The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods

Berger, Johanna L.; Staab, Michael; Hartlieb, Margarita; Simons, Nadja K.; Wells, Konstans; Gossner, Martin M.; Vogt, Juliane; Achury, Rafael; Seibold, Sebastian; Hemp, Andreas; Weisser, Wolfgang W.; Blüthgen, Nico

doi:10.1002/eap.3022

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The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods

Johanna L. Berger

, Michael Staab

, Margarita Hartlieb

, Nadja K. Simons

, Konstans Wells

, Martin M. Gossner

, Juliane Vogt, Rafael Achury

, Sebastian Seibold

, Andreas Hemp

, Wolfgang W. Weisser

, Nico Blüthgen

Ecological Applications, Volume: 34, Issue: 6

Swansea University Author: Konstans Wells

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DOI (Published version): 10.1002/eap.3022

Abstract

Recent losses in the abundance and diversity of arthropods have been documented in many regions and ecosystems. In grasslands, such insect declines are largely attributed to land use, including modern machinery and mowing regimes. However, the effects of different mowing techniques on arthropods rem...

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Published in:	Ecological Applications
ISSN:	1051-0761 1939-5582
Published:	Wiley 2024
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URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67327
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Using 11 years of data from 111 agricultural grassland plots across Germany, we analyzed the influence of various grassland management variables on the abundance and abundance-accounted species richness of four arthropod orders: Araneae, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera. The analysis focused on detailed mowing information, for example, days after mowing and mower type, and compared their effect with other aspects of grassland management, that is, rolling, leveling, fertilization, and grazing. We found strong negative effects of mowing on all four arthropod orders, with arthropod abundance being lowest directly after mowing and steadily increasing to three to seven times the abundance after 100 days post-mowing. Likewise, Hemiptera and Coleoptera species richness was 30% higher 100 days after mowing. Mower width showed a positive effect on Orthoptera abundance, but not on the other arthropods. 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spelling	v2 67327 2024-08-06 The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods d18166c31e89833c55ef0f2cbb551243 0000-0003-0377-2463 Konstans Wells Konstans Wells true false 2024-08-06 BGPS Recent losses in the abundance and diversity of arthropods have been documented in many regions and ecosystems. In grasslands, such insect declines are largely attributed to land use, including modern machinery and mowing regimes. However, the effects of different mowing techniques on arthropods remain poorly understood. Using 11 years of data from 111 agricultural grassland plots across Germany, we analyzed the influence of various grassland management variables on the abundance and abundance-accounted species richness of four arthropod orders: Araneae, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera. The analysis focused on detailed mowing information, for example, days after mowing and mower type, and compared their effect with other aspects of grassland management, that is, rolling, leveling, fertilization, and grazing. We found strong negative effects of mowing on all four arthropod orders, with arthropod abundance being lowest directly after mowing and steadily increasing to three to seven times the abundance after 100 days post-mowing. Likewise, Hemiptera and Coleoptera species richness was 30% higher 100 days after mowing. Mower width showed a positive effect on Orthoptera abundance, but not on the other arthropods. Arthropod abundance and Coleoptera species richness were lowest when a mulcher was used compared to rotary or bar mowers. In addition to mowing, intensive grazing negatively affected Orthoptera abundance but not the other orders. Mowing represents a highly disturbing and iterative stressor with negative effects on arthropod abundance and diversity, likely contributed by mowing-induced mortality and habitat alteration. While modifications of mowing techniques such as mower type or mowing height and width may help to reduce the negative impact of mowing on arthropods, our results show that mowing itself has the most substantial negative effect. Based on our results, we suggest that reduced mowing frequency, omission of mowing in parts of the grassland (refuges), or extensive grazing instead of mowing have the greatest potential to promote arthropod populations. Journal Article Ecological Applications 34 6 Wiley 1051-0761 1939-5582 Grassland management, grazing, insect conservation, mower, mowing width, mulcher, rolling 3 9 2024 2024-09-03 10.1002/eap.3022 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee This work has been partly funded by the DFG Priority Program 1374 “Biodiversity-Exploratories” (DFG-Refno.) and is part of the BioDivKultur project, which is funded by FEdA, the BMBF Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity. Fieldwork permits were issued by the responsible state environmental offices of Baden-Württemberg, Thüringen, and Brandenburg. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Grant Number: 1374 Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Grant Number: 16LW0074K 2024-09-18T16:13:29.8604368 2024-08-06T22:05:21.4133388 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Johanna L. Berger 0000-0003-4847-2413 1 Michael Staab 0000-0003-0894-7576 2 Margarita Hartlieb 0000-0003-2212-5528 3 Nadja K. Simons 0000-0002-2718-7050 4 Konstans Wells 0000-0003-0377-2463 5 Martin M. Gossner 0000-0003-1516-6364 6 Juliane Vogt 7 Rafael Achury 0000-0003-0435-3594 8 Sebastian Seibold 0000-0002-7968-4489 9 Andreas Hemp 0000-0002-5369-2122 10 Wolfgang W. Weisser 0000-0002-2757-8959 11 Nico Blüthgen 0000-0001-6349-4528 12 67327__31367__7aaa6927511e47d3a853c52f66087656.pdf 67327.VOR.pdf 2024-09-18T15:59:29.1628143 Output 1855671 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title	The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods
spellingShingle	The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods Konstans Wells
title_short	The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods
title_full	The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods
title_fullStr	The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods
title_full_unstemmed	The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods
title_sort	The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods
author_id_str_mv	d18166c31e89833c55ef0f2cbb551243
author_id_fullname_str_mv	d18166c31e89833c55ef0f2cbb551243_***_Konstans Wells
author	Konstans Wells
author2	Johanna L. Berger Michael Staab Margarita Hartlieb Nadja K. Simons Konstans Wells Martin M. Gossner Juliane Vogt Rafael Achury Sebastian Seibold Andreas Hemp Wolfgang W. Weisser Nico Blüthgen
format	Journal article
container_title	Ecological Applications
container_volume	34
container_issue	6
publishDate	2024
institution	Swansea University
issn	1051-0761 1939-5582
doi_str_mv	10.1002/eap.3022
publisher	Wiley
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_parent_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str	School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description	Recent losses in the abundance and diversity of arthropods have been documented in many regions and ecosystems. In grasslands, such insect declines are largely attributed to land use, including modern machinery and mowing regimes. However, the effects of different mowing techniques on arthropods remain poorly understood. Using 11 years of data from 111 agricultural grassland plots across Germany, we analyzed the influence of various grassland management variables on the abundance and abundance-accounted species richness of four arthropod orders: Araneae, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera. The analysis focused on detailed mowing information, for example, days after mowing and mower type, and compared their effect with other aspects of grassland management, that is, rolling, leveling, fertilization, and grazing. We found strong negative effects of mowing on all four arthropod orders, with arthropod abundance being lowest directly after mowing and steadily increasing to three to seven times the abundance after 100 days post-mowing. Likewise, Hemiptera and Coleoptera species richness was 30% higher 100 days after mowing. Mower width showed a positive effect on Orthoptera abundance, but not on the other arthropods. Arthropod abundance and Coleoptera species richness were lowest when a mulcher was used compared to rotary or bar mowers. In addition to mowing, intensive grazing negatively affected Orthoptera abundance but not the other orders. Mowing represents a highly disturbing and iterative stressor with negative effects on arthropod abundance and diversity, likely contributed by mowing-induced mortality and habitat alteration. While modifications of mowing techniques such as mower type or mowing height and width may help to reduce the negative impact of mowing on arthropods, our results show that mowing itself has the most substantial negative effect. Based on our results, we suggest that reduced mowing frequency, omission of mowing in parts of the grassland (refuges), or extensive grazing instead of mowing have the greatest potential to promote arthropod populations.
published_date	2024-09-03T16:13:28Z
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score	11.037581

The day after mowing: Time and type of mowing influence grassland arthropods

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