„Urbanisation modulates plant-pollinator interactions in invasive vs. native plant species“ has been published in Scientific Reports. The article is open access.
In this article, we show that invasive black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is a “pollinator-friendly” tree and attracts not only honey bees but also wild bees and other wild pollinators. However, we also found that attractiveness of black locust decreases with increasing urbanisation.
Working at the Charles Darwin Research Station again
Thanks to a research fellowship sponsored by the Schimper Stiftung I was able to go to the Galápagos in February. It was great to continue my work on the Scalesia restoration project in the highlands of Santa Cruz. After intensive work in the invertebrate lab we finished all spider and beetles identifications and counted all other invertebrates caught within the long-term monitoring. This program started in 2014 and invertebrates were caught in 34 plots using pitfall and Malaise traps. First results have been recently published but more detailed analyses will be available soon.
Restauración del bosque de Scalesia invadido por mora: Impactos en la vegetación, los invertebrados y las aves has been published in Informe Galápagos.
Authors Jäger H, S Buchholz, A Cimadom, S Tebbich, J Rodríguez, D Barrera, A Wolentowitz, M Breuer, A Carrión, C Sevilla & C Causton
Insects and spiders of Galápagos
Together with my colleagues from the invertebrate lab of the Charles Darwin Research Station I recently finished the identifications of the spider, beetle and bug samples from the Los Gemelos project. We found a number of very interesting endemic species such as the spiders Darwinneon crypticus, Galaporella thaleri or Olios galapagoensis as well as endemic beetles such as Anchonus galapagoensis, Ataenius aequatorialis or Mordellistena galapagoensis. It was a great experience for me to see all this new species – and of course to work with the awesome team. Many thanks! Back in Berlin again, I am going to run the statistical analyses – look out for coming publications. If you are already interested in some basic results from the Los Gemelos project please make a note of the following paper which will published in the Galápagos Report soon:
Restoration of the blackberry-invaded Scalesia forest: impacts on the vegetation, invertebrates and birds (by Jäger H, Cimadom A, Buchholz S, Tebbich S, Rodriguez J, Barrera D, Breuer M, Walentowitz A, Carrión A, Sevilla C & Causton C)
Bird ringing at Los Gemelos
Together with Arno Cimadom, his team from the University of Vienna and researchers of the Charles Darwin Research Station I spent gorgeous morning hours in the highlands of Santa Cruz. We captured darwin finches (e.g. warbler and tree finches as well as the woodpecker finch) using mist nets and ringed them. The field work was part of the Los Gemelos research project which among others focuses on how control of the invasive blackberry affects darwin finches in the Scalesia forests. I usually work with invertebrates – not only in this project – and thus I was glad to do some ornithological work for a change.
Visiting the study sites at Los Gemelos
I had a very amazing field trip to the Scalesia forests at Los Gemelos. Scalesia species have been called „the Darwin’s finches of the plant world“ because they show a similarly dramatic pattern of adaptive radiation. These giant daisy trees have an entire vegetation zone named after them. Scalesia is a genus of the family Asteraceae that is endemic to the Galapagos Islands. They consist of 15 native shrubs and tree species with six subspecies and each of the species has adapted to the different vegetation zones across the different islands.
A zone in the highlands of some islands is referred to as the Scalesia Zone which is a lush cloud forest and home to the largest of the Scalesia species (S. pedunculata dominant on Santa Cruz). From a distance the vegetation looks like a hummocky bog land but under the canopy, mosses, bromeliads, epiphytes and orchids thrive. The whole Scalesia zone is most threatened by human settlement. The zone is some of the most fertile land area on the Islands and perfect for agriculture. This has led to much of the original Scalesia forest being chopped down and replaced. Furthermore, the spread of introduced species such as blackberry has adverse effects on the habitat.
Here is a very interesting article about Scalesia forests which was published in GALAPAGOS REPORT 2009 -2010.
Impacts of invasive plants on resident animals across ecosystems, taxa, and feeding types: A global assessment has been accepted for publication in Global Change Biology.