Agricultural systems regulate plant and insect diversity and induce ecosystem novelty. (March 2023)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Agricultural systems regulate plant and insect diversity and induce ecosystem novelty. (March 2023)
- Main Title:
- Agricultural systems regulate plant and insect diversity and induce ecosystem novelty
- Authors:
- Woodbridge, Jessie
Fyfe, Ralph
Smith, David
de Varielles, Anne
Pelling, Ruth
Grant, Michael J.
Batchelor, Robert
Scaife, Robert
Greig, James
Dark, Petra
Druce, Denise
Garbett, Geoff
Parker, Adrian
Hill, Tom
Schofield, J. Edward
Simmonds, Mike
Chambers, Frank
Barnett, Catherine
Waller, Martyn - Abstract:
- Abstract: Land-use change plays an important role in shaping plant and insect diversity over long time timescales. Great Britain provides an ideal case study to investigate patterns of long-term vegetation and insect diversity change owing to the existence of spatially and temporally extensive environmental archives (lake sediments, peatlands, and archaeological sites) and a long history of landscape transformation through agrarian change. The trends identified in past environmental datasets allow the impacts of land-use change on plant and insect diversity trends to be investigated alongside exploration of the emergence of ecological novelty. Using fossil pollen, insect (beetle), archaeodemographic, archaeobotanical and modern landscape datasets covering Britain, similarities are identified between insect diversity and pollen sample evenness indicating that vegetation heterogeneity influences insect diversity. Changing land use captured by archaeobotanical data is significantly correlated with pollen diversity demonstrating the role of human activity in shaping past diversity trends with shifts towards ecosystem novelty identified in the form of non-analogue pollen taxa assemblages (unique species combinations). Modern landscapes with higher agricultural suitability are less likely to have pollen analogues beyond the last 1000 years, whilst those in areas less suited to agriculture and on more variable topography are more likely to have analogues older than 1000 years. ThisAbstract: Land-use change plays an important role in shaping plant and insect diversity over long time timescales. Great Britain provides an ideal case study to investigate patterns of long-term vegetation and insect diversity change owing to the existence of spatially and temporally extensive environmental archives (lake sediments, peatlands, and archaeological sites) and a long history of landscape transformation through agrarian change. The trends identified in past environmental datasets allow the impacts of land-use change on plant and insect diversity trends to be investigated alongside exploration of the emergence of ecological novelty. Using fossil pollen, insect (beetle), archaeodemographic, archaeobotanical and modern landscape datasets covering Britain, similarities are identified between insect diversity and pollen sample evenness indicating that vegetation heterogeneity influences insect diversity. Changing land use captured by archaeobotanical data is significantly correlated with pollen diversity demonstrating the role of human activity in shaping past diversity trends with shifts towards ecosystem novelty identified in the form of non-analogue pollen taxa assemblages (unique species combinations). Modern landscapes with higher agricultural suitability are less likely to have pollen analogues beyond the last 1000 years, whilst those in areas less suited to agriculture and on more variable topography are more likely to have analogues older than 1000 years. This signifies the role of agriculture in the creation of novel ecosystems. Ecological assemblages characteristic of earlier periods of the Holocene may persist in areas less affected by agriculture. The last 200 years has witnessed major shifts in novelty in a low number of pollen sites suggesting that novel ecosystems emerged over a longer time period resulting from the cumulative impacts of land-use change. Highlights: Integrating past environmental archives informs about land use and diversity change. Insect and pollen diversity trends reflect disturbance caused by land-use change. Ecosystem novelty is represented by non-analogue pollen species assemblages. Novel ecosystems emerged from the cumulative long-term impacts of land-use change. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Anthropocene. Volume 41(2023)
- Journal:
- Anthropocene
- Issue:
- Volume 41(2023)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 41, Issue 2023 (2023)
- Year:
- 2023
- Volume:
- 41
- Issue:
- 2023
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2023-0041-2023-0000
- Page Start:
- Page End:
- Publication Date:
- 2023-03
- Subjects:
- biodiversity -- disturbance -- beetles -- insects -- pollen -- land-use -- paleoecology
Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Periodicals
Human ecology -- Periodicals
304.2 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22133054 ↗
http://www.elsevier.com/journals ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1016/j.ancene.2023.100369 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2213-3054
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 26184.xml