Additive and Synergistic Effects of Land Cover, Land Use and Climate on Insect Biodiversity

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Additive and Synergistic Effects of Land Cover, Land Use and Climate on Insect Biodiversity Landscape Ecol DOI 10.1007/s10980-016-0411-9 RESEARCH ARTICLE Additive and synergistic effects of land cover, land use and climate on insect biodiversity Ian Oliver . Josh Dorrough . Helen Doherty . Nigel R. Andrew Received: 6 February 2016 / Accepted: 24 June 2016 Ó The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract and sampled ant biodiversity along this gradient from Context We address the issue of adapting landscapes sites with variable land cover and land use. for improved insect biodiversity conservation in a Results Main effects revealed: higher ant richness changing climate by assessing the importance of (species and genus) and diversity with greater native additive (main) and synergistic (interaction) effects of woody plant canopy cover; and lower species richness land cover and land use with climate. with higher cultivation and grazing intensity, bare Objectives We test the hypotheses that ant richness ground and exotic plant groundcover. Interaction (species and genus), abundance and diversity would effects revealed: both the positive effects of native vary according to land cover and land use intensity but plant canopy cover on ant species richness and that these effects would vary according to climate. abundance, and the negative effects of exotic plant Methods We used a 1000 m elevation gradient in groundcover on species richness were greatest at sites eastern Australia (as a proxy for a climate gradient) with warmer and drier climates. Conclusions Impacts of climate change on insect biodiversity may be mitigated to some degree through Electronic supplementary material The online version of landscape adaptation by increasing woody native this article (doi:10.1007/s10980-016-0411-9) contains supple- vegetation cover and by reducing land use intensity, mentary material, which is available to authorized users. the cover of exotic vegetation and of bare ground. I. Oliver (&) Evidence of synergistic effects suggests that landscape Office of Environment and Heritage, adaptation may be most effective in areas which are PO Box U221, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia currently warmer and drier, or are projected to become e-mail: [email protected] so as a result of climate change. I. Oliver Á J. Dorrough Á N. R. Andrew School of Environmental and Rural Sciences, University Keywords Climate change Á Landscape adaptation Á of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia Land cover Á Land use Á Synergistic effects Á Biodiversity Á Insects Á Ants Á Species richness Á H. Doherty School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, University of Species turnover Melbourne, Creswick, VIC 3363, Australia Introduction N. R. Andrew Insect Ecology Laboratory, Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, University of New England, Within fragmented, human dominated landscapes, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia native vegetation cover continues to decline and land 123 Landscape Ecol use intensity continues to increase, further threatening Williams et al. 2014), empirical evidence of interac- terrestrial biodiversity, ecosystems and environmental tions, or synergies, between threatening processes is services (Sala et al. 2000; Oliver and Morecroft 2014). rare. Two recent studies have explicitly tested for Predicted increases in global mean surface tempera- interactions. Mantyka-Pringle et al. (2012)undertooka tures of 1.4–4.8 °C by the end of the twenty-first meta-analysis of 1319 studies to identify interactions century are likely to exacerbate these threats (IPCC between climate change and habitat loss on biodiversity. 2014; Williams et al. 2014; CSIRO and Bureau of They found that, averaged across species and geo- Meteorology 2015). The importance of these separate graphic regions, habitat loss and fragmentation effects threatening processes are well known, but only were greatest in areas with higher mean temperatures recently has attention turned to understanding the and where mean precipitation had decreased over time. interactions between them (de Chazal and Rounsevell Gibb et al. (2015) analysed a global database of 1128 2009; Mantyka-Pringle et al. 2012; Staudt et al. 2013; local ant assemblages and similarly found a greater Oliver and Morecroft 2014; Gibb et al. 2015). For effect of disturbance on ant species richness and example, in 2014, 602 decision makers and scientists evenness in more arid environments. were asked to rank priority research questions, that if Risk of species or population extinction may be answered would increase the effectiveness of policies higher than previously thought where interactions for the management of natural resources in the United among threatening processes exist (Brook et al. 2008). States. ‘‘How does the configuration of land cover and A failure to account for these interactions could result land use affect the response of ecosystems to climate in the implementation of landscape adaptation strate- change?’’ was ranked 11th among the top 40 priority gies that are at best inefficient and at worst detrimental questions from a total pool of more than 500 (Fleish- to species persistence (Brook et al. 2008; Staudt et al. man et al. 2011; Rudd and Fleishman 2014). 2013). For example, Sala et al. (2000) explored Despite a dearth of evidence, it is believed that scenarios of global biodiversity change for the year biodiversity in fragmented landscapes is more vulner- 2100 with and without interactions among the major able to climate change impacts than those in relatively causes of biodiversity decline. Their analyses high- undisturbed continuous landscapes (Mantyka-Pringle lighted the sensitivity of projected biodiversity change et al. 2012). Therefore, to maintain and restore to assumptions about synergies. They concluded that biodiversity, ecosystems and environmental services the interactions among stressors represented one of the into the future, decision makers and scientists must largest uncertainties in the projection of future global seek to better understand synergistic effects between biodiversity change. land cover and land use change and climate change Here we address the issue of adapting landscapes (Mawdsley et al. 2009). Synergistic effects describe for biodiversity conservation in a changing climate by the simultaneous actions of separate processes that testing the importance of additive (main) and syner- have a greater total effect than the sum of the gistic (interaction) effects of climate, land cover and individual effects alone (Brook et al. 2008). They are land use on terrestrial biodiversity. Our study took the result of multiplicative interactions between place in a fragmented landscape, outside of the threatening processes such as land use, land cover protected area network, and mostly on private land and climate change in contrast to additive effects. managed for agricultural production. Within this Observed and predicted effects of climate change on landscape we expected to observe interactions populations, species and ecosystems have been reported between land cover and/or land use effects with in several major reviews (Walther et al. 2002;Rootetal. effects due to climate. We sampled a 1000 m elevation 2003; Bellard et al. 2012; Williams et al. 2014). gradient as a proxy for a climate gradient. Contempo- However, because most research has focused on rary climate gradients (latitude and elevation) are a relatively undisturbed ecosystems, interactions between practical approach for understanding the effects of land cover and land use change and climate change, climate on terrestrial biodiversity and have been used have largely been ignored. Oliver and Morecroft (2014) by many authors to predict responses to climate found that although some recent studies have investi- change (see Progar and Schowalter 2002; Andrew gated the effects of multiple threatening processes on et al. 2003; Andrew and Hughes 2004, 2005; Botes biodiversity (see Eglington and Pearce-Higgins 2012; et al. 2006; Yates et al. 2011; Frenne et al. 2013). 123 Landscape Ecol We focus on insects, a mega-diverse component of and a 1000 m elevation gradient (154–1047 m, terrestrial biodiversity that performs fundamental Fig. 1). Modelled average annual rainfall and maxi- ecosystem functions in terrestrial environments. mum temperature at our sites ranged from 530 mm Insects are ectothemic, characterized by small body and 27 °C in the west to 890 mm and 20 °C in the east size and complex life cycles, and so are particularly (Xu and Hutchinson 2011). Rainfall is highest in sensitive to climate (Progar and Schowalter 2002; summer and uniform across other seasons (OEH Andrew 2013). Insect focused climate change research 2014). Within the study area native vegetation has is however scant, especially so in Asia, Africa and been extensively cleared with only 31 % of the area Australasia, and in particular where habitats are described as ‘‘intact’’ (native vegetation in which the modified and landscapes are fragmented. Available structure has not been substantially altered by human research has concentrated on changes in abundance activities, or has been altered and has since recovered; and/or distribution shifts of single species due to OEH 2010; Dillon et al. 2011). The study area contains climate change, most commonly butterflies in Europe some of the most fertile soils in Australia and land use (Wilson et al. 2007; Felton et al. 2009), or insects of is dominated by livestock grazing (of modified concern to primary producers (Andrew et al. 2013a). pastures 37 %, of native vegetation
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