Insect hibernation on urban green land: a winter-adapted mowing regime as a management tool for insect conservation

By

Unterweger, Philipp Andreas
Klammer, Jorinde
Unger, Manuela
Betz, Oliver

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018

Original Publication

BioRisk : biodiversity & ecosystem risk assessment

Volume

13

Pages

1-29

Subjects

Coleoptera , Diptera , green space , Habitat protection , Heteroptera , Hibernation , Hymenoptera , insect decline , meadow , mowing , Urban ecology

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.13.22316

 

Abstract

Insect conservation is challenging on various ecological scales. One largely neglected aspect is the quality of undisturbed hibernation sites. This study aims to fill a lack of knowledge concerning insect hibernation on uncut meadows persisting in urban green spaces during the winter season in a middle-sized town in south Germany. During two years of sampling, 13,511 insect specimens of the orders Heteroptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera were caught from their winter stands. The specimens were assigned to 120 families and 140 taxonomic species were determined from the orders Heteroptera, Coleoptera and Diptera and 324 morphotypes from the orders Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera. The data indicate the importance of winter fallows for insect hibernation. Unmown meadows offer additional plant structures in winter (flower heads, stems, tufts and leaves) that are absent from mown ones. This increased structural diversity results in both higher species diversity and numbers of insect individuals during spring emergence. The results of this study thus emphasise the value of unmown structures for insect conservation and suggest a mosaic-like cutting maintenance of meadows, way- and river-sides and other green infrastructure in both the urban area and the open landscape.