Basic and Applied Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Selective observation causes differences in citizen science butterfly data","authors":"Jan Christian Habel ,&nbsp;Thomas Schmitt ,&nbsp;Peter Huemer ,&nbsp;Johannes Rüdisser ,&nbsp;Patrick Gros ,&nbsp;Werner Ulrich","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.06.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.06.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In times of insect decline, the need for biodiversity monitoring data has become increasingly urgent. However, standardised monitoring of biodiversity is time-consuming and cost-intensive. Citizen science (CS) initiatives therefore may provide valuable data and may complement data collected by professionals. Photo-apps equipped with automated taxonomic identification based on artificial intelligence play a central role in CS, at least for well distinguishable organisms such as the majority of butterfly species. In this study, we analysed butterfly (Papilionoidea) observations collected with three different photo-apps (i.e. <em>Blühendes Österreich, iNaturalist, observation.org</em>). We compared these data with observations from the <em>Global Biodiversity Information Facility</em> (GBIF). For this purpose, we classified each butterfly species according to its detectability and attractiveness, as well as its ecology and behaviour. Our results show that the observations obtained from the three photo-apps mainly cover mobile, conspicuous and easy-to-identify species, while the rare and sedentary specialist species and species that are difficult to distinguish from other taxa are underrepresented. Furthermore, the observations collected differ significantly between the three apps, and <em>Blühendes Österreich</em> particularly lacks inconspicuous butterfly species. However, a detailed regional analysis of user performance revealed that the differences among the three apps largely stem from Austrian-wide difference in app usage and less to user specific biases in recording. Within single habitats, amateurs and semi-professional users performed similarly in recording. In consequence, a combination of the data from the various apps might provide a largely realistic picture. However, most rare and ecologically demanding species seem to be covered inadequately. Thus, the recording of such species must be continued by experts to obtain a comprehensive picture of regional biodiversity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Pages 46-54"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144320826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wildflower sowings as alternative for conventional inter-row greening in German vineyards","authors":"Daniel Elias ,&nbsp;Janik Schäfer ,&nbsp;Lea Franziska Sieg ,&nbsp;Sabine Tischew ,&nbsp;Anita Kirmer","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Most European vineyards contribute little to biodiversity preservation due to intensive agricultural practices and a low plant species diversity that has low potential to support benefical insects such as pollinators. Based on specific plant traits, we selected 37 forbs and one grass species, sowing them in the inter-rows of 11 vineyards (biodiversity vineyards) in Germany in autumn 2020 and spring 2021. The aim was to increase native plant diversity and to provide a sufficient vegetation cover for vineyard work. For comparison, we used six vineyards with conventionally greened inter-rows (control vineyards). In both the biodiversity and control vineyards, we recorded the cover and number of all plant species as well as the cover of bare soil in the years 2021 to 2023. Furthermore, we calculated the Pollinator Feeding Index (PFI) to assess and compare the potential of sown and spontaneously emerging forb species occurring in the biodiversity and control inter-rows as food sources for pollinators. Of the 38 sown species, 36 established in the biodiversity vineyards. Already in the first year after sowing, vineyard inter-rows sown with the new seed mixture showed comparable vegetation cover as conventionally greened vineyard inter-rows, thus ensuring suitability for vineyard work. In addition, we found significantly higher forb cover and species number within the biodiversity vineyards, while the control vineyards showed a significantly higher grass cover. We observed significantly higher PFI values in the biodiversity vineyards as compared to the control vineyards. The introduced plant species did not only increase plant diversity, but could also be an important nectar and pollen source for pollinating insects. However, spontaneously established plant species also contributed to the PFI, especially in spring and early summer. Due to the benefits of using high-diversity seed mixtures, subsidizing the use of wild plants for vineyard greening as part of agri-environmental schemes is recommended.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Pages 153-161"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144725092","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Limited immediate effect of artificial light of realistic intensity on flight behaviour of commuting pond bat (Myotis dasycneme)","authors":"Claire Hermans ,&nbsp;Laura Kijm ,&nbsp;Marieke Paardekooper ,&nbsp;Jens C. Koblitz ,&nbsp;Peter Stilz ,&nbsp;Anne-Jifke Haarsma ,&nbsp;Marcel E. Visser ,&nbsp;Kamiel Spoelstra","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Artificial light at night can act as a barrier and cause habitat fragmentation, especially for bat species that are generally considered to be light-averse. Bats use linear structures to commute from their roost to their foraging areas. Trawling bats such as the pond bat (<em>Myotis dasycneme</em>) forage predominantly above water bodies and use waterways as commuting routes. Artificial light along these potentially leads to interruptions of commuting routes, or changes in flight behaviour of trawling bats, but impact of light may vary with light spectrum and intensity. Here, we tested whether pond bats change their flight speed and straightness in response to four light spectra at two light intensities by placing an experimental lamp post at bridges over waterways that are used by pond bats as commuting routes. We used a microphone array to precisely reconstruct the flight path of each passing bat and calculate flight parameters. Flight speed of commuting pond bats was unaffected by the presence of light, regardless of the light spectrum. Pond bats only fly straighter when exposed to white light (3000 K). The short presence of a lamp post with realistic light intensity on a bridge may therefore not act as a barrier. However, other direct effects cannot be excluded and the long-term presence of a similar light installation may still have impact.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Pages 20-28"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144243328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Anthropogenic noise can decrease tomato reproductive success by hindering bumblebee-mediated pollination","authors":"Zsófia Varga-Szilay ,&nbsp;Gergely Szövényi ,&nbsp;Gábor Pozsgai","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Anthropogenic noise is a little-studied type of pollution that negatively affects the physiology, nervous function and development of insects. Thereby, it has the potential to disrupt even key ecological services such as pollination. Here, we investigate the effects of anthropogenic noise on the pollination success of tomatoes pollinated by <em>Bombus terrestris,</em> under controlled conditions. We hypothesised that bumblebees avoid flowers exposed to noise more than flowers in non-noisy environments, leading to less efficient pollination and lower fruit quality. Three treatments were applied to randomly chosen plants and flowers in polytunnels in Hungary: noisy (with played traffic noise and allowing bumblebees to access the flowers); and two non-noisy, one allowing bumblebees and one excluding them. The flowers were bagged with nets before anthesis to prevent bumblebee visits, opened/unbagged exclusively during treatment, and re-bagged for three more days post-treatment. We recorded the market value of the fruits and the number of seeds they produced. We found no significant differences in the market value of fruits among treatments, but the number of seeds was significantly lower in the noisy treatment, suggesting that anthropogenic noise has substantial effects on bumblebee-mediated pollination. Although these effects may be mitigated by habituation, loud external noise of various machines (e.g. irrigation systems) within polytunnels is still likely to contribute to the everyday noise exposure of bumblebees and could thus potentially lead to hidden economic losses in production. Therefore, further research is needed to understand the behavioural effects of both direct and indirect noise pollution on bumblebees.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Pages 11-19"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144223583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Disentangling the effects of geographical location and local climate on masting in Fagus crenata using a comprehensive population model","authors":"Takashi Masaki ,&nbsp;Kazuhiko Hoshizaki ,&nbsp;Chinatsu Homma","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Masting, the intermittent and highly temporally variable production of seed crops, is exhibited by many plant genera, including <em>Fagus</em>. Although patterns of masting have been investigated over a wide range of areas, very few studies have comprehensively examined the various related factors. First, we developed a new comprehensive population-level process model of seed production and tested its ability to reproduce interannual variation in <em>Fagus crenata</em> seed production at a test site for which detailed quantitative flower and seed production data were available. Second, to explore hypotheses for the mechanisms of spatial variation in masting in <em>Fagus</em> and disentangle the effects of geographical and climate variables, we fitted coarse qualitative data (seeding rank) for a 20-year period for 102 populations of <em>Fagus crenata</em> across 550 km in northern Japan to the process model above, encompassing variable average climate conditions and latitudinal genetic divergence. We found good agreement between observed and predicted numbers of flowers and seeds at the test site. A simulation demonstrated that the process model reproduced the observed masting pattern well. Fitting data for the 102 sites allowed us to develop new hypotheses. The indicator of the effect of higher summer temperatures as a weather cue for masting decreased with latitude, possibly reflecting latitude-associated genetic divergence. The indicator of the evasion of insect predation was positively correlated with winter precipitation, possibly due to poor survival of the primary seed predator of <em>F. crenata</em> in heavy-snowfall areas. These hypotheses related to spatial variation in masting patterns should be tested in future studies. The proposed process model will be useful for forecasting climate-change impacts on masting patterns in <em>Fagus</em> and other genera, improving the efficacy of forest ecosystem management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Pages 74-82"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144480453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Recent biodiversity changes in grasslands across elevational bands in Switzerland","authors":"Kathrin E.R. Häberlin ,&nbsp;Jürgen Dengler","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Concerns about intensification of land use and land abandonment threatening plant diversity called for the establishment of national monitoring and agri-environmental payment schemes in Switzerland. Yet, little is known about recent biodiversity changes in Swiss grasslands. The analyses in this study were based on the presence / absence records of 455 permanent 10 m² plots in grasslands systematically spread across elevational bands in Switzerland, collected by the Swiss Biodiversity Monitoring BDM. We assessed changes in vascular plant species richness, mean ecological indicator values and species composition at the local scale in Swiss grasslands over two decades (2001–2023) and for three elevational sets (all, below, and above 1200 m a.s.l.). Further, we identified winners and losers at the species level. Throughout all three elevational sets, we found that the mean species richness increased in the study period. Likewise, the mean ecological indicator values for temperature increased throughout. While the mean ecological indicator values of nutrient, soil moisture and reaction remained constant for the set of all plots, at lower elevations there was a trend towards a decreased nutrient value whereas soil moisture decreased at higher elevations. Overall, more species showed positive rather than negative trends over time. Especially at lower elevations, short-lived, ruderal species and C₄ grasses are on the increase. We suggest that these trends are linked to the increased harvesting frequency and the recent trend towards longer dry spells in Swiss summer. By contrast, at higher elevations, stress tolerance of grasslands decreased while competitiveness increased. These diverging patterns point to different drivers of biodiversity change dependent on elevation and call for context-dependent conservation measures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Pages 29-37"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144271759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Farmland bird decline is associated with a strong population limitation of open-habitat species","authors":"Jiří Reif ,&nbsp;Tomáš Telenský ,&nbsp;Petr Klvaňa ,&nbsp;Jaroslav Cepák ,&nbsp;David Storch","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.010","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.010","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Farmland birds rank among organisms showing the steepest declines of their European populations. To combat these declines, it is essential to understand demographic mechanisms underlying the negative population trends. For this purpose, we employ a novel modelling approach on a long-term multispecies dataset collected by citizen scientists throughout Czechia. Using this approach, we calculated recruitment, adult survival and population growth rates for 13 farmland bird species on annual basis from 2004 to 2021, and related these demographic rates to species population trends estimated over the same period, as well as to their habitat preferences. We observed a negative relationship between recruitment and adult survival within most species. This relationship becomes increasingly more negative in species breeding in more open habitats. These species also showed steeper population declines and less positive correlation between adult survival and population growth rate than species breeding more woody habitats. These results indicate that the open-habitat farmland birds face strong population regulation. Under such regulation, higher adult survival in some years, that may occur due to, for instance, suitable weather conditions, does not leave much capacity for new recruits, and thus is immediately compensated by low recruitment. We suggest that these demographic processes are underpinned by decreasing carrying capacity of the open habitats which may occur due to shrub encroachment or afforestation of agricultural land that are widespread in Europe. At the same time, species preferring woody habitats enjoy increasing habitat availability in farmland which may lead to population increases over the long-term. Our results indicate that conservation actions are needed to improve the carrying capacity of the open habitats, especially during the breeding season. For example, some initiatives aiming for mitigation of climate change impacts by afforestation should be carefully reconsidered to avoid adverse impacts on open habitat species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 45-54"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143931942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bacterial community structure in bulk soil and rhizosphere of alpine plants exhibits opposite longitudinal patterns","authors":"Yixuan Liu ,&nbsp;Hao Zhou ,&nbsp;Guoqi Xu ,&nbsp;Qiudi Zhang ,&nbsp;Xing Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.04.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.04.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil bacteria play a key role in determining vegetation dynamics and ecosystem functions in natural grasslands, and can change along biogeographic gradients due to the sensitivity to abiotic and biotic factors. However, it remains unclear whether there are differences in longitudinal patterns and main drivers of bacterial community structure between bulk soil and rhizosphere, especially in alpine grassland ecosystems. In this study, we characterized bacterial communities in rhizosphere of alpine plants (28 species) and bulk soil at 13 sites of three alpine grassland types along the longitudinal gradient (from 82.5°E to 93.8°E) in China. Our results showed that climate and soil properties (e.g. mean annual precipitation, soil pH, and organic matter content), as well as bacterial taxonomic diversity in these two soil origins, changed along the longitudinal gradient. Total OTUs richness, Shannon index, and generalist richness of bacterial communities in the bulk soil increased along longitude, apparently due to the higher organic matter content and lower available potassium content. On the contrary, Shannon index in the rhizosphere decreased along longitude and was not related with any environmental factor. The dissimilarity in bacterial communities between paired samples was positively related with the differences in longitude and environmental factors (mean annual precipitation and soil pH in particular) for the two soil origins. There was a positive relationship between bacterial community dissimilarity among rhizosphere samples and the phylogenetic distance of co-occurring plant species in the individual sites of different alpine grassland types, suggesting phylogenetic conversation in plant-bacteria interactions under field conditions. Our findings suggest that the differential responses of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere versus bulk soil to abiotic and biotic factors may underlie their opposite longitudinal patterns, which highlights the necessity of integrating biogeographic and phylogenetic approaches in exploring plant-soil bacterial associations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"86 ","pages":"Pages 11-20"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143891591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Forest birds maintain body condition in Alder-leaf Birch (Betula alnoides) plantations in subtropical Asia","authors":"Wenyi Zhou ,&nbsp;Alexandra A. Grossi ,&nbsp;Daniel R. Gustafsson ,&nbsp;Zhengzhen Wang ,&nbsp;Zhuyang Zhang ,&nbsp;Yuqing Han ,&nbsp;Xinyi Wang ,&nbsp;Anru Zuo ,&nbsp;Miguel A. Acevedo ,&nbsp;Yang Liu ,&nbsp;Scott K. Robinson","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.04.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.04.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plantation forestry alters avian community assembly by creating homogeneous habitats with simplified vegetation structure. However, its effects on avian body condition remain poorly understood, despite the influence body condition has on survival and reproduction. We studied how plantation forestry of Alder-leaf Birch (<em>Betula alnoides</em>, “birch”) affects the body condition of nine forest bird species in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot in southwestern China. Through mist-net sampling, we collected data on avian body condition in birch plantations and natural forests of two age classes (young and mature). We also examined other factors that might affect body condition including demographic information (age and sex), previous-day weather (rainfall and temperature), and reproductive status. Body condition scores measured using the scaled mass index (SMI) were similar between birch plantations and natural forests, indicating that birch plantations support avian body condition at levels comparable to natural forests. Age and rainfall affected the body condition of Yunnan Fulvettas (<em>Alcippe fratercula</em>), with adults and individuals captured after rainfall having lower SMIs. Additionally, the body condition of Rusty-capped Fulvettas (<em>Schoeniparus dubius</em>) and Silver-eared Mesias (<em>Leiothrix argentauris</em>) was positively associated with their reproductive status, though the higher SMI values may partly result from gonadal and egg development. Our study reveals not only the conservation value of birch plantations but also the effects of demographic, environmental, and reproductive factors on avian body condition. We recommend considering birch as a candidate timber species for promoting conservation in plantation forestry.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"85 ","pages":"Pages 45-55"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Moving away from objectivity—A response to Wirth & Schulemann-Maier","authors":"Nadja Pernat ,&nbsp;Sascha Buchholz ,&nbsp;Jan Ole Kriegs ,&nbsp;Hilke Hollens-Kuhr","doi":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.04.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.baae.2025.04.003","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8708,"journal":{"name":"Basic and Applied Ecology","volume":"85 ","pages":"Pages 36-37"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143852349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}