Invertebrate biodiversity not negatively impacted by by presence of nonnative plants

Abstract

Through human development, global trade, and travel, plant species have been distributed to novel environments. Some of these species can outcompete native plants and aggressively take over ecosystems. Vegetation acts as an important foundational ecosystem service to the higher trophic levels through habitat and food resources. It is important to understand how changes in plant species can reverberate throughout the food chain. This study assesses possible differences in biodiversity in the invertebrate insect populations found on native and nonnative plants. I studied two locations in Teatown Lake Reservation in Westchester County, New York. We collected insect samples from ten transects per site via sweep net collection in July, August, and September (n = 60). We identified the invertebrates to at least family taxonomy, calculating Shannon diversity and family level richness. Plant species were identified to species level in the field, at every meter of the transect and then categorized by overall percent native vegetation. There was no significant difference in native plant cover when comparing the two sites nor a significant relationship between higher percent native transects and higher Shannon Diversity values. Overall comparison showed differences in Shannon Diversity but when comparing the sites within each month, only August had a significant difference. Nonnative plant species established during Cliffdale’s past agricultural land use may be impeding the rate of successful establishment of native plant species but further community analysis needs to be done to decipher the nuances of these two communities and the extent of which arthropod invertebrates reside in these spaces.