Stability and change over 67 years - the community of Heteroptera as caught in a light-trap at Rothamsted, UK

Title:

Stability and change over 67 years - the community of Heteroptera as caught in a light-trap at Rothamsted, UK

Creator:

Southwood, T. Richard E., Henderson, Peter A., and Woiwod, ian P.

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:45e89c6d-a3bf-40d0-b736-20a5743d6bb2
uuid:45e89c6d-a3bf-40d0-b736-20a5743d6bb2

Subject:

Heteroptera, Lepidoptera, stability, environmental change, farmland biodiversity, light-traps, and diversity

Type:

article, model:article, and TEXT

Description:

1. The Heteroptera, principally mirids, collected in a light-trap run on a field margin at Rothamsted Experimental Station for various periods between 1933 and 2000, have been identified, and the catches analysed to show the extent of change and stability in the community. 2. Trap catch, both in terms of individuals and species, was correlated with maximum daily temperature. 3. α-diversity showed a U-shaped curve over the period. The dip may have been associated with pesticide use, although a lack of days with high maximum temperatures cannot be ruled out. 4. By the late 1990s, α-diversity had again reached a peak (Fisher's = 11), comparable to that in the 1930s. 5. However, the change in the composition of the community over the whole period (β-diversity) was significant, the index of difference being 0.66 on a scale where 0 is no change in composition or relative abundance and 1 no species in common. 6. The value of β-diversity was highest in the water bugs, which disappeared altogether. Categorising the others by host plant type, the greatest change over time was in those associated with perennial herbs. There were decreasing differences in tree-dwellers and grassland species respectively, and the least change was in the community associated with annual plants (arable weeds). 7. Changes in the abundance of Heteroptera since 1933 follow closely those of the macrolepidoptera from the same samples. However changes in diversity show very different patterns, with moth diversity continuing to decline since 1960 in contrast to the increases apparent from the Heteroptera data.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
policy:public

Source:

European Journal of Entomology | 2003 Volume:100 | Number:4

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false