Adding ecological value to the urban lawnscape. Insect abundance and diversity in grass-free lawns

Biodiversity and Conservation

Volumn 24, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 47-62

  Smith, Lionel S ^a   Broyles, Moth E J ^a   Larzleer, Helen K ^a   Fellowes, Mark D E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF READING   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Arthropods; Created vegetation; Novel ecosystems; Urban biodiversity; Urban gardening

Indexed keywords

ABUNDANCE; ANTHROPOGENIC EFFECT; BIODIVERSITY; GREENSPACE; HABITAT CONSERVATION; HABITAT TYPE; INSECT; INSECTIVORE; MOWING; NATIVE SPECIES; SPECIES DIVERSITY; URBAN AREA; URBAN PLANNING;

ARTHROPODA; AVES; HEXAPODA; VERTEBRATA;

EID: 85027939075     PISSN: 09603115     EISSN: 15729710     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10531-014-0788-1     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. Agrawal AA, Lau JA, Hambäck PA (2006) Community heterogeneity and the evolution of interactions between plants and insect herbivores. Q Rev Biol 81:349–376
2. Andow DA (1991) Vegetational diversity and arthropod population response. Annu Rev Entomol 36:561–586
3. Anon (2010a) Botanical Society of the British Isles. Online database. http://www.bsbi.org.uk
4. Anon (2010b) Ecological Flora of the British Isles. Online database. http://www.ecoflora.co.uk
5. Anon (2011a) National Soil Resources Institute. http://www.landis.org.uk/sitereporter/. Accessed 03 Feb 2011
6. Anon (2011b) Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. Online database. http://www.brc.ac.uk/. Accessed 14 Feb 2011
7. Anon (2011c) Winter 2010/11 Online report. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/2011/winter.html. Accessed 12 May 2011
8. Barnhart SK (1998) Estimating available pasture forage. http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1758.pdf. Accessed 21 Nov 2010
9. Borman FH, Balmori D, Geballe TG (2001) Redesigning the American lawn. a search for environmental harmony. Yale University Press, New Haven
10. Burkard Manufacturing Ltd. Woodcock Hill Industrial Estate, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, WD3 1PJ, England.
11. Cassola F, Pearson DL (2000) Global patterns of tiger beetle species richness (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae): their use in conservation planning. Biol Conserv 95:197–208
12. Chinery M (1993) Insects of Britain and Northern Europe. Harper Collins, London
13. Cizek O, Zamecnik J, Tropek R, Kocarek P, Konvicka M (2012) Diversification of mowing regime increases arthropods diversity in species-poor cultural hay meadows. J Insect Conserv 16:215–226
14. Dallwitz MJ & Watson L (2003) onwards British Insects. http://delta-intkey.com. Accessed 17 July 2014
15. Davies ZG, Fuller RA, Loram A, Irvine KN, Sims V, Gaston KJ (2009) A national scale inventory of resource provision for biodiversity within domestic gardens. Biol Conserv 142:761–771
16. Davis BNK (1978) Urbanisation and the diversity of insects. In: Mound LA, Waloff N (eds) Diversity of insect faunas. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford
17. Dunnet N, Hitchmough J (2004) The dynamic landscape: design, ecology and management of naturalistic urban planting. Taylor & Francis, New York
18. Elton CS (1958) The ecology of invasions. Methuen and Co, London
19. Fenner M, Palmer L (1998) Grassland management to promote diversity: creation of a patchy sward by mowing and fertiliser regimes. Field Stud 9:313–324
20. Gaston KJ, Warren PH, Thompson K, Smith RN (2005) Urban domestic gardens (IV): the extent of the resource and its associated features. Biodivers Conserv 14:3327–3349
21. Goddard MA, Dougill AJ, Benton TG (2010) Scaling up from gardens: biodiversity conservation in urban environments. Trends Ecol Evol 25:90–98
22. Goodwin H (1975) The history of the british flora., A factual basis for phytogeographyCambridge University Press, Cambridge
23. Haddad NM, Crutsinger GM, Gross K, Haarstad J, Knops JMH, Tilman D (2010) Plant species loss decreases arthropod diversity and shifts trophic structure. Ecol Lett 12:1029–1039
24. Helden AJ, Leather SR (2004) Biodiversity on urban roundabouts: Hemiptera, management and the species—area relationship. Basic Appl Ecol 5:367–377
25. Hitchmough JD (2008) New approaches to ecologically based, designed urban plant communities in Britain: do these have any relevance in the United States? Cities Environ (CATE) 1:10
26. Hooper DU, Chapin FS III, Ewel JJ, Hector A, Inchausti P, Lavorel S, Lawton JH, Lodge DM, Loreau M, Naeem S, Schmid B, Setälä H, Symstad AJ, Vandermeer J, Wardle DA (2005) Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge. Ecol Monogr 75:3–35
27. Humbert JY, Ghazoul J, Sauter G, Walter T (2010) Impact of different meadow mowing techniques on field invertebrates. J Appl Entomol 134:592–599
28. Hutchinson GE (1959) Homage to Santa Rosalia or why are there so many kinds of animals? Am Nat 93:145–159
29. Ignatieva ME, Stewart GH (2009) Homogeneity of urban biotopes and similarity of landscape design language in former colonial cities. In: Mcdonnell MJ, Hahs AK, Breuste JH (eds) Ecology of cities and towns: a comparative approach. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 399–421
30. Isaacs R, Tuell J, Fiedler A, Gardiner M, Landis D (2008) Maximizing arthropod-mediated ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes: the role of native plants. Front Ecol Environ 7:196–203
31. Isbell F, Calcagno V, Hector A, Connolly J, Harpole WS, Reich PB, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schmid B, Tilman D, Van Ruijven J, Weigelt A, Wilsey BJ, Zavaleta ES, Loreau M (2011) High plant diversity is needed to maintain ecosystem services. Nature 477:199–202
32. Jo H, Mcpherson GE (1995) Carbon storage and flux in urban residential greenspace. J Environ Manag 45:109–133
33. Keane RM, Crawley MJ (2002) Exotic plant invasions and the enemy release hypothesis. Trends Ecol Evol 17:164–170
34. Knops JMH, Tilman D, Haddad NM, Naeem S, Mitchell CE, Haarstad J, Ritchie ME, Howe KM, Reich PB, Siemann E, Groth J (1999) Effects of plant species richness on invasion dynamics, disease outbreaks, insect abundances and diversity. Ecol Lett 2:286–293
35. Kremen C, Colwell R, Erwin T, Murphy D, Noss RA, Sanjayan M (1993) Terrestrial arthropod assemblages: their use in conservation planning. Conserv Biol 7:796–808
36. Matteson KC, Langellotto GA (2011) Small scale additions of native plants fail to increase beneficial insect richness in urban gardens. Insect Conserv Divers 4:89–98
37. Mcintyre NE (2000) Ecology of urban arthropods: a review and a call to action. Ann Entomol Soc Am 93:825–835
38. Mcintyre NE, Rango J, Fagan WF, Faeth SH (2001) Ground arthropod community structure in a heterogeneous urban environment. Landsc Urb Plan 52:257–274
39. Minitab 2012 Minitab 16 Statistical Software. Minitab Inc.
40. Moog D, Poschlod P, Kahmen S, Schreiber KF (2002) Comparison of species composition between different grassland management treatments after 25 years. Appl Veg Sci 5:99–106
41. Morris MG (1981) Responses of grassland invertebrates to management by cutting. III. Adverse effects on Auchenorhyncha. J Appl Ecol 18:107–123
42. Morris MG (2000) The effects of structure and its dynamics on the ecology and conservation of arthropods in British grasslands. Biol Conserv 95:129–142
43. Morris MG, Lakhani KH (1979) Responses of grassland invertebrates to management by cutting. I. Species diversity of Hemiptera. J Appl Ecol 16:77–98
44. Müller N (1990) Lawns in German cities: a phytosociological comparison. In: Sukopp H (ed) Urban ecology. SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague
45. Murdoch WW, Evans FC, Peterson CH (1972) Diversity and pattern in plants and insects. Ecology 53:819–829
46. Owen DF (1983) Urban entomology: interdisciplinary perspectives. In: Frankie GW, Koehler CS (eds) Effects of contrived plant diversity and permanent succession on insects in English suburban gardens. Praeger, New York
47. Owen J (2010) Wildlife of a garden: a thirty year study. Royal Horticultural Society, Peterborough
48. Owen J, Owen DF (1975) Suburban Gardens: England’s most important nature reserve? Environ Conserv 2:53–59
49. Parr TW, Way JM (1988) Management of roadside vegetation:the long term effects of cutting. J Appl Ecol 25:1073–1087
50. Pyle R, Bentzien M, Opler P (1981) Insect conservation. Annu Rev Entomol 26:233–258
51. Pyšek P (1998) Alien and native species in Central European urban floras: a quantitative comparison. J Biogeogr 25:155–163
52. Raupp MJ, Shrewsbury PM, Herms DA (2010) Ecology of herbivorous arthropods in urban landscapes. Annu Rev Entomol 55:19–38
53. Rayburn E, Lozier J (2003) A falling plate meter for estimating pasture forage mass. http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/forglvst/fallplate.pdf. Accessed 21 Dec 2010
54. Robbins P, Sharp Julie (2003) The lawn-chemical economy and its discontents. Antipode 35:955–979
55. Ryser P, Langenauer R, Gigon A (1995) Species richness and vegetation structure in a limestone grassland after 15 years management with six biomass removal regimes. Folia Geobotanica 30:157–167
56. Samways MJ, Caldwell P, Osborn R (1996) Ground-living invertebrate assemblages in native, planted and invasive vegetation in South Africa. Agric Ecosyst Environ 59:19–32
57. Sattler T, Obrist MK, Duelli P, Moretti M (2011) Urban arthropod communities: added value or just a blend of surrounding biodiversity? Landsc Urb Plan 103:347–361
58. Schaffers AP, Raemakers IP, Sýkora KV, Ter Braak CJF (2008) Arthropod assemblages are best predicted by plant species composition. Ecology 89:782–794
59. Scherber C, Eisenhauer N, Weisser WW, Schmid B, Voigt W, Fischer M, Schulze E-D, Roscher C, Weigelt A, Allan E, Beßler H, Bonkowski M, Buchmann N, Buscot F, Clement LW, Ebeling A, Engels C, Halle S, Kertscher I, Klein A-M, Koller R, König S, Kowalski E, Kummer V, Kuu A (2010) Bottom-up effects of plant diversity on multitrophic interactions in a biodiversity experiment. Nature 468:553–556
60. Seastedt T, Crossley D (1984) The influence of arthropods on ecosystems. Bioscience 34:157–161
61. Shannon CE (2001) A mathematical theory of communication. ACM SIGMOBILE Mob Comput Commun Rev 5:3–55
62. Siemann E, Tilman D, Haarstad J, Ritchie M (1998) Experimental tests of the dependence of arthropod diversity on plant diversity. Am Nat 152:738–750
63. Smith LS, Fellowes MDE (2013) Towards a lawn without grass: the journey of the imperfect lawn and its analogues. Stud Hist Gard Des Landsc 33:1–13
64. Smith LS, Fellowes MDE (2014a) The influence of species number on productivity, ground coverage and floral performance in grass-free lawns. Landsc Ecol Eng. doi:10.1007/s11355-014-0264-9
65. Smith LS, Fellowes MDE (2014b) The grass-free lawn: floral performance and management implications. Urb For Urb Green (in press)
66. Smith LS, Fellowes MDE (2014c) The grass-free lawn: management and species choice for optimum ground cover and plant diversity. Urb For Urb Green 13:433–442
67. Smith RM, Gaston KK, Warren PH, Thompson K (2006a) Urban domestic gardens (VIII): environmental correlates of invertebrate abundance. Biodivers Conserv 15:2515–2545
68. Smith RM, Thompson K, Hodgson JG, Warren PH, Gaston KJ (2006b) Urban domestic gardens (IX): composition and richness of the vascular plant flora, and implications for native biodiversity. Biol Conserv 129:312–322
69. Sørensen T (1948) A method of establishing groups of equal amplitude in plant sociology based on similarity of species and its application to analyses of the vegetation on Danish commons. Biol skr 5:1–34
70. Stampfli A, Zeiter M (1999) Plant species decline due to abandonment of meadows cannot easily be reversed by mowing: a case study from the southern Alps. J Veg Sci 10:151–164
71. Sukopp H (1990) Plants and plant communities in urban environments. SPB Academic Publishing, Amsterdam, The Hague
72. Tallamy DW (2004) Do alien plants reduce insect biomass? Conserv Biol 18:1689–1692
73. Tallamy DW, Ballard M, D’amico V (2010) Can alien plants support generalist insect herbivores? Biol Invasions 12:2285–2292
74. Thomas J, Telfer MG, Roy DB, Preston CD, Greenwood J, Asher J, Fox R, Clarke RT, Lawton JH (2004) Comparative losses of British butterflies, birds, and plants and the global extinction crisis. Science 303:1879–1881
75. Thompson K (2014) Where do camels belong?: the story and science of invasive species. Profile Books, London
76. Thompson K, Austin KC, Smith RM, Warren PH, Angold PG, Gaston KJ (2003) Urban domestic gardens (I): putting small-scale plant diversity in context. J Veg Sci 14:71–78
77. Zechmeister H, Schmitzberger I, Steurer B, Peterseil J, Wrbka T (2003) The influence of land-use practices and economics on plant species richness in meadows. Biol Conserv 114:165–177
78. Zerbe S, Maurer U, Schmitz S, Sukopp H (2003) Biodiversity in Berlin and its potential for nature conservation. Landsc Urb Plan 62:139–148