Trap-nesting insects´ interactions in an urban-rural gradient

Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

Maria Helena Pereira Peixoto - Speaker

    Increasing urbanization is known to cause serious decreases in wildlife species richness. The effects of habitat loss have been studied using mobile insects because of their high species number, their use of multiple habitats and responses to environmental quality and quantity of available resources. In this study we have chosen some of the major groups of insects that plays a role for the maintenance of ecosystem functioning, such as predators, parasitoids, and pollinators. We investigated the diversity and abundance of trap-nesting bees, wasps and their natural enemies from urban to agricultural land around the city of Lüneburg, Germany. We expect that gardens surrounding the city adjacent to rape fields and rape fields adjacent to urban gardens have higher species diversity than rape fields isolated from urban areas or city gardens. We exposed standardized trap nests for bees, wasps and their natural enemies in 20 sites comprising four habitat categories in a gradient from the city center to rape fields isolated from the city, from April to October 2010. The preliminary results show that the sampled gardens surrounding the city adjacent to rape fields have the highest species diversity, number of brood cells, as well as a high rate of parasitism. However, the rate of parasitism for wasps, but not for bees, was higher in gardens in the centre of the city. Our preliminary results although highlighting the importance of gardens and green spaces in urban areas for insects’ interactions, does not yet support the idea of higher insect species diversity and interactions in rape fields adjacent to gardens.
    05.09.2011

    Event

    41st Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland - 2011: Ecological Functions, Patterns, Processes

    05.09.1109.09.11

    Oldenburg, Germany

    Event: Conference

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