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Importance of local habitat conditions and past and present habitat connectivity for the species richness of grassland plants and butterflies in power line clearings

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Abstract

Agricultural intensification has caused drastic declines in the area and species richness of semi-natural grasslands across Europe. Novel habitats, such as power line clearings, provide alternative habitats and niches for grassland species, and might therefore mitigate these declines. However, it is not fully understood which environmental factors determine the occurrence of grassland species in the clearings. Identifying the most important drivers for grassland species occurrence would help understand the value of the clearings for grassland conservation and target enhanced management into clearings with most potential as grassland habitat. We studied the effects of local environmental conditions, and past and present connectivity to semi-natural grasslands, on the species richness of grassland plants and butterflies in 43 power line clearings in Finland. The results of generalized linear models and hierarchical partitioning showed that increasing time since clear-cut and amount of clearing residue decreased the species richness of both species groups, while the cover of mesic habitats increased it. However, the two species groups showed also divergent responses. Present-day local environmental conditions appeared to be the sole driver of grassland butterfly species richness, whereas the richness of grassland plants was related both to current conditions and historical connectivity to grasslands in 1870–1880s. This suggests the presence of an extinction debt in the studied grassland plant communities, emphasizing the need for enhanced management to increase suitable grassland habitat in the clearings. This would diminish the potential future losses of grassland plant species in the clearings and create valuable habitat for grassland butterflies as well.

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Acknowledgements

This study received financial support from Fingrid Oyj and The Kone Foundation. We thank the funders for making the study possible, J. Ikävalko, A. Levula, J. Suutari and T. von Bonsdorff for their help in study design and data gathering, and K. Ruokolainen for his help and support on the statistical analyses and manuscript writing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Jussi Lampinen

  2. Natural Environment Centre, Finnish Environment Institute, PO Box 140, 00251, Helsinki, Finland

    Risto K. Heikkinen, Paula Manninen, Terhi Ryttäri & Mikko Kuussaari

Authors
  1. Jussi Lampinen
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  2. Risto K. Heikkinen
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  3. Paula Manninen
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  4. Terhi Ryttäri
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  5. Mikko Kuussaari
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Correspondence to Jussi Lampinen.

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Communicated by Andreas Schuldt.

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10531_2017_1430_MOESM1_ESM.docx

SI_Table 1 Pearson correlations between the dependent and the explanatory variables used in the study. SI_Table 2 Grassland plants found in the studied power line clearings (n = 43) in southern Finland. SI_Table 3 Butterflies found in the studied power line clearings (n = 43) in southern Finland. SI_Fig 1 Variation in some of the explanatory variables used in the study. Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 77 kb)

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Lampinen, J., Heikkinen, R.K., Manninen, P. et al. Importance of local habitat conditions and past and present habitat connectivity for the species richness of grassland plants and butterflies in power line clearings. Biodivers Conserv 27, 217–233 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-017-1430-9

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