Dataset Information

Effects of traditional flood irrigation on invertebrates in lowland meadows.

ABSTRACT: Lowland meadow irrigation used to be widespread in Central Europe, but has largely been abandoned during the 20th century. As a result of agri-environment schemes and nature conservation efforts, meadow irrigation is now being re-established in some European regions. In the absence of natural flood events, irrigation is expected to favour fauna typical of lowland wet meadows. We analysed the effects of traditional flood irrigation on diversity, densities and species composition of three invertebrate indicator taxa in lowland meadows in Germany. Unexpectedly, alpha diversity (species richness and Simpson diversity) and beta diversity (multivariate homogeneity of group dispersions) of orthopterans, carabids, and spiders were not significantly different between irrigated and non-irrigated meadows. However, spider densities were significantly higher in irrigated meadows. Furthermore, irrigation and elevated humidity affected species composition and shifted assemblages towards moisture-dependent species. The number of species of conservation concern, however, did not differ between irrigated and non-irrigated meadows. More variable and intensive (higher duration and/or frequency) flooding regimes might provide stronger conservation benefits, additional species and enhance habitat heterogeneity on a landscape scale.

SUBMITTER: Schirmel J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4207796 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effects of traditional flood irrigation on invertebrates in lowland meadows.

Schirmel Jens J Alt Martin M Rudolph Isabell I Entling Martin H MH

PloS one 20141023 10

Lowland meadow irrigation used to be widespread in Central Europe, but has largely been abandoned during the 20th century. As a result of agri-environment schemes and nature conservation efforts, meadow irrigation is now being re-established in some European regions. In the absence of natural flood events, irrigation is expected to favour fauna typical of lowland wet meadows. We analysed the effects of traditional flood irrigation on diversity, densities and species composition of three inverteb ...[more]

PMID: 25340872

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Project description:Vascular plants serve as target species for the evaluation of restoration success as they account for most of the plant species diversity and vegetation cover. Although bryophytes contribute considerably to the species diversity of meadows, they are rarely addressed in restoration projects. This project is a first step toward making recommendations for including mosses in alluvial floodplain restoration projects. The opportunity to assess the diversity and ecological requirements of mosses on floodplain meadows presented itself within the framework of a vegetation monitoring that took place in 2014 on meadows located along the northern Upper Rhine. In this area, large-scale meadow restoration projects have taken place since 1997 in both the functional and fossil floodplains. Other studies have shown that bryophytes are generally present in green hay used in restoration, providing inadvertent bryophyte introduction. We compared bryophyte communities in donor and restored communities and correlated these communities with environmental variables-taking into account that the mosses on the restoration sites possibly developed from green hay. This analysis provided insights as to which species of bryophytes should be included in future restoration projects, what diaspores should be used, and how they should be transferred. Data on bryophyte occurrence were gathered from old meadows, and from restoration sites. We found distinct differences in bryophyte composition (based on frequency) in restored communities in functional flood plains compared to donor communities. Generally, restoration sites are still characterized by a lower species-richness, with a significantly lower occurrence of rare and red listed species and a lower species-heterogeneity. In conclusion, our research establishes what mosses predominate in donor and restored alluvial meadows along the northern Upper River, and what microsite conditions favour particular species. This points the way to deliberate introduction of moss diaspores for more complete alluvial meadow restoration.

Dataset Information

Effects of traditional flood irrigation on invertebrates in lowland meadows.

Publications

Effects of traditional flood irrigation on invertebrates in lowland meadows.

Similar Datasets

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