The Leafhoppers of the réserve naturelle de la Massane - a case study on diversity, grazing management and threats in a mediterranean mountain ecosystem
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Abstract
Semi-natural grasslands are threatened throughout Europe and conservation measures as well as monitoring are urgently needed. Leafhoppers (Auchenorrhyncha), a functionally important taxon with a close host plant connection and rapid reaction to changes in management, have increasingly received attention as bioindicators. We here present a case study in a Mediterranean mountain ecosystem, the Réserve Naturelle Nationale de la Forêt de la Massane, aiming to compile an inventory of its leafhopper species and to study the effects of cattle grazing on Mediterranean leafhopper communities. Leafhoppers were sampled in 2022 on 21 transects covering all of the habitats present in the reserve. A direct comparison was made between intensively grazed pastures and rocky outcrops inaccessible to cattle (12 and 4 transects respectively). The inventory increased the number of leafhopper species known in the reserve from 72 to 129. Species richness and abundance were significantly higher in the ungrazed areas. Grazed and ungrazed transects differed in their species composition with rare and in part endemic species only occurring on the ungrazed rocky outcrops. We conclude that a reduction of the grazing intensity in combination with shrub removal measures to keep the pastures open would have a positive effect of the leafhoppers and other invertebrates in the reserve and the surrounding Massif des Albères, where grazing pressure is similarly high.
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