Species richness of vascular plants, butterflies and bumblebees in linear infrastructure habitats and the historical and present grassland cover in a 2 km buffer surrounding each habitat

SND-ID: 2022-246-1. Version: 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5878/et9j-1p32

Citation

Creator/Principal investigator(s)

Svenja Horstmann - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology orcid

Research principal

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences - Department of Ecology rorId

Principal's reference number

SLU.ekol.2022.4.4.IÄ-20

Description

This data set comprises the species richness of vascular plants, butterflies and bumblebees in linear infrastructure habitats (road verges and power lines) and the historical and present grassland cover in a 2 km buffer surrounding each habitat.

The main purpose of this data set is to investigate if older linear infrastructure habitats sustain a higher richness of vascular plants and pollinators, and to study if the surrounding grassland habitat in the landscape from the past or the present has an influence on the contemporary species richness. The data also contains the species richness of grassland specialist vascular plants and butterflies, which is a subset from the total richness of the respective groups.

The data on plants and pollinators was assessed during fieldwork in 2016. The data on grassland cover was calculated using the Swedish National Land Cover Data (NMD, Nationella marktäckedata) for the contemporary grassland, and a digitized Swedish Economic Map from the 1950s.

The dataset consists of 112 rows and 15 columns, excluding headers. Each row contains information for one stud

... Show more..
This data set comprises the species richness of vascular plants, butterflies and bumblebees in linear infrastructure habitats (road verges and power lines) and the historical and present grassland cover in a 2 km buffer surrounding each habitat.

The main purpose of this data set is to investigate if older linear infrastructure habitats sustain a higher richness of vascular plants and pollinators, and to study if the surrounding grassland habitat in the landscape from the past or the present has an influence on the contemporary species richness. The data also contains the species richness of grassland specialist vascular plants and butterflies, which is a subset from the total richness of the respective groups.

The data on plants and pollinators was assessed during fieldwork in 2016. The data on grassland cover was calculated using the Swedish National Land Cover Data (NMD, Nationella marktäckedata) for the contemporary grassland, and a digitized Swedish Economic Map from the 1950s.

The dataset consists of 112 rows and 15 columns, excluding headers. Each row contains information for one studied habitat (112 in total). The columns contain information on the studied 'Landscape' and 'Habitat' within the landscape, the coordinates of the transect in each habitat ('Start_X', 'Start_Y', 'End_X', End_Y'), information on the time since habitat establishment ('FirstAppearance') and the surrouding grassland cover in the past and present ('1950s_Grassland' and '2017_Grassland', respectively), and the continuously existing grassland ('Continuous_Grassland'). Furthermore, it contains information on the species richness of all vascular plants ('PL_rich_all') and grassland specialist vascular plants ('PL_rich_spec'), all butterflies ('BF_rich_all') and grassland specialist butterflies ('BF_rich_spec'), and bumblebees ('BB_rich').

For further explanation on the information and how it was assessed, please see the README file. Show less..

Data contains personal data

No

Language

Method and outcome

Time period(s) investigated

1950 – 2017

Data format / data structure

Data collection

Data collection 1

  • Mode of collection: Field observation
  • Description of the mode of collection: For the plants, we placed four 1 × 1 m plots along each transect, separated by a distance of 50 m. In every plot, we recorded the presence or absence of all plant species from a pre-defined list of 169 species, all of which are frequently occurring in various types of grassland habitat in the study region. Walking slowly along the same transects, we identified and counted all butterflies and burnet moths (Zygaenidae; from here on included in ‘butterflies’) within 2.5 m to each side and 5 m to the front of the observer. We surveyed bumblebees along the same transects but within 1 m to each side and to the front. We caught and identified individuals in the field if possible or collected and identified them in the laboratory.
  • Time period(s) for data collection: 2016-06-01 – 2016-08-24
  • Instrument: Hand net

Data collection 2

  • Mode of collection: Non-participant field observation
Geographic coverage

Geographic spread

Geographic location: Sweden, Stockholm County, Uppsala County, Södermanland County, Västmanland County

Geographic description: The data covers study sites in the counties of Stockholm, Södermanland, Uppsala and Västmanland.

Administrative information

Responsible department/unit

Department of Ecology

Contributor(s)

Juliana Dániel-Ferreira - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Centrum för biologisk mångfald orcid

Alistair G. Auffret - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology orcid

Erik Öckinger - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology orcid

Topic and keywords

Research area

Ecology (Standard för svensk indelning av forskningsämnen 2011)

Publications
Published: 2023-01-31