| title: | DIVERSITY AND DYNAMICS OF INSECT COMMUNITIES IN FRAGMENTED HABITATS |
|---|---|
| reg no: | ETF6619 |
| project type: | Estonian Science Foundation research grant |
| subject: |
1.14. Ecology |
| status: | accepted |
| institution: | TU Faculty of Biology and Geography |
| head of project: | Tiit Teder |
| duration: | 01.01.2006 - 31.12.2009 |
| description: | Most landscapes in Europe are becoming more and more fragmented nowadays, forming habitat mosaics. However, most studies investigating patterns of species diversity and abundance are restricted to examining the effect of only one of these factors, whereas the relative importance of a more comprehensive set of factors has been rarely explored. Moreover, empirical studies frequently consider only one trophic level, while theoretical studies have shown that species at higher trophic levels are more sensitive to environmental variation and changes. In the proposed research, we will conduct a complex study to reveal the relative importance of different factors determining patterns of insect species diversity and abundance in alvars. This is a type of seminatural calcareous grasslands, nowadays occurring in a landscape as a network of more or less isolated distinct patches, in which habitat specialists are likely to exist only as metapopulations. We will examine the response of species richness, composition and abundance to current and historical area and connectivity of alvars. We also examine insect community structure as dependent on landscape matrix surrounding habitat, abundance of resources, vegetation cover and the level of overgrowth with woody plants. A special attention will be paid to the relative importance of historical and current influences on present-day community patterns. The study focuses on two trophic levels – butterflies and sawflies representing herbivores, and ichneumonid wasps representing parasitoids. Afterwards, the studied patterns will be compared to existing data from another trophic level, vascular plants. |
| project group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no | name | institution | position | |
| 1. | Aveliina Helm | |||
| 2. | Tiit Teder | Tartu Ülikool | ||