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Due to intensive farming fragments of woodland and hedgerows were almost eliminated and the diversity of invertebrates in agriculture landscapes decreased. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the size of fragments of woodland and hedgerows on the distribution of ground dwelling invertebrates in agricultural landscapes in southern Moravia. Invertebrates were collected using pitfall traps, which were set for three weeks in fragments of woodland during the vegetative seasons in 2016–2017. We focused on the patterns in the distributions of ground beetles (Carabidae), spiders (Araneae) and harvestmen (Opiliones). The dominant species were those that prefer open habitats. We found that small patches of woodland were inhabited by more diverse assemblages than the large ones. Our findings highlight that not only large fragments of woodland, but also small fragments and hedgerows deserve more attention as they are important in maintaining a high diversity of ground dwelling invertebrates.
Citation
Horňák O., Machač O., Šarapatka B. & Tuf I. H. (2018): Size of fragments of woodland in rural landscapes affects assemblages of ground dwelling invertebrates. Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem. 82 (1–2): 69–78.Gallery
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