Short-term responses of darkling beetles (Coleoptera:Tenebrionidae) to the effects of fire and grazing in savannah rangeland
- 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 speciesFire 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.…
Author details: | Johanna E. ReinhardORCiD, Katja GeisslerORCiDGND, Niels BlaumORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12324 |
ISSN: | 1752-458X |
ISSN: | 1752-4598 |
Title of parent work (English): | Insect Conservation and Diversity |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Place of publishing: | Hoboken |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2018/09/21 |
Publication year: | 2019 |
Release date: | 2021/05/28 |
Tag: | Arid ecosystems; arid rangeland; beetles; herbivory; insect diversity; land use; management |
Volume: | 12 |
Issue: | 1 |
Number of pages: | 10 |
First page: | 39 |
Last Page: | 48 |
Funding institution: | DAADDeutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) [91541055]; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF) [FKZ 01LL1302A]; Ministry of Environment and Tourism Namibia [1738/2012] |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften |