Evolutionary Zoology, Department of Biosciences, University of Salzburg, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria.
Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, D-15374 Müncheberg, Germany; Department of Zoology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences I, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, D-06099 Halle (Saale), Germany; Entomology and Biogeography, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Potsdam, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Dec 10;851(Pt 2):158315. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158315. Epub 2022 Aug 27.
Recent studies indicated severe decline of insect diversity and abundance across major parts of Central Europe. Theoretical studies showed that the drivers behind biodiversity loss vary considerably over time. However, these scenarios so far have been insufficiently approved by long-term and large-scale data. In this study we analysed the temporal trends of butterflies and Zygaenid moths across the federal state of Salzburg, northern Austria, from 1920 to 2019. Our study area covers a large variety of habitats and altitudes. Various changes of land use and intensification occurred during and shortly before our studied period, with a first wave of habitat destruction starting in the late 19th century, followed by the deterioration of habitat quality since the mid-20th century. We used 59,870 presence-only data of 168 butterfly and burnet moth species. Each of these species was classified according to ecological characteristics. Break point analyses for non-linear temporal trends in the community composition returned two major time windows. These time windows coincide with periods characterized by severe habitat destruction and the deterioration of habitat quality due to agricultural intensification. We found significant reductions of the proportion of species requiring specific habitats since 1920 and until today. We identified additional break points for species requiring high habitat qualities, endangered butterfly species, and sedentary species, particularly after a main break point in the 1960s. Our findings underline that, apart from habitat destruction, the deterioration of habitat quality is a main driver of biodiversity loss in general. Therefore, nature conservation should focus on maintaining the highest possible habitat quality.
最近的研究表明，中欧大部分地区的昆虫多样性和丰富度严重下降。理论研究表明，生物多样性丧失的驱动因素随时间变化而有很大差异。然而，这些情景迄今为止还没有得到长期和大规模数据的充分证实。在这项研究中，我们分析了奥地利北部萨尔茨堡联邦州蝴蝶和 Zygaenid 蛾从 1920 年到 2019 年的时间趋势。我们的研究区域涵盖了各种生境和海拔。在我们研究期间及之前不久，各种土地利用和集约化的变化发生了，第一次生境破坏浪潮始于 19 世纪后期，随后自 20 世纪中期以来生境质量恶化。我们使用了 168 种蝴蝶和地老虎蛾物种的 59870 个仅存在数据。这些物种中的每一个都根据生态特征进行了分类。非线性时间趋势的社区组成断点分析返回了两个主要的时间窗口。这些时间窗口与严重的生境破坏以及由于农业集约化导致的生境质量恶化的时期相吻合。自 1920 年以来，我们发现需要特定生境的物种比例显著减少，直到今天。我们确定了需要高生境质量的物种、濒危蝴蝶物种和定居物种的其他断点，特别是在 20 世纪 60 年代的一个主要断点之后。我们的研究结果表明，除了生境破坏外，生境质量的恶化是生物多样性丧失的主要驱动因素。因此，自然保护应侧重于保持尽可能高的生境质量。
