Ecological response hides behind the species abundance distribution: Community response to low-intensity disturbance in managed grasslands.

ABSTRACT: Land-use and management are disturbance factors that have diverse effects on community composition and structure. In traditional rural grasslands, such as meadows and pastures, low-intensity management is maintained to enhance biodiversity. Maintenance of road verges, in turn, creates habitat, which may complement traditional rural grasslands. To evaluate the effect of low-intensity disturbance on insect communities, we characterized species abundance distributions (SAD) for Carabidae, Formicidae, and Heteroptera in three grassland types, which differed in management: meadows, pastures, and road verges. The shape of SAD was estimated with three parameters: abundance decay rate, dominance, and rarity. We compared the SAD shape among the grassland types and tested the effect of environmental

SUBMITTER: Komonen A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5648673 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature