Urbanization drives cross-taxon declines in abundance and diversity at multiple spatial scales

Elena Piano^{1

2}, Caroline Souffreau³, Thomas Merckx^{4

5}, Lisa F Baardsen⁶, Thierry Backeljau^{1

6}, Dries Bonte⁷, Kristien I Brans³, Marie Cours⁸, Maxime Dahirel^{7

9}, Nicolas Debortoli¹⁰, Ellen Decaestecker¹¹, Katrien De Wolf^{1

12}, Jessie M T Engelen³, Diego Fontaneto¹³, Andros T Gianuca^{3

14}, Lynn Govaert^{3

15

16}, Fabio T T Hanashiro³, Janet Higuti¹⁷, Luc Lens⁷, Koen Martens^{8

18}, Hans Matheve⁷, Erik Matthysen⁶, Eveline Pinseel^{19

20}, Rose Sablon¹, Isa Schön^{8

21}, Robby Stoks²², Karine Van Doninck¹⁰, Hans Van Dyck⁴, Pieter Vanormelingen¹⁹, Jeroen Van Wichelen^{19

23}, Wim Vyverman¹⁹, Luc De Meester³, Frederik Hendrickx^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, OD Taxonomy and Phylogeny, Brussels, Belgium.
² Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
³ Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁴ Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
⁵ Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
⁶ Evolutionary Ecology Group, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
⁷ Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
⁸ Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, OD Natural Environment, Brussels, Belgium.
⁹ Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Evolution Unit, Université de Rennes 1 (CNRS), Rennes, France.
¹⁰ Laboratory of Evolutionary Genetics and Ecology, URBE, NAXYS, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium.
¹¹ Laboratory of Aquatic Biology, KU Leuven Kulak, Kortrijk, Belgium.
¹² Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
¹³ CNR-IRSA, National Research Council, Water Research Institute, Verbania-Pallanza, Italy.
¹⁴ Department of Ecology, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
¹⁵ Department of Aquatic Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
¹⁶ Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
¹⁷ Centre of Research in Limnology, Ichthyology and Aquaculture/PEA, State University of Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil.
¹⁸ Laboratory of Limnology, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
¹⁹ Laboratory of Protistology & Aquatic Ecology, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
²⁰ Research Department, Meise Botanic Garden, Meise, Belgium.
²¹ Zoology Research Group, University of Hasselt, Hasselt, Belgium.
²² Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
²³ Aquatic Management, Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Brussels, Belgium.

PMID: 31755626
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14934

Free article

Urbanization drives cross-taxon declines in abundance and diversity at multiple spatial scales

Elena Piano et al. Glob Chang Biol. 2020 Mar.

Free article

. 2020 Mar;26(3):1196-1211.

doi: 10.1111/gcb.14934. Epub 2020 Jan 1.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, OD Taxonomy and Phylogeny, Brussels, Belgium.
² Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
³ Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁴ Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Group, Biodiversity Research Centre, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
⁵ Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
⁶ Evolutionary Ecology Group, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
⁷ Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
⁸ Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, OD Natural Environment, Brussels, Belgium.
⁹ Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Evolution Unit, Université de Rennes 1 (CNRS), Rennes, France.
¹⁰ Laboratory of Evolutionary Genetics and Ecology, URBE, NAXYS, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium.
¹¹ Laboratory of Aquatic Biology, KU Leuven Kulak, Kortrijk, Belgium.
¹² Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
¹³ CNR-IRSA, National Research Council, Water Research Institute, Verbania-Pallanza, Italy.
¹⁴ Department of Ecology, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
¹⁵ Department of Aquatic Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
¹⁶ Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
¹⁷ Centre of Research in Limnology, Ichthyology and Aquaculture/PEA, State University of Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil.
¹⁸ Laboratory of Limnology, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
¹⁹ Laboratory of Protistology & Aquatic Ecology, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
²⁰ Research Department, Meise Botanic Garden, Meise, Belgium.
²¹ Zoology Research Group, University of Hasselt, Hasselt, Belgium.
²² Evolutionary Stress Ecology and Ecotoxicology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
²³ Aquatic Management, Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Brussels, Belgium.

PMID: 31755626
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14934

Abstract

The increasing urbanization process is hypothesized to drastically alter (semi-)natural environments with a concomitant major decline in species abundance and diversity. Yet, studies on this effect of urbanization, and the spatial scale at which it acts, are at present inconclusive due to the large heterogeneity in taxonomic groups and spatial scales at which this relationship has been investigated among studies. Comprehensive studies analysing this relationship across multiple animal groups and at multiple spatial scales are rare, hampering the assessment of how biodiversity generally responds to urbanization. We studied aquatic (cladocerans), limno-terrestrial (bdelloid rotifers) and terrestrial (butterflies, ground beetles, ground- and web spiders, macro-moths, orthopterans and snails) invertebrate groups using a hierarchical spatial design, wherein three local-scale (200 m × 200 m) urbanization levels were repeatedly sampled across three landscape-scale (3 km × 3 km) urbanization levels. We tested for local and landscape urbanization effects on abundance and species richness of each group, whereby total richness was partitioned into the average richness of local communities and the richness due to variation among local communities. Abundances of the terrestrial active dispersers declined in response to local urbanization, with reductions up to 85% for butterflies, while passive dispersers did not show any clear trend. Species richness also declined with increasing levels of urbanization, but responses were highly heterogeneous among the different groups with respect to the richness component and the spatial scale at which urbanization impacts richness. Depending on the group, species richness declined due to biotic homogenization and/or local species loss. This resulted in an overall decrease in total richness across groups in urban areas. These results provide strong support to the general negative impact of urbanization on abundance and species richness within habitat patches and highlight the importance of considering multiple spatial scales and taxa to assess the impacts of urbanization on biodiversity.

Keywords: biodiversity; biotic homogenization; diversity partitioning; insect decline; land use; spatial scale; urban ecology.

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Urbanization drives cross-taxon declines in abundance and diversity at multiple spatial scales

Affiliations

Urbanization drives cross-taxon declines in abundance and diversity at multiple spatial scales

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

REFERENCES

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