Habitatansprüche von gefährdeten Heuschreckenarten alpiner Flussökosysteme

Managementempfehlungen für die Artenschutzpraxis

authored by

Josefine Höfler, Georg Leitinger, Michael Reich, Hermann Sonntag, Stefan Zerbe

Abstract

We investigated the habitat requirements of four endangered grasshopper species on an alpine river course: Bryodemella tuberculata (speckled buzzing grasshopper), Chorthippus pullus (gravel bank grasshopper), Tetrix tuerki (alpine groundhopper), and Psophus stridulus (rattle grasshopper). The study area is a near-natural section of the Rißbach in Karwendel Nature Park (Tyrol, Austria), isolated from the lower river course and characterized by limestone gravel. At 23 sampling sites along the near-natural river section, individual counts of the grasshoppers and vegetation surveys were carried out with a focus on the habitat types of alpine rivers from the Habitats Directive. The faunistic results were correlated statistically with different site parameters of the vegetation, the substrate, and the location of the plots in the flood plain. From our results, the speciesspecific habitat requirements were derived. All four grasshopper species have specific habitat requirements on the gravel bars, which partly overlap but also exclude themselves (e.g. with regard to the succession stages and thus the total coverage of the vegetation). Our results show that even isolated grasshopper populations can survive within their habitat mosaic in the long term if natural river dynamics are ensured.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Environmental Planning

External Organisation(s)

Forestry Research and Experimental Station of Baden-Württemberg
University of Innsbruck
Naturpark Karwendel
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano

Type

Article

Journal

Naturschutz und Landschaftsplanung

Volume

52

Pages

228-235

No. of pages

8

ISSN

0940-6808

Publication date

2020

Publication status

Published

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, General Environmental Science

Electronic version(s)

https://www.nul-online.de/artikel.dll/nul05-20-228-229-230-231-232-233-234-235-02_gy2tqnbqge4a.pdf?UID=BDAA804B598623E60F510AFD12226C33984B21089C7902 (Access: Open)