Abstract
Spatial and temporal differences in landscape patterns are of considerable interest for understanding ecological processes. In this study, we assessed habitat quality by using the Syrph The Net database and data on decreasing species richness over a 25-year period for the two largest phytophagous hoverfly genera (Merodon and Cheilosia). Furthermore, within this time frame, we explored congruence between ecological responses (species richness and Biodiversity Maintenance Function for these two genera) and landscape structural changes through correlation analysis. Our results indicate that landscapes have experienced changes in aggregation, isolation/connectivity and landscape diversity, with these parameters being significantly correlated with Cheilosia species richness loss and habitat quality. We conclude that the genus Cheilosia is a good bioindicator that can highlight not only the current quality of an area but also temporal changes in landscape patterns.
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Abbreviations
- BDMF:
-
biodiversity maintenance function
- CONN:
-
Connectance Index
- CONTAG:
-
Contagion Index
- DIV:
-
Landscape Division Index
- ENN:
-
Euclidean Nearest-Neighbor Distance
- FRAC:
-
Fractal Dimension Index
- GYR:
-
Radius of Gyration
- LPI:
-
Large Patch Index
- LSI:
-
Landscape Shape Index
- PRD:
-
Patch Richness Density
- SHDI:
-
Shannon’s Diversity Index
- SHEI:
-
Shannon’s Evenness Index
- StN:
-
Syrph The Net database
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Acknowledgements
We kindly thank J. O’Brien for English proofreading and Dr G. Burgio for contributions while developing the original idea of this study. This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia, under Grant No. 173002 and Grant No. 43002, the Provincial Secretariat for Science and Technological Development under Grant No. 114-457-2173/2011-01, and H2020 project ANTARES under Grant No. 664387.
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The Student Conference on Conservation Science (SCCS) is organized each year in several locations, Tihany at the Lake Balaton in Hungary being one of them. Since 2016, Community Ecology offers a prize at SCCS Tihany for the best presentation in the field of community ecology. An independent jury awards the prize that is an invitation to submit a manuscript to the journal. This is the paper of the SCCS Tihany’2017 Awardee, Snezana Popov.
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Popov, S., Miličić, M., Diti, I. et al. Phytophagous hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) as indicators of changing landscapes. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY 18, 287–294 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1556/168.2017.18.3.7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1556/168.2017.18.3.7