Contrasting resource-dependent responses of hoverfly richness and density to landscape structure

By Birgit Meyer, F. Jauker, I. Steffan‐Dewenter. 2009

214 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) in agroecosystems have gained much attention recently because the larvae of some species are efficient control agents of crop aphids, and adult hoverflies provide pollination services to wild flowers and flowering crops. We assessed the density and species richness of hoverflies in 32 calcareous grasslands, which constitute a semi-natural habitat for adult hoverflies, by means of six transect walks from April to September 2004. Our results show that local habitat factors and landscape factors influenced hoverfly communities, and that their effects on hoverfly richness and density were quite contrary. Hoverfly species richness was affected by factors related to resource heterogeneity such as species richness of flowering plants, area of grassland habitat, and landscape diversity, which all imply the availability of diverse micro- and macrohabitats for adults and larvae. Hoverfly density, in contrast, depended on factors related to resource quantity, such as the amount of pollen and nectar resources for adults and the amount of larval macrohabitats in the surrounding matrix. Therefore, both adult and larval habitat requirements have to be considered when analysing hoverfly communities in agricultural landscapes. Species guilds responded to specific land-use types such as annual crops and woodland at different spatial scales, indicating variation in species’ mobility and in the degree of spillover effects among neighbouring landscape elements.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/968c5bc678091e17f6a816ac0776676c7a91d3ff

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In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Insect Science

Citations in the corpus

Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination (2015, unknown): “The variability among life histories may explain why some non-bee pollinator populations are known to benefit from the same pollinator-enhancement practices as bees but others do not (54, 70, 71).”
Opportunities to enhance pollinator biodiversity in solar parks (2021, background): “Relying on a broader range of resources, hoverfly larvae requirements are highly variable, depending on specific macro and microhabitats [64].”
Stability of pollination services decreases with isolation from natural areas despite honey bee visits. (2011, background): “However, there is a need for more studies directly examining responses to natural habitat isolation of other non-bee pollinators, such as beetles (Blanche & Cunningham 2005; Mayfield 2005), syrphid flies (Meyer et al. 2009), ants (Carvalheiro et al.”
Pollination efficiency of wild bees and hoverflies provided to oilseed rape (2012, background): “Future studies need to consider the agriculturally-induced alterations in pollinator assemblages and the impact of these alterations on the pollination service with regard to compensatory effects among and within pollinator taxa (Jauker & Wolters, 2008; Meyer et al., 2009; Winfree & Kremen, 2009; Go”
The PREDICTS database: a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts (2014, unknown): “…2004; 109 Azhar et al. 2013; 110 Reid et al. 2012; 111 Neuschulz et al. 2011; 112 Dawson et al. 2011; 113 Naidoo 2004; 114 Dures and Cumming 2010; 115 Meyer et al. 2009; 116 Summerville 2011; 117 Cleary et al. 2004; 118 Mudri-Stojnic et al. 2012; 119 Sch€uepp et al. 2011; 120 Bates et al.…”
The contribution of floral resources and honeydew to the performance of predatory hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae). (2013, background): “, 2006) and are commonly recognised as important pollinators (Biesmeijer et al., 2006; Meyer et al., 2009).”
Pollinator dispersal in an agricultural matrix: opposing responses of wild bees and hoverflies to landscape structure and distance from main habitat (2009, background): “While diverse agricultural landscapes have previously been shown to facilitate hoverfly movement and support diverse hoverfly communities (Burgio and Sommaggio 2007; Schweiger et al. 2007; Meyer et al. 2008 ), our results suggest that even small grassland patches and scarce flower resources along f”