The Importance of Spatial Patterns of Ammophila Arenaria (Marram Grass) for Arthropod Communities and Size Distributions
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Department of Biology TEREC: Terrestrial Ecology Academic year 2017/2018 The importance of spatial patterns of Ammophila arenaria (Marram Grass) for arthropod communities and size distributions. Paulien Vanhauwere Promotor: Prof. Dr. Dries Bonte Copromotor: Dr. Martijn L. Vandegehuchte Mentor: Drs. Jasmijn Hillaert © May 10 Faculty of Sciences – Terrestrial Ecology All rights reserved. This thesis contains confidential information and confidential research results that are property to the UGent. The contents of this master thesis may under no circumstances be made public, nor complete or partial, without the explicit and preceding permission of the UGent representative, i.e. the supervisor. The thesis may under no circumstances be copied or duplicated in any form, unless permission granted in written form. Any violation of the confidential nature of this thesis may impose irreparable damage to the UGent. In case of a dispute that may arise within the context of this declaration, the Judicial Court of Gent only is competent to be notified. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Ecosystem services and multifunctionality ............................................................................................... 5 Ammophila arenaria, central species in foredune ecosystems ................................................................ 6 Plant spatial patterns ................................................................................................................................ 6 Spatial configuration and fragmentation .................................................................................................. 8 Spatial configuration and body size .......................................................................................................... 8 This study as part of a bigger framework .................................................................................................. 8 Research questions ................................................................................................................................... 9 Aim ............................................................................................................................................................ 9 II. Materials and Methods ....................................................................................................................... 10 Collecting data ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Fieldwork ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Identification of invertebrates in the collected samples .................................................................... 13 Length measurements ......................................................................................................................... 13 Calculation of proportion and spatial autocorrelation of Ammophila arenaria. ................................ 14 Data analysis ............................................................................................................................................ 14 Exploratory graphs, ordinations and PERMANOVA ............................................................................ 14 Mixed linear model.............................................................................................................................. 15 III. Results ............................................................................................................................................. 17 Effect of Ammophila arenaria pattern on community structure ............................................................ 17 Exploratory graphs: Species richness and abundances ....................................................................... 17 Community structure: NMDS-ordination and PERMANOVA .............................................................. 18 Effect of Ammophila arenaria pattern on size distribution of arthropods. ............................................ 20 Exploratory graphs: length distribution .............................................................................................. 20 Mixed linear models ............................................................................................................................ 23 IV. Discussion ........................................................................................................................................ 25 3 Effect of Ammophila arenaria pattern on community structure ............................................................ 25 Species richness and Abundances ....................................................................................................... 25 Plant spatial pattern and plant vitality in relation to species composition ........................................ 26 Effect of Ammophila arenaria pattern on invertebrate size distribution ............................................... 27 Length distribution graphs and Plant spatial patterns related to invertebrate body length .............. 27 Importance to conservation .................................................................................................................... 30 Remark .................................................................................................................................................... 30 Importance of Ammophila arenaria vegetation and arthropod communities in dune formation. ........ 30 V. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 32 VI. Summary.......................................................................................................................................... 33 English summary ..................................................................................................................................... 33 Nederlandse samenvatting ..................................................................................................................... 33 Samenvatting voor leken ......................................................................................................................... 34 VII. Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... 35 VIII. References ....................................................................................................................................... 35 IX. Appendix .......................................................................................................................................... 40 4 I. Introduction Ecosystem services and multifunctionality Ecosystems are increasingly negatively impacted by several threats and pressures, mostly human induced like habitat fragmentation, habitat degradation and climate change. To predict the impact of those pressures, there is a need for a deeper understanding of ecosystem functioning. Developing ecosystem knowledge and engaging in adaptive management will enable humans to facilitate ecosystems that remain or become sustainable and resilient. Resilience, includes the ability to recover from disruptive events and the ability to cope with disturbances. Ecosystem resilience is highly important because it is closely linked to ecosystem services (Myers 1996), which are goods and services provided by ecosystems that are beneficial to people, communities and infrastructure. If ecosystem resilience declines, so will ecosystem services. Coastal foredunes have the capacity to act as one of the most important natural defenses for coastlines from storms and floods by preventing erosion and inhibiting the disappearance of coastal habitats (Provoost et al. 2014). Threats, like storms, will become more frequent (Beniston et al. 2007) due to sea level rise caused by climate change (van Ypersele & Marbaix 2004). Global sea level has been rising at higher rates in the recent past and will continue to rise because of thermal expansion of the ocean and melting of glaciers (Stocker et al. 2013). Furthermore, climate change can be an important driver of processes which can change species interactions (Van der Putten 2012) and the environment. Biodiversity is linked to the surrounding landscape characteristics and plays a key (but not exclusive) role in maintaining ecological and economic ecosystem services by stabilizing ecosystem processes over time and supporting ecosystem resilience (Loreau & de Mazancourt 2013; Myers 1996). Different species use space differently and together fulfill a greater variation of functional traits. Because biodiversity can be linked to ecosystem function a positive feedback can occur where decreasing biodiversity can lead to a lower ecosystem functioning and loss in ecosystem quality, which in turn can result in a loss in biodiversity (Honnay et al. 2010). This can then continue habitat degradation through a loss of self- organizing spatial patterns. Thus, habitat fragmentation and degradations can have a negative impact on ecosystem functioning via its negative impact on biodiversity. In this study we only focus on the change in species composition depending on environmental factors, which