Bibliography
2016
 © Oto Zimmermann
Authors
Mgr. Igor Malenovský, Ph.D., RNDr. Milan Řezáč, Ph.D.
Abstract

Gravel-sand river terraces were nearly eliminated from central European landscape by river channelization. Monotypic stands of common reed (Phragmites australis) growing on such terraces are often stressed by drought, which makes them vulnerable to Lipara spp. (Diptera: Chloropidae) gallmakers. Although Lipara are considered ecosystem engineers, only fragmentary information is available on the biology of their parasitoids and inquilines. We analyzed the assemblages of arthropods (Arachnida, Collembola, Dermaptera, Psocoptera, Thysanoptera, Hemiptera, Raphidioptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera) that emerged from 17,791 Lipara-induced galls collected in winter from 30 reed beds in the Czech Republic, 15 of which were situated at (post)industrial sites (gravel-sandpits, tailing ponds, limestone quarries, colliery dumps, and reclaimed lignite open-cast mines) and 15 were in near-natural habitats (medieval fishponds, and river and stream floodplains). The Chao-1 estimator indicated 229.3 ± 18.1 species in reed galls at (post)industrial and 218.1 ± 23.6 species at near-natural sites, with the Sørensen index reaching only 0.58. We identified 18 red-listed species and four new species for the Czech Republic (Gasteruption phragmiticola, Echthrodelphax fairchildii, Haplogonatopus oratorius and Enclisis sp.), representing mostly obligate (64 %) or facultative (9 %) reed specialists. We propose that Lipara gall-associated assemblages undergo a long-term cyclic ecological succession. During first 10 years after reed bed formation, only Lipara spp. and several other species occur. During next decades, the reed beds host species-rich assemblages with numerous pioneer species (Singa nitidula, Polemochartus melas) that critically depend on presence of prior disturbances. Middle-aged reed beds (near medieval fishponds) are prevalently enriched in common species only (Oulema duftschmidi, Dimorphopterus spinolae). Habitats with the longest historical continuity (river floodplains) host again species-rich assemblages with several rare species that probably require long-term habitat continuity (Homalura tarsata, Hylaeus moricei). Landscape dynamics is thus critical for the persistence of a full spectrum of reed gall inquilines, with (post)industrials serving as the only refugia for pioneer species ousted from their key nesting habitats at once cyclically disturbed gravel-sand river terraces.


2015
 © Ondřej Machač
Authors
Mgr. Igor Malenovský, Ph.D., Jakub Straka, RNDr. Robert Tropek, Ph.D.
Abstract
Recently, fly ash deposits have been revealed as a secondary refuge of critically endangered arthropods specialised on aeolian sands in Central Europe. Simultaneously, these anthropogenic habitats are well known for their negative impact on human health and the surrounding environment. The  overwhelming majority of these risks are caused by wind erosion, the substantial decreasing of which is thus necessary. But, any effects of anti-dust treatments on endangered arthropods have never been studied. We surveyed communities of five arthropod groups (wild bees and wasps, leafhoppers, spiders, hoverflies and orthopteroid insects) colonising three fly ash deposits in the western Czech Republic. We focused on two different anti-dust treatments (~70 and 100 % cover of fly ash by barren soil) and their comparison with a control of bare fly ash. Altogether, we recorded 495 species, including 132 nationally threatened species (eight of them were considered to be extinct in the country) and/or 30 species strictly specialised to drift sands. Bees and wasps and leafhoppers contained the overwhelming majority of species of the highest conservation interest; a few other important records were also in spiders and orthopteroids. Total soil cover depleted the unique environment of fly ash and thus destroyed the high conservation potential of the deposits. On the other hand, partial coverage (with ~30%of bare fly ash) still offered habitats for many of the most threatened species, as we showed by both regression and multivariate analyses, with a decrease of wind erosion. This topic still needs much more research interest, but we consider mosaic-like preservation of smaller spots of fly ash as one of the possible compromises between biodiversity and human health.