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The effect of urban ground covers on arthropods: An experiment

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Abstract

Changes to the ground layer in urban areas are extensive, but the effects on arthropod fauna are poorly understood. We undertook a manipulative experiment to examine the response of arthropods to small-scale variation in ground covers commonly found in urban parks and gardens in Australia. The ground covers tested were bare ground, leaf litter, woodchips and grass, with plot sizes of 3.6 m2. Epigeic arthropods were sampled with pitfall traps and Tullgren funnels over 12 months following establishment of the treatments. All epigeic arthropods were sorted to order and the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), beetles (Coleoptera), millipedes (Diplopoda) and slaters (Isopoda: Oniscidea) were examined at lower taxonomic levels. Diverse arthropods rapidly colonised previously cleared plots in all four treatments and were most abundant in grass plots. The diversity of ants and beetles was significantly different in different ground covers and tended to be most diverse in grass plots. Despite the treatments providing very different microclimates, the fauna studied did not show strong selection for a particular cover type overall. The abundance of grass cover in the surrounding area may have led to the grass plots having the greatest abundance of arthropods. These results have important implications for developing effective small-scale conservation efforts for arthropods in anthropogenically modified landscapes, especially for species with poor dispersal abilities.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Alex Campbell and Nick Osborne for advice and assistance with the setup and maintenance of the experiment. Thanks to Alan York for the use of the Tullgren funnels and drying ovens. Comments from Nancy McIntyre and two anonymous reviewers helped to improve earlier versions of the manuscript. This research was conducted while B.N. was a recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Holsworth Wildlife Research Grant. Additional funding and support were provided by the Baker Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, Richmond, Victoria, Australia

    Briony A. Norton & Nicholas S. G. Williams

  2. Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Briony A. Norton, Nicholas S. G. Williams & Mark J. McDonnell

  3. Bio21, Zoology Department, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    Linda J. Thomson

  4. School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    Mark J. McDonnell

  5. Department of Resource Management and Geography, Melbourne School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, Victoria, 3121, Australia

    Briony A. Norton

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  1. Briony A. Norton
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Correspondence to Briony A. Norton.

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Online Resource 1

Temperature (mean, standard error, range) at the soil surface under four experimental ground cover treatments in three seasons: winter (August 2009), spring (October 2009) and summer (January 2010). All measurements are in degrees Celsius. Superscript letters indicate where there is a significant difference in temperature between ground covers within the season, at P < 0.05. (DOCX 13.8 kb)

Online Resource 2

Soil moisture values from an experiment on different ground covers in an urban environment. Values are the mean ± standard deviation of gravimetric soil moisture values in each ground cover type and for when the traps went in (‘start’) and when they came out (‘end’) for each of six pitfall trap collection periods. There were no data for the third pitfall trap collection due to a malfunction in the equipment. Superscript letters indicate significant differences (P < 0.05) between soil moisture in different ground cover treatments, within the collection period (row). (DOCX 15 kb)

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Norton, B.A., Thomson, L.J., Williams, N.S.G. et al. The effect of urban ground covers on arthropods: An experiment. Urban Ecosyst 17, 77–99 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-013-0297-0

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