<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Energy cropping has positive effect only if considering and mitigating potential biodiversity loss in agroecosystems. While investigating ground-dwelling animal assemblages in experimental fields of miscanthus and switchgrass in comparison with a legume-grass mixture and an abandoned field, we found low abundance and taxon diversity of the energy crops assemblages. Spiders comprised 3.3‒3.8% of collected arthropods in the switchgrass and miscanthus and 8.3‒10.1% in the abandoned field and grass mixture. Forty-seven spider species were collected: 14 species in the miscanthus field, 18 in the switchgrass, 23 in the grass mixture and 31 in the abandoned field. Spider diversity was the lowest in the miscanthus, while the number of specimens was minimal in the switchgrass. According to our findings, energy crops hosted poor spider assemblages with no species found exclusively in these habitats. To mitigate the negative impact of biofuel production on biodiversity, we recommend preserving areas of semi-natural vegetation in the agricultural landscape.</p>
</abstract>

Energy cropping has positive effect only if considering and mitigating potential biodiversity loss in agroecosystems. While investigating ground-dwelling animal assemblages in experimental fields of miscanthus and switchgrass in comparison with a legume-grass mixture and an abandoned field, we found low abundance and taxon diversity of the energy crops assemblages. Spiders comprised 3.3‒3.8% of collected arthropods in the switchgrass and miscanthus and 8.3‒10.1% in the abandoned field and grass mixture. Forty-seven spider species were collected: 14 species in the miscanthus field, 18 in the switchgrass, 23 in the grass mixture and 31 in the abandoned field. Spider diversity was the lowest in the miscanthus, while the number of specimens was minimal in the switchgrass. According to our findings, energy crops hosted poor spider assemblages with no species found exclusively in these habitats. To mitigate the negative impact of biofuel production on biodiversity, we recommend preserving areas of semi-natural vegetation in the agricultural landscape.

Spiders (Araneae) as a component of ground-dwelling animal assemblages of the energy crop fields in northern Bukovyna (Ukraine)

Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University

Ekológia (Bratislava)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Energy cropping has positive effect only if considering and mitigating potential biodiversity loss in agroecosystems. While investigating ground-dwelling...

Spiders (Araneae) as a component of ground-dwelling animal assemblages of the energy crop fields in northern Bukovyna (Ukraine)

Publié en ligne: 22 oct. 2021

Pages: 240 - 247

Reçu: 01 mai 2020

Accepté: 08 nov. 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eko-2021-0026

Mots clés
spider diversity, habitat preference, bioindicators, biofuel, agroecosystems

© 2021 Kateryna Tymchuk et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Spiders (Araneae) as a component of ground-dwelling animal assemblages of the energy crop fields in northern Bukovyna (Ukraine)

Publié en ligne: 22 oct. 2021

Pages: 240 - 247

Reçu: 01 mai 2020

Accepté: 08 nov. 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eko-2021-0026

Mots clésspider diversity, habitat preference, bioindicators, biofuel, agroecosystems

© 2021 Kateryna Tymchuk et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
spider diversity, habitat preference, bioindicators, biofuel, agroecosystems