Arthropod biomass, abundance and species richness trends over 32 years in the agricultural Limpach valley, Switzerland

Recent publications about declines in arthropod biomass, abundance and species diversity raise concerns and call for measures. Agricultural intensification is likely one cause for the negative trends. But rare long-term arthropod surveys conceal trends in arthropod communities in agricultural land. Here, we report about a standardized sampling of arthropod fauna in a Swiss agricultural landscape, repeated over 32 years (1987, 1997 and 2019). We sampled 8 sites covering 4 semi-natural and agricultural habitat types. Four trap types were used to capture a wide range of flying and ground dwelling arthropods between May and July. Over the three sampling periods, 58’255 specimens of 1’343 species were analysed. Mean arthropod biomass, abundance and species richness per trap was significantly higher in 2019 than in prior years and gamma diversity of the study area was highest in 2019. Biomass and abundance increased stronger in the flight traps than in the pitfall traps. The implementation of agri-environmental schemes has improved habitat quality since 1993, while landscape composition and pesticide and fertilizer use remained stable over the study period, both contributing to the findings. The results of this study contrast with outcomes of comparable investigations and highlight the importance of further long-term investigations on arthropod dynamics.

Data are provided on request to contact person against bilateral agreement.

Funding Information:

This work was supported by:
  • WSL

Related Publications

Fürst, J., Bollmann, K., Gossner, M., Duelli, P., Obrist, M.K. (2022) Increasing arthropod biomass, abundance and species richness in an agricultural landscape over 32 years. Journal of Insect Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-022-00445-9

Citation:

Fürst, Julia; Bollmann, Kurt; Gossner, Martin M.; Duelli, Peter; Obrist, Martin K. (2020). Arthropod biomass, abundance and species richness trends over 32 years in the agricultural Limpach valley, Switzerland. EnviDat. doi:10.16904/envidat.163.

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Data and Resources

Metadata

Field Values
DOI 10.16904/envidat.163
Publication State Published
Authors
  • Email: fuerst-juliafoo(at)bluewin.ch Given Name: Julia Family Name: Fürst Affiliation: WSL DataCRediT: Collection, Validation, Curation, Publication
  • Email: kurt.bollmannfoo(at)wsl.ch ORCID: 0000-0002-4690-7121 Given Name: Kurt Family Name: Bollmann Affiliation: WSL DataCRediT: Publication, Supervision
  • Email: martin.gossnerfoo(at)wsl.ch ORCID: 0000-0003-1516-6364 Given Name: Martin M. Family Name: Gossner Affiliation: WSL Additional Affiliation : ETH DataCRediT: Validation, Publication, Supervision
  • Email: peter.duellifoo(at)wsl.ch ORCID: 0000-0001-8862-8262 Given Name: Peter Family Name: Duelli Affiliation: WSL DataCRediT: Validation, Publication
  • Email: martin.obristfoo(at)wsl.ch ORCID: 0000-0001-6766-044X Given Name: Martin K. Family Name: Obrist Affiliation: WSL DataCRediT: Validation, Curation, Publication, Supervision
Contact Person Given Name: Martin K. Family Name: Obrist Email: martin.obristfoo(at)wsl.ch Affiliation: WSL ORCID: 0000-0001-6766-044X
Subtitles
Publication Publisher: EnviDat Year: 2020
Dates
  • Type: Collected Date: 1987-04-30 End Date: 1987-07-16
  • Type: Collected Date: 1997-05-06 End Date: 1997-07-15
  • Type: Collected Date: 2019-05-23 End Date: 2019-07-14
Version 1.0
Type dataset
General Type Dataset
Language English
Location Switzerland
Content License Other (Specified in the description)
Last Updated December 12, 2022, 16:53 (UTC)
Created July 16, 2020, 16:04 (UTC)