Variation in ground-dwelling arthropod communities across differently managed infiltration basins

Abstract

Abstract As urbanisation continues to increase, terrestrial arthropod diversity declines. Urban green spaces represent unique opportunities to preserve arthropod diversity in urban environments. We quantify how ground-dwelling arthropod communities vary both seasonally and across three differently maintained stormwater infiltration basins in Ellisville, Missouri, United States of America. One basin was routinely mowed, a second was mowed only seasonally, and a third was intentionally planted to attract pollinators and was not mowed during this study. We expected higher plant diversity to correlate with higher arthropod diversity. Therefore, we expected the unmowed basin to have the highest levels of arthropod diversity and abundance and the mowed basin to have the lowest. Four collection periods spanned spring, early summer, late summer, and fall. During each collection period, five pitfall traps were placed throughout each basin for 48 hours. In total, 5686 specimens were collected and identified, representing 59 families. Arthropod communities did not vary across basins or collection dates, largely contrasting with existing literature. The results of this study do not indicate that different mowing regiments in infiltration basins will affect the ground-dwelling arthropod communities at a family level, although the effect on species-level diversity remains to be investigated.