Journal
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
Volume 96, Issue -, Pages 458-465Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.09.026
Keywords
Biodiversity conservation; Grazing; Insect; Indicator; Modified landscape; Monitoring
Categories
Funding
- Lachlan Catchment Management Authority
- Australian Research Council [FL120100108]
- Australian Research Council [FL120100108] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Biodiversity monitoring programs are routinely established to quantify changes in biotic communities in response to land management. Surrogacy is implicitly used in many such monitoring programs whereby the measurement of a component of biodiversity is used to infer responses of broader biodiversity. Yet rarely is this surrogacy validated by demonstrating that measured variables and the target variable of interest have matching responses to management treatments. Here we examined the responses of higher-taxon and functional groupings of ants and birds (our surrogate variables) two years after the implementation of experimental livestock grazing treatments, and compared these with the responses of total ant and bird species richness (our target variables) to the same treatments. We found significant and strong correlations between surrogate and target variables, but this did not predict corresponding similar response to treatments. For ants, we found that the genus Monomorium had a negative response to the grazing exclusion treatment, but there was no matching response of species richness, and so no surrogacy was identified. For birds, total species richness had a weak positive response to spring/summer grazing exclusion, and the abundance of honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) showed a similar positive response, suggesting surrogacy. Our study highlights that correlations among variables do not necessarily lead to surrogacy, and indeed that different sub-components of biotic assemblages can respond in ways that contrast with overall species richness. Careful assessment of the matched responses of surrogate and target variables to management can provide a simple and robust way to critically assess biodiversity surrogacy.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available