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Habitat edges alter arthropod community composition

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Abstract

Context

Historically, habitat edges were thought to increase diversity by combining communities from two habitats, but empirical results are mixed. Variation in edge responses may be driven by lumping specialists and generalists with divergent responses.

Objectives

We examined arthropod communities associated with a habitat edge in an intertidal salt marsh in New Jersey. We predicted that herbivores, largely specialists, would decline along the habitat edge due to their failure to expand across the boundary, and specialist natural enemies should track prey. Generalists should be less impacted by the edge if they use resources from both sides. Thus, habitat edges should affect species composition more than species diversity.

Methods

We studied the edge responses of 115 arthropod species to the habitat edge formed between Spartina patens (SP) and Spartina alterniflora (SA) throughout the growing season.

Results

We found that the edge between SA and SP affected the abundance and composition of the associated arthropod community, but not species richness. Composition of herbivores, epigeic feeders, specialist natural enemies, and generalist predators shifted not only between SA and SP interiors, but also the edges. Compositional shifts were driven by dietary or habitat specialists.

Conclusions

We found that edges change community composition via divergent responses by species with different resource requirements. This change in composition is not between two disparate habitat types but two congeneric grass species. Our results demonstrate that biodiversity losses due to edge effects associated with habitat fragmentation will not be random but will be driven by specialization and resource use.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Brabson, M. Douglas, B. Crawford, D. McCaskill, E. Parilla, R. Pearson, and L. Power for help with field/lab work. K. Able at the Rutgers University Marine Station facilitated research at the NJ field site. We wish to thank the following systematists for genera and species identifications: V. Behan-Pelletier, M. Buffington, J. Davidson, M. Gates, E. Grissell, and M. Yoder. This research was supported by the National Geographic Society (Award #8496-08 to GMW) and the National Science Foundation (NSF-DEB 1026067 to GMW; NSF-DEB 1026000 to SMM).

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  1. Biology Department, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057, USA

    Gina M. Wimp

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Denver, Denver, CO, 80208, USA

    Shannon M. Murphy

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  1. Gina M. Wimp
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Correspondence to Gina M. Wimp.

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Wimp, G.M., Murphy, S.M. Habitat edges alter arthropod community composition. Landscape Ecol 36, 2849–2861 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01288-6

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