Project number: 18-26542S
Project title: Non-crop habitat islands within arable fields: local hotspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services?
Programme: GAČR
Project coordinator: Ing. Michaela Kopřivová Stejskalová, Ph.D.
Project leader: Mgr. Tomáš Kadlec, Ph.D.
Project schedule: 2018 - 2020
Total project budget: 5 544 000,- CZK
Abstrakt:
Intensification of agriculture has led to changes in landscape structure in many regions. An extensively used landscape with fine habitat mosaic has been transformed to large blocks of arable fields with non-crop habitats sparsely distributed in between. While the ecological function of larger and linear non-crop habitats is fairly well known, only a little is known about the function of small isolated islets and temporary “field defects” – patches within fields without successfully grown crop. Our project aims to reveal the importance of small non-crop habitat islands (permanent islets, field defects) for biodiversity conservation and support of ecosystem services in agroecosystems. The project covers the investigation at a species (body condition) to arthropod community level spanning several trophic levels. Within woody habitat islands, also the effects of invasive tree dominance on arthropods will be investigated, as invasions could reduce the conservation potential of non-crop habitat islands.