Effects of land-use change on the arthropod assemblages in Egyek-Pusztakócs (Hortobágy National Park)
Abstract
Conversion of arable lands to grasslands by sowing seed mixtures is one of the most effective methods in grassland restoration. We have followed the changes of arthropod assemblages (spiders, true bugs, orthopterans and carabids) after grassland restoration in the Egyek-Pusztakócs marsh and grassland system. We used the habitat affinity index based on fidelity and specificity of the species to assess naturalness of the examined habitats (arable lands, 1-year-old, 2-year-old and native grasslands). Species richness did not show any differences between the habitat types, but species composition has changed, because early generalists were replaced by habitat specialist species. The results showed that species richness was not able to follow the changes after grassland restoration. Multivariate statistics performed better, by reflecting on the changes in species composition, but the most efficient method was the habitat affinity index, which also took into account the identity of the species. Therefore we recommend the use of the index to measure the success of restoration programs.
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