Traffic intensity and vegetation management affect flower-visiting insects and their response to resources in road verges
Horstmann, Svenja ; Auffret, Alistair G. ; Herbertsson, Lina LU
; Klatt, Björn K.
LU
; Müller, Sophie
and Öckinger, Erik
(2024)
In Journal of Applied Ecology
61(8).
p.1955-1967
- Abstract
Road verges can support high densities of flowers and could therefore provide new opportunities for the conservation of flower-visiting insects. One way of optimizing road verges for vascular plant diversity is to adjust mowing regimes, but to date it is unclear how this affects flower-visiting insects. Furthermore, for mobile organisms like wild bees and butterflies, there is a risk that the benefit of increased habitat quality in road verges is limited by the proximity to traffic, but this is poorly studied. In a crossed study design, we separated mowing time and frequency (early summer and autumn, or only late summer) from road verge habitat classification (valuable for biodiversity according to transport authority, or regular). We... (More)
Road verges can support high densities of flowers and could therefore provide new opportunities for the conservation of flower-visiting insects. One way of optimizing road verges for vascular plant diversity is to adjust mowing regimes, but to date it is unclear how this affects flower-visiting insects. Furthermore, for mobile organisms like wild bees and butterflies, there is a risk that the benefit of increased habitat quality in road verges is limited by the proximity to traffic, but this is poorly studied. In a crossed study design, we separated mowing time and frequency (early summer and autumn, or only late summer) from road verge habitat classification (valuable for biodiversity according to transport authority, or regular). We did so along a gradient of traffic intensity, to investigate if a mowing regime designed to enhance plant diversity can also benefit wild bees and butterflies, and if traffic limits the conservation potential of road verges. Road verges that were mown only in late summer had higher flower densities, and there was a positive relationship between flower density and wild bee abundance and species richness. Butterfly abundance and species richness only benefitted from a late summer mowing in valuable but not in regular road verges. Traffic intensity had a substantial negative impact on abundance and species richness of wild bees and butterflies. Higher traffic intensities limited the positive relationship between plant and butterfly species richness that we observed at lower traffic intensities. Increasing width of the road verges buffered negative effects of the traffic on wild bee as well as butterfly abundances, and on wild bee species richness. Synthesis and applications. Road verges can play a valuable role for the conservation of wild bees and butterflies, but there is a need to consider both traffic intensity and resource availability when implementing management strategies. To support wild bee and butterfly diversity, we recommend actions to enhance plant species richness and flower resource availability, and to focus these conservation efforts on roads with low traffic intensity, or on wide road verges.
(Less)
- author
- Horstmann, Svenja
; Auffret, Alistair G.
; Herbertsson, Lina
LU
; Klatt, Björn K.
LU
; Müller, Sophie
and Öckinger, Erik
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-08
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- habitat quality, linear infrastructure habitat, linear landscape elements (LLE), marginal grasslands, mowing regime, pollinator conservation, roadside habitat, traffic volume
- in
- Journal of Applied Ecology
- volume
- 61
- issue
- 8
- pages
- 13 pages
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85194479441
- ISSN
- 0021-8901
- DOI
- 10.1111/1365-2664.14692
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7cf1b3e0-eed6-4eb0-86ca-c5f596a2a343
- date added to LUP
- 2024-10-09 13:38:26
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:18:30
@article{7cf1b3e0-eed6-4eb0-86ca-c5f596a2a343,
abstract = {{<p>Road verges can support high densities of flowers and could therefore provide new opportunities for the conservation of flower-visiting insects. One way of optimizing road verges for vascular plant diversity is to adjust mowing regimes, but to date it is unclear how this affects flower-visiting insects. Furthermore, for mobile organisms like wild bees and butterflies, there is a risk that the benefit of increased habitat quality in road verges is limited by the proximity to traffic, but this is poorly studied. In a crossed study design, we separated mowing time and frequency (early summer and autumn, or only late summer) from road verge habitat classification (valuable for biodiversity according to transport authority, or regular). We did so along a gradient of traffic intensity, to investigate if a mowing regime designed to enhance plant diversity can also benefit wild bees and butterflies, and if traffic limits the conservation potential of road verges. Road verges that were mown only in late summer had higher flower densities, and there was a positive relationship between flower density and wild bee abundance and species richness. Butterfly abundance and species richness only benefitted from a late summer mowing in valuable but not in regular road verges. Traffic intensity had a substantial negative impact on abundance and species richness of wild bees and butterflies. Higher traffic intensities limited the positive relationship between plant and butterfly species richness that we observed at lower traffic intensities. Increasing width of the road verges buffered negative effects of the traffic on wild bee as well as butterfly abundances, and on wild bee species richness. Synthesis and applications. Road verges can play a valuable role for the conservation of wild bees and butterflies, but there is a need to consider both traffic intensity and resource availability when implementing management strategies. To support wild bee and butterfly diversity, we recommend actions to enhance plant species richness and flower resource availability, and to focus these conservation efforts on roads with low traffic intensity, or on wide road verges.</p>}},
author = {{Horstmann, Svenja and Auffret, Alistair G. and Herbertsson, Lina and Klatt, Björn K. and Müller, Sophie and Öckinger, Erik}},
issn = {{0021-8901}},
keywords = {{habitat quality; linear infrastructure habitat; linear landscape elements (LLE); marginal grasslands; mowing regime; pollinator conservation; roadside habitat; traffic volume}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{8}},
pages = {{1955--1967}},
publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
series = {{Journal of Applied Ecology}},
title = {{Traffic intensity and vegetation management affect flower-visiting insects and their response to resources in road verges}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14692}},
doi = {{10.1111/1365-2664.14692}},
volume = {{61}},
year = {{2024}},
}