TY  - JOUR
A1  - Reinhard, Johanna E.
A1  - Geissler, Katja
A1  - Blaum, Niels
T1  - Short-term responses of darkling beetles (Coleoptera:Tenebrionidae) to the effects of fire and grazing in savannah rangeland
JF  - Insect Conservation and Diversity
N2  - Fire and grazing shape biodiversity in savannah landscapes. In land use management, knowing the effects of fire and grazing on biodiversity are important in order to ensure environmental sustainability. Beetles specifically are indicators of the biodiversity response to fire and grazing. A grazing exclusion and burning experiment in a split-plot design was used in order to investigate the interacting effects of fire and wildlife grazing on biomass, diversity, and species composition of darkling beetles (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) over time after fire. Darkling beetle species richness and diversity were responding in a three-way-interaction to fire, grazing, and time after fire, whereby biomass of darkling beetles remained unaffected and species compositional changes were attributed to seasonal changes of time only. Fire on ungrazed plots had a negative effect on species diversity and richness 2 weeks and 6 months post fire, whereas fire on grazed plots had no impact on species diversity and richness. Grazing only lowered species diversity and richness 6 months after fire treatments. Results suggest that grazing overrides the effects of fire and that the similar effects caused by fire and grazing are due to niche and assemblage simplification of the habitat.
KW  - Arid ecosystems
KW  - arid rangeland
KW  - beetles
KW  - herbivory
KW  - insect diversity
KW  - land use
KW  - management
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12324
SN  - 1752-458X
SN  - 1752-4598
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
SP  - 39
EP  - 48
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -