Flower power in the city: Replacing roadside shrubs by wildflower meadows increases insect numbers and reduces maintenance costs

Massive declines in insect biodiversity and biomass are reported from many regions and habitats. In urban areas, creation of native wildflower meadows is one option to support insects and reduce maintenance costs of urban green spaces. However, benefits for insect conservation may depend on previous...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2020-06, Vol.15 (6), p.e0234327-e0234327
Main Authors: Mody, Karsten, Lerch, Doris, Muller, Ann-Kathrin, Simons, Nadja K, Blüthgen, Nico, Harnisch, Matthias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Animals
Arthropoda
Arthropods
Biodiversity
Biology and Life Sciences
Conservation
Cost assessments
Costs
Density
Earth Sciences
Ecosystems
Environmental aspects
Flowers & plants
Habitats
Insects
Introduced plants
Land use
Landscape ecology
Maintenance costs
Management
Meadows
Metropolitan areas
Mowing
Native species
Open spaces
Pitfall traps
Roadside plants
Roadsides
Shrubs
Suction
Urban areas
Urban environments
Urban planning
Vegetation
Vegetation type
Wild flowers
Woody plants
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Summary:Massive declines in insect biodiversity and biomass are reported from many regions and habitats. In urban areas, creation of native wildflower meadows is one option to support insects and reduce maintenance costs of urban green spaces. However, benefits for insect conservation may depend on previous land use, and the size and location of new wildflower meadows. We show effects of conversion of roadside plantings-from exotic shrubs into wildflower meadows-on (1) the abundance of 13 arthropod taxa-Opiliones, Araneae, Isopoda, Collembola, Orthoptera, Aphidoidea, Auchenorrhyncha, Heteroptera, Coleoptera, Nematocera, Brachycera, Apocrita, Formicidae-and (2) changes in maintenance costs. We assessed the influence of vegetation type (meadow vs. woody), meadow age, size, location (distance to city boundary), and mowing regime. We found many, but not all, arthropod taxa profiting from meadows in terms of arthropod activity abundance in pitfall traps and arthropod density in standardized suction samples. Arthropod number in meadows was 212% higher in pitfall traps and 260% higher in suction samples compared to woody vegetation. The increased arthropod number in meadows was independent of the size and isolation of green spaces for most taxa. However, mowing regime strongly affected several arthropod taxa, with an increase of 63% of total arthropod density in unmown compared to mown meadow spots. Costs of green space maintenance were fivefold lower for meadows than for woody vegetation. Our study shows that (1) many different arthropod taxa occur in roadside vegetation in urban areas, (2) replacement of exotic woody vegetation by native wildflower meadows can significantly increase arthropod abundance, especially if meadow management permits temporarily unmown areas, and (3) maintenance costs can be considerably reduced by converting woody plantings into wildflower meadows. Considering many groups of arthropods, our study provides new insights into possible measures to support arthropods in urban environments.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0234327