support only a limited number of arthropod groups. To allow for more arthropod biodiversity and to support beneficial insects within turfgrass, increasing numbers of land managers are choosing to partially convert turf habitat to wildflower habitat using commercially available seed mixes. However, the population dynamics of arthropod groups in these systems are poorly known, with consequentially little information on best long-term practices for managing wildflower habitats in turfgrass systems. To address this gap, we sampled insects using pan traps in turfgrass systems pre- and post-implementation of wildflower habitats and examined the change in abundance of several insect families and functional guilds. Insect groups had variable responses to wildflower habitat implementation, with some groups such as sweat bees and skipper butterflies showing a decline two years post-implementation. Other groups, such as predatory flies, were relatively more abundant one and two years post-implementation. These variable responses point to the need for more research on the long-term effects of wildflower habitats on beneficial insects in turfgrass habitats.
摘要:
城市化正在迅速影响节肢动物的丰富和多样性。在城市系统中,管理草皮草是一种突出的土地覆盖,只能支持有限数量的节肢动物群体。为了允许更多的节肢动物生物多样性,并支持草坪草内的有益昆虫,越来越多的土地管理者选择使用市售的种子混合物将草皮栖息地部分转换为野花栖息地。然而,这些系统中节肢动物群体的种群动态知之甚少,因此,有关草皮草系统中管理野花栖息地的最佳长期实践的信息很少。为了解决这个差距,在实施野花栖息地之前和之后,我们使用草皮草系统中的平底锅陷阱对昆虫进行了采样,并检查了几个昆虫科和功能行会的丰度变化。昆虫群体对野花栖息地的实施有不同的反应,一些群体,如汗水蜜蜂和船长蝴蝶,在实施后两年出现下降。其他团体,比如掠食性苍蝇,实施后一年和两年相对更丰富。这些可变的响应表明,需要对野花栖息地对草坪草栖息地有益昆虫的长期影响进行更多研究。