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Landscape Context of Habitat Fragmentation and the Diversity of Plants, Arthropods and Snails on Calcareous Grasslands

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Landscape Context of Habitat Fragmentation and the Diversity of Plants, Arthropods and Snails on Calcareous Grasslands Landscape context of habitat fragmentation and the diversity of plants, arthropods and snails on calcareous grasslands Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Fakultät für Agrarwissenschaften der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen vorgelegt von Verena Rösch geboren in Friedrichshafen am Bodensee Göttingen, April 2015 1. Referent: Prof. Dr. Teja Tscharntke 2. Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Johannes Isselstein Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 22. 7. 2014 Contents Chapter 1: Fragmentation of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes ............................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 2 Chapter outline ..................................................................................................................... 10 References ............................................................................................................................ 14 Chapter 2: Landscape composition, connectivity and fragment size drive effects of grassland fragmentation on insect communities ............................ 17 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 18 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 19 Materials and methods .......................................................................................................... 20 Study area ......................................................................................................................... 20 Study design ...................................................................................................................... 21 Sampling methods ............................................................................................................. 22 Statistical analyses ............................................................................................................ 23 Results .................................................................................................................................. 23 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 27 Habitat isolation ............................................................................................................... 27 Landscape composition ..................................................................................................... 27 Fragment size .................................................................................................................... 28 Plant species richness ....................................................................................................... 29 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 29 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 31 References ............................................................................................................................ 32 Supporting information ......................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 3: Biodiversity conservation across taxa and landscapes requires many small as well as single large habitat fragments .................................... 41 Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 42 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 43 Methods ................................................................................................................................ 45 Study area ......................................................................................................................... 45 Study design ...................................................................................................................... 45 Sampling methods ............................................................................................................. 46 Statistical analyses ............................................................................................................ 49 Results .................................................................................................................................. 51 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 59 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 62 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 62 References ............................................................................................................................ 63 Supporting information ......................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 4: Local and landscape management affects trait-mediated biodiversity of nine taxa on small grassland fragments ................................ 75 Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 76 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 77 Methods ................................................................................................................................ 78 Study area ......................................................................................................................... 78 Study design ...................................................................................................................... 79 Sampling methods ............................................................................................................. 80 Specification of traits ........................................................................................................ 82 Statistical analyses ............................................................................................................ 82 Results .................................................................................................................................. 85 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 92 Landscape complexity ....................................................................................................... 92 Habitat connectivity .......................................................................................................... 93 Effects of management ...................................................................................................... 93 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 95 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 95 References ............................................................................................................................ 96 Supporting information ....................................................................................................... 102 Summary .......................................................................................................... 111 Zusammenfassung ........................................................................................... 113 Acknowledgements/Danksagung ................................................................... 117 Publications ...................................................................................................... 120 Lebenslauf ........................................................................................................ 121 Chapter 1: Fragmentation of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes Calcareous grassland “Lengder Burg” near Göttingen (June 2013) 1 Introduction Worldwide, habitat fragmentation, habitat loss and landscape modification are among the main drivers of biodiversity decline (Sala et al., 2000; Fahrig, 2003; Fischer & Lindenmayer, 2007). Several theories try to characterize the distribution of organisms in fragmented landscapes (MacArthur & Wilson, 1967; Forman, 1995; Hanski, 1998; Fahrig, 2013). The most important one may be the theory of island biogeography (MacArthur & Wilson, 1967). It assumes that small or isolated islands (e.g. habitat fragments in a ‘sea’ of intensively used agricultural matrix) are reached by fewer immigrants coming from a hypothetical mainland than large or connected ones, leading to lower species richness on these islands. Due to stochastic events, smaller fragments also face higher species extinction rates, while larger ones harbour more species due to a larger variety of habitat niches and greater apparency for dispersers (MacArthur & Wilson, 1967; Lomolino, 2000; Losos
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