2012/07/25 by Anthony Joern, Angela Laws, Angela N. Laws · 189 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Arthropod #Biodiversity #Biology #Ecology #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Ecosystem #Fire effects on ecosystems #Grassland #Grazing #Habitat #Herbivore #Plant and animal studies
paper · doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-120811-153540
published in Annual Review of Entomology 58(1), 19-36 (Annual Reviews)
openalex publication_date 2012/07/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Arthropods are an important component of grassland systems, contributing significantly to biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function. Climate, fire, and grazing by large herbivores are important drivers in grasslands worldwide. Arthropod responses to these drivers are highly variable and clear patterns are difficult to find, but responses are largely indirect with respect to changes in resources, species interactions, habitat structure, and habitat heterogeneity resulting from interactions among fire, grazing, and climate. Here, we review these ecological mechanisms influencing grassland arthropod diversity. We summarize hypotheses describing species diversity at local and regional scales and then discuss specific factors that may affect arthropod diversity in grassland systems. These factors include direct and indirect effects of grazing, fire, and climate, species interactions, above- and belowground interactions, and landscape-level effects.