Hamon Laura E, Kilpatrick Lauren D, Billeisen Terri L
Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Department of Horticulture, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Insects. 2024 Jul 11;15(7):520. doi: 10.3390/insects15070520.
Urbanization is rapidly influencing the abundance and diversity of arthropods. Within urban systems, managed turfgrass is a prominent land cover which can support only a limited number of arthropod groups. To allow for more arthropod biodiversity and to support beneficial insects within turfgrass, increasing numbers of land managers are choosing to partially convert turf habitat to wildflower habitat using commercially available seed mixes. However, the population dynamics of arthropod groups in these systems are poorly known, with consequentially little information on best long-term practices for managing wildflower habitats in turfgrass systems. To address this gap, we sampled insects using pan traps in turfgrass systems pre- and post-implementation of wildflower habitats and examined the change in abundance of several insect families and functional guilds. Insect groups had variable responses to wildflower habitat implementation, with some groups such as sweat bees and skipper butterflies showing a decline two years post-implementation. Other groups, such as predatory flies, were relatively more abundant one and two years post-implementation. These variable responses point to the need for more research on the long-term effects of wildflower habitats on beneficial insects in turfgrass habitats.
城市化正在迅速影响节肢动物的数量和多样性。在城市系统中，人工管理的草坪是一种显著的土地覆盖类型，只能支持数量有限的节肢动物类群。为了增加节肢动物的生物多样性并支持草坪中的益虫，越来越多的土地管理者选择使用市售的混合种子，将部分草坪栖息地转变为野花栖息地。然而，这些系统中节肢动物类群的种群动态鲜为人知，因此关于草坪系统中野花栖息地最佳长期管理实践的信息也很少。为了填补这一空白，我们在野花栖息地实施前后，使用诱虫盘对草坪系统中的昆虫进行了采样，并研究了几个昆虫科和功能类群数量的变化。昆虫类群对野花栖息地的实施有不同的反应，一些类群，如汗蜂和弄蝶，在实施两年后数量下降。其他类群，如捕食性苍蝇，在实施一年和两年后数量相对较多。这些不同的反应表明，需要更多地研究野花栖息地对草坪栖息地中益虫的长期影响。
