Garden and landscape-scale correlates of moths of differing conservation status: significant effects of urbanization and habitat diversity

Bates, A.J. ORCID: 0000-0001-7854-5260, Sadler, J.P., Grundy, D., Lowe, N., Davis, G., Baker, D., Bridge, M., Freestone, R., Gardner, D., Gibson, C., Hemming, R., Howarth, S., Orridge, S., Shaw, M., Tams, T. and Young, H., 2014. Garden and landscape-scale correlates of moths of differing conservation status: significant effects of urbanization and habitat diversity. PLoS ONE, 9 (1). ISSN 1932-6203

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Abstract

Moths are abundant and ubiquitous in vegetated terrestrial environments and are pollinators, important herbivores of wild plants, and food for birds, bats and rodents. In recent years, many once abundant and widespread species have shown sharp declines that have been cited by some as indicative of a widespread insect biodiversity crisis. Likely causes of these declines include agricultural intensification, light pollution, climate change, and urbanization; however, the real underlying cause(s) is still open to conjecture. We used data collected from the citizen science Garden Moth Scheme (GMS) to explore the spatial association between the abundance of 195 widespread British species of moth, and garden habitat and landscape features, to see if spatial habitat and landscape associations varied for species of differing conservation status. We found that associations with habitat and landscape composition were species-specific, but that there were consistent trends in species richness and total moth abundance. Gardens with more diverse and extensive microhabitats were associated with higher species richness and moth abundance; gardens near to the coast were associated with higher richness and moth abundance; and gardens in more urbanized locations were associated with lower species richness and moth abundance. The same trends were also found for species classified as increasing, declining and vulnerable under IUCN (World Conservation Union) criteria.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	PLoS ONE
Creators:	Bates, A.J., Sadler, J.P., Grundy, D., Lowe, N., Davis, G., Baker, D., Bridge, M., Freestone, R., Gardner, D., Gibson, C., Hemming, R., Howarth, S., Orridge, S., Shaw, M., Tams, T. and Young, H.
Publisher:	Public Library of Science (PLOS)
Date:	2014
Volume:	9
Number:	1
ISSN:	1932-6203
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1371/journal.pone.0086925 DOI
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 10:43
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2017 13:37
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/17037

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