Diversity and specificity of host-natural enemy interactions in an urban-rural interface

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Maria Helena Pereira-Peixoto
  • Gesine Pufal
  • Michael Staab
  • Celso Feitosa Martins
  • Alexandra Maria Klein

Urbanisation and agricultural intensification cause the replacement of natural ecosystems but might also create novel habitats in urban and rural ecosystems promoting some insect communities by providing food and nesting resources. This study investigated how host-natural enemy communities change in urban and rural landscapes and their transitional zone, the urban-rural interface, by using trap nests for cavity-nesting Hymenoptera in gardens and rapeseed fields that were either isolated or paired in the urban-rural interface. Host dynamics were important for natural enemy occurrence, species richness and parasitism rates, and landscape effects were evident for natural enemy variables except for the richness of bee natural enemies. The number of parasitised brood cells was at its highest in the urban-rural interface, but the highest parasitism rates of bees were observed in isolated gardens. Parasitism rates of bees were negatively affected by host abundance, while parasitism rates of wasps were positively affected. Higher specialisation and lower connectivity of host-natural enemy interactions were found in paired habitats than in isolated habitats. This indicates that paired habitats comprise more specific natural enemies and vulnerable interactions, while isolated habitats comprise more generalist natural enemies, and thus interactions appear more stable. These results confirm that host dynamics play an essential role in the abundance and richness of natural enemies and drive parasitism. However, high habitat heterogeneity found in the urban-rural interface can also have an effect on host-natural enemy communities. This highlights that the provisioning of resources in the urban-rural interface can benefit insect communities in these areas.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEcological Entomology
Volume41
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)241-252
Number of pages12
ISSN0307-6946
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.06.2016

    Research areas

  • Bees, Biodiversity, Gardens, Networks, Parasitism, Specialisation, Trophic levels, Wasps
  • Ecosystems Research

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. One step forward, two steps back
  2. Resettlement as a temporal border
  3. Towards 3D Process Simulation for In Situ Hybridization of Fiber-Metal-Laminates (FML)
  4. Lernmodul „Ressourcenreflexion”
  5. Daniel Fiott (ed.), The csdp in 2020: The EU’s legacy and ambition in security and defence
  6. Motivation
  7. Observations of Microstructure-Oriented Crack Growth in a Cast Mg-Al-Ba-Ca Alloy under Tension, Compression and Fatigue
  8. Making a difference by marking the difference
  9. Understanding market transformation
  10. One-third Codetermination at Company Supervisory Boards and Firm Performance in German Manufacturing Industries
  11. Integration von Nachhaltigkeit in das Controlling
  12. The justice dimension of sustainability
  13. Visual Accounting
  14. Outreach on Space Traffic Management
  15. EMA-Links
  16. Backstage: Organizing Events as Proto-Institutional Work in the Popular Music Industry
  17. Investigating the situational impact of academic language demands on university students’ boredom with an instructional video
  18. Die Zukunftsbäckerei
  19. The Post-entry Performance of Cohorts of Export Starters in German Manufacturing Industries
  20. Restoring the human capacity for conserving biodiversity
  21. Hysteresis Analysis and Control of a Metal-Polymer Hybrid Soft Actuator
  22. Symbolische Räume kultureller Diversität
  23. Sprachliche Heterogenität im Musikunterricht
  24. Verwaltungsrecht der Europäischen Union
  25. Реформировать Болонскую реформу Интервью с профессором Люнебургского университета, писателем Пьеранжело Масетом Проведение
  26. Teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism
  27. The role of free will beliefs in social behavior:
  28. Divisionssituationen im ersten Schuljahr
  29. Least-Cost Transportation Planning - Eine Konzeptidee
  30. The role of belief in a just world for (dis)honest behavior
  31. Emotionale Kompetenz bei Kindern und Jugendlichen
  32. Erratum
  33. Das System Schule heute und der Stellenwert von Eltern
  34. Vorsorgendes Wirtschaften in Zeiten
  35. Electoral Behavior in Croatia
  36. Entwicklung eines Messstandes zur automatisierten Messung der radialen Lagerluft von Wälzlagern
  37. Flow Behavior Investigation during Miniaturized Extrusion of Aluminum (AA6082) and Magnesium (AZ31)