Centipede assemblages along an urbanization gradient in the city of Heraklion, Crete (Greece)

By

Papastefanou, Gabriella
Panayiotou, Eleni
Mylonas, Moissis
Simaiakis, Stylianos

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2015

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

510

Pages

163-179

Subjects

abundance , activity density , Eupolybothrus litoralis , Lithobius nigripalpis , pitfall traps , Scolopendra cretica , Scutigera coleoptrata , Spatial distribution , Species diversity , temporal distribution

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.510.8414

 

Abstract

Global urbanization is a major force that causes alteration and loss of natural habitats. Urban ecosystems are strongly affected by humans and there is a gradient of decreasing human influence from city centers to natural habitats. To study ecological changes along this continuum, researchers introduced the urban-rural gradient approach. The responses of centipedes to an urbanization gradient (urban-suburban-rural areas) were studied using pitfall traps in and near the city of Heraklion, in the island of Crete, Greece, from November 2010 to November 2011. Our results do not support the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, in which suburban areas located in the transitional zone between urban and rural habitats failed to indicate significant increase in terms of species richness and diversity.