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Artificial light at night (ALAN) has been and still is rapidly spreading and has become an important component of global change. Although numerous studies have tested its potential biological and ecological impacts on animals, very few studies have tested whether it affects alien and native plants differently. Furthermore, common plant species, and particularly common alien species, are often found to benefit more from additional resources than rare native and rare alien species. Whether this is also the case with regard to increasing light due to ALAN is still unknown. Here, we tested how ALAN affected the performance of common and rare alien and native plant species in Germany directly, and indirectly via flying insects. We grew five common alien, six rare alien, five common native, and four rare native plant species under four combinations of two ALAN (no ALAN vs. ALAN) and two insect-exclusion (no exclusion vs. exclusion) treatments, and compared their biomass production. We found that common plant species, irrespective of their origin, produced significantly more biomass than rare species and that this was particularly true under ALAN. Furthermore, alien species tended to show a slightly stronger positive response to ALAN than native species did (p = .079). Our study shows that common plant species benefited more from ALAN than rare ones. This might lead to competitive exclusion of rare species, which could have cascading impacts on other trophic levels and thus have important community-wide consequences when ALAN becomes more widespread. In addition, the slightly more positive response of alien species indicates that ALAN might increase the risk of alien plant invasions. published

To stop the ongoing decline of farmland biodiversity there are increasing claims for a paradigm shift in agriculture, namely from conserving and restoring farmland biodiversity at field scale (α-diversity) to doing it at landscape scale (γ-diversity). However, knowledge on factors driving farmland γ-diversity is currently limited. Here, we quantified farmland γ-diversity in 123 landscapes and analysed direct and indirect effects of abiotic and land-use factors shaping it using structural equation models. The direction and strength of effects of factors shaping γ-diversity were only partially consistent with what is known about factors shaping α-diversity, and indirect effects were often stronger than direct effects or even opposite. Thus, relationships between factors shaping α-diversity cannot simply be up-scaled to γ-diversity, and also indirect effects should no longer be neglected. Finally, we show that local mitigation measures benefit farmland γ-diversity at landscape scale and are therefore a useful tool for designing biodiversity-friendly landscapes.

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control (18 studies) and pollination services (17 studies) in adjacent crops in North America, Europe and New Zealand. Flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimise floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensification of agriculture in the future., Our quantitative synthesis of the impacts of floral plantings on pest control, crop pollination and yield reveals that flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average, while effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of this variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively, with important implications for the the design and implementation of these measures to effectively promote ecological intensification of agriculture in the future

Seventeen polymorphic microsatellite markers were isolated and characterized in Arion vulgaris/lusitanicus, which belongs to the worst European slug pests with serious economic and ecological impact. These markers were tested on 23 individuals collected in a population in Switzerland. Numbers of alleles ranged from 2 to 14 per locus, observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.174 to 0.87, and from 0.162 to 0.903, respectively. These loci were also successfully amplified and were polymorphic in the closely related species A. rufus and A. ater. These loci represent the first highly polymorphic nuclear markers described for A. vulgaris and pave the way for population genetics and molecular ecology research of the important Arion pest slugs.

Artificial light at night (ALAN) has been and still is rapidly spreading, and has become an important component of global change. Although numerous studies have tested its potential biological and ecological impacts on animals, fewer have tested its impacts on plants, and very few studies have tested whether it affects alien and native plants differently. Furthermore, common plant species, and particularly common alien species, are often found to benefit more from additional resources than rare native and rare alien species. Whether this is also the case with regard to increasing light due to ALAN is still unknown.Here, we tested how ALAN affects the performance of common and rare alien and native plants directly and indirectly via flying insects. We grew five common alien, six rare alien, five common native and four rare native plant species under four combinations of two ALAN (no ALANvsALAN) and two insect-exclusion (no exclusionvsexclusion) treatments, and compared their biomass production.We found that common plant species, irrespective of whether they are alien or native, produced significantly more biomass than rare species, particularly under ALAN. Furthermore, alien species tended to show a slightly stronger positive response to ALAN than native species (marginally significant origin × ALAN interaction,p= 0.079).Our study shows that common plant species benefited more from ALAN than rare ones. This might lead to shifts in plant diversity and vegetation composition, further propelling global biodiversity decline, when ALAN becomes more widespread. In addition, the slightly more positive response of alien species indicates that ALAN might increase the risk of alien plant invasions.

Wildflower strips (WFS) are increasingly commonly adopted measures to promote biodiversity in agro-ecosystems. While their effectiveness in providing floral and other food resources for pollinators and natural enemies has been relatively well studied, much less is known about the value of different types of WFS as overwintering habitat for different functional arthropod groups. Here, we examined arthropod overwintering in WFS of different age compared to winter wheat fields. Moreover, we addressed the largely unexplored question to what extent non-permanent WFS may act as sink or ecological trap, if they attract high numbers of overwintering arthropods but only a low proportion of them survive and successfully emerge due to ploughing of strips during overwintering. Overwintering of all studied arthropod groups including potential pest natural enemies spiders, carabid beetles, staphylinid beetles and different families of pollinating flies was higher in WFS compared to winter wheat crops. Overwintering increased in WFS compared to wheat fields irrespective of WFS age, except for 4 year old WFS in the case of carabid beetles and 1 year old WFS in the case of spiders. While WFS age positively affected spider overwintering, numbers of overwintering pollinating flies and staphylinid beetles did not change significantly with WFS age. Moreover, carabid beetles tended to decline in the four years old WFS compared to younger ones. Ploughing of annual WFS during overwintering significantly reduced the number of successfully emerging arthropods by 59% on average. Detrimental effects were strongest for carabid beetles and spiders (reductions by 67% and 69%, respectively) to their numbers in ploughed WFS being similar to winter wheat fields. Reductions were less severe for pollinating flies and staphylinid beetles (both 47%), with higher numbers emerging from annual WFS compared to winter wheat fields even after ploughing of WFS. We conclude that perennial WFS are valuable overwintering habitats for a range of arthropod taxa across functional groups in arable cropping systems. Distinct responses of different arthropod taxa to WFS age highlight the importance of managing perennial WFS of various successional stages in order to promote overwintering of a broad variety arthropods in agro-ecosystems. Our study raises concerns, however, that annual WFS ploughed during the overwintering period are poor overwintering habitats for arthropods and may even act as ecological traps.

Implementing cost‐effective monitoring programs for wild bees remains challenging due to the high costs of sampling and specimen identification. To reduce costs, next‐generation sequencing (NGS)‐based methods have lately been suggested as alternatives to morphology‐based identifications. To provide a comprehensive presentation of the advantages and weaknesses of different NGS‐based identification methods, we assessed three of the most promising ones, namely metabarcoding, mitogenomics and NGS barcoding. Using a regular monitoring data set (723 specimens identified using morphology), we found that NGS barcoding performed best for both species presence/absence and abundance data, producing only few false positives (3.4%) and no false negatives. In contrast, the proportion of false positives and false negatives was higher using metabarcoding and mitogenomics. Although strong correlations were found between biomass and read numbers, abundance estimates significantly skewed the communities' composition in these two techniques. NGS barcoding recovered the same ecological patterns as morphology. Ecological conclusions based on metabarcoding and mitogenomics were similar to those based on morphology when using presence/absence data, but different when using abundance data. In terms of workload and cost, we show that metabarcoding and NGS barcoding can compete with morphology, but not mitogenomics which was consistently more expensive. Based on these results, we advocate that NGS barcoding is currently the seemliest NGS method for monitoring of wild bees. Furthermore, this method has the advantage of potentially linking DNA sequences with preserved voucher specimens, which enable morphological re‐examination and will thus produce verifiable records which can be fed into faunistic databases.

Artificial light at night has rapidly spread around the globe over the last decades. Evidence is increasing that it has adverse effects on the behavior, physiology, and survival of animals and plants with consequences for species interactions and ecosystem functioning. For example, artificial light at night disrupts plant-pollinator interactions at night and this can have consequences for the plant reproductive output. By experimentally illuminating natural plant-pollinator communities during the night using commercial street-lamps we tested whether light at night can also change interactions of a plant-pollinator community during daytime. Here we show that artificial light at night can alter diurnal plant-pollinator interactions, but the direction of the change depends on the plant species. We conclude that the effect of artificial light at night on plant-pollinator interactions is not limited to the night, but can also propagate to the daytime with so far unknown consequences for the pollinator community and the diurnal pollination function and services they provide., There is growing recognition that artificial light at night has wide-ranging effects on plants and animals, including disruption of nocturnal pollination. Here, Giavi et al. show that artificial light at night can also alter the daytime interactions between plants and pollinators.

Rapid human population growth and associated urbanization lead to increased artificial illumination of the environment. By changing the natural light–dark cycle, artificial lighting can affect the functioning of natural ecosystems. Many plants rely on insects in order to reproduce but these insects are known to be disturbed by artificial light. Therefore, plant–insect interactions may be affected when exposed to artificial illumination. These effects can potentially be reduced by using different light spectra than white light. We studied the effect of artificial lighting on plant–insect interactions in the Silene latifolia–Hadena bicruris system using a field set-up with four different light treatments: red, green, white and a dark control. We compared the proportion of fertilized flowers and fertilized ovules as well as the infestation of fruits by Hadena bicruris, a pollinating seed predator. We found no difference in the proportion of fertilized flowers among the treatments. The proportion of fruits infested by H. bicruris was however significantly higher under green and white light and a significantly lower proportion of fertilized ovules was found under green light. We show that artificial light with different colours impacts plant–insect interactions differently, with direct consequences for plant fitness.

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a relatively new and rapidly increasing global change driver. While evidence on adverse effects of ALAN for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is increasing, little is known on the spatial extent of its effects. We therefore tested whether ALAN can affect ecosystem functioning in areas adjacent to directly illuminated areas. We exposed two phytometer species to three different treatments of ALAN (sites directly illuminated, sites adjacent to directly illuminated sites, control sites without illumination), and we measured its effect on the reproductive output of both plant species. Furthermore, in one of the two plant species, we quantified pre-dispersal seed predation and the resulting relative reproductive output. Finally, under controlled condition in the laboratory, we assessed flower visitation and oviposition of the main seed predator in relation to light intensity. There was a trend for reduced reproductive output of one of the two plant species on directly illuminated sites, but not of the other. Compared to dark control sites, seed predation was significantly increased on dark sites adjacent to illuminated sites, which resulted in a significantly reduced relative reproductive output. Finally, in the laboratory, the main seed predator flew away from the light source to interact with its host plant in the darkest area available, which might explain the results found in the field. We conclude that ALAN can also affect ecosystem functioning in areas not directly illuminated, thereby having ecological consequences at a much larger scale than previously thought.

Aim: The current volume of global trade has led to an unprecedented rate of biological invasions, causing severe problems to native ecosystems. The knowledge of species introduction routes and areas suitable for establishment is therefore an important step in preventing future invasions. The situation can be further exacerbated by climate change, which might alter the amount of environmentally suitable areas for establishment of invasive species. Here, we focus on three Arion slug species recently introduced to North America and Australia with potentially significant impact – A. ater, A. rufus and A. vulgaris. Location: World-wide. Results: We combined interception records, molecular analyses, and species distribution modelling to assess their introduction history and to predict which regions are at highest risk of future invasions. We found extensive sharing of mitochondrial haplotypes among continents in all three species. In concordance with the genetic analyses, interception records suggest that slugs were introduced to the USA and Australia primarily from France, the Netherlands and the UK, but also from other locations in North America. The models predicted climatically suitable regions for the three Arion species in several areas across the globe for which management actions can be targeted. Main conclusions: While the amount of regions with climatic conditions that would be suitable for slug establishment is predicted to slightly decrease under future scenarios, new suitable areas will also emerge. We therefore recommend that prevention efforts to limit new introductions should continue in order to protect vulnerable native ecosystems.

Hybridization with invasive species is one of the major threats to the phenotypic and genetic persistence of native organisms worldwide. Arion vulgaris (syn. lusitanicus) is a major agricultural pest slug that successfully invaded many European countries in recent decades, but its impact on closely related native species remains unclear. Here, we hypothesized that the regional decline of native A. rufus is connected with the spread of invasive A. vulgaris, and tested whether this can be linked to hybridization between the two species by analyzing 625 Arion sp. along altitudinal transects in three regions in Switzerland. In each region, we observed clear evidence of different degrees of genetic admixture, suggesting recurrent hybridization beyond the first generation. We found spatial differences in admixture patterns that might reflect distinct invasion histories among the regions. Our analyses provide a landscape level perspective for the genetic interactions between invasive and native animals during the invasion. We predict that without specific management action, A. vulgaris will further expand its range, which might lead to local extinction of A. rufus and other native slugs in the near future. Similar processes are likely occurring in other regions currently invaded by A. vulgaris.

Arion vulgaris (syn. A. lusitanicus) is the most destructive pest slug in Europe. The species has been regarded a classic case of an ongoing biological invasion with negative economic and ecological impact in many European countries, but this status has recently been contested. In this study, we assessed mitochondrial and autosomal genetic diversity in populations of A. vulgaris across the entire distribution range in order to characterize its evolutionary history. Mitochondrial diversity in A. vulgaris was strongly reduced compared with the closely related and largely codistributed noninvasive species A. rufus and A. ater, indicating a very rapid spread of A. vulgaris through Europe. Autosomal diversity assessed in 632 individuals from 32 populations decreased towards eastern and northern Europe which is consistent with the reported expansion of the species towards these regions in the last decades. Demographic simulations supported very recent population founding events in most of the European range. The short periods between the first detection of A. vulgaris in different countries and only a very weak association of genetic structuring among populations with geographical distances suggest a human contribution in the ongoing expansion of the slug. We propose that this contribution may ultimately prevent the exact localization of the debated region of origin of A. vulgaris. However, the reclassification of A. vulgaris as noninvasive would be premature. Without counter measures, the Eastern and Northern European countries can expect to see this biological invasion continued in the future.

There is widespread concern regarding declines in bee populations given their importance for the functioning of both natural and managed ecosystems. An increasing number of studies find negative relations between bee species richness and simplification of agricultural landscapes, but the role of land-use intensity and its relative importance compared to landscape simplification remain less clear. We compared the relative effects of nitrogen inputs, as a proxy for land-use intensity, and proportion of natural and semi-natural habitat, as a measure of landscape complexity on total bee species richness, rare species richness and dominant crop-visiting species richness. We used data from 282 grasslands across five countries, covering the entire range of low intensity, no-input systems, to high-input sites (>400 kg N/ha/year). We found consistent negative impacts of increasing land-use intensity at a regional scale on total bee species richness and dominant crop-visiting species across Europe, but no such effects of landscape complexity. In contrast, the richness of rare bee species was not significantly related to increasing land-use intensity. Nevertheless, based on species accumulation curves, grasslands with no nitrogen inputs had higher total bee richness and higher shares of rare species compared with sites with high nitrogen inputs (>125 kg N/ha/year). Our results highlight the importance of retaining grasslands characterised by low land-use intensity across agricultural landscapes to promote bee diversity.

Wildflower strips (WFS) are increasingly used to counteract the negative consequences of agricultural intensification. To date, it is poorly understood how WFS promote flower visitation and pollination services in nearby insect‐pollinated crops. We therefore ask whether WFS enhance pollination service in adjacent strawberry crops, and how such an effect depends on the distance from WFS. Over 2 years, we examined the effects of experimentally sown WFS compared to grassy strips on pollination services in adjacent strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) crops across a total of 19 study sites. Moreover, we examined flower visitation, species richness and community composition of the most important insect pollinator taxa at different within‐field locations varying in distance to WFS. We found increased pollination services at the edge of WFS compared to locally reduced pollination services at the center, which resulted in no significant difference in seed set between WFS and control fields. Total flower visits and species richness of pollinators were higher in WFS than in adjacent strawberry fields. Moreover, wild bee visitation was enhanced in adjacent strawberry crops near WFS compared to field centers, and intermediate at field edges near grassy strips. Our study demonstrates that diverse WFS can increase wild bee visitation and pollination services in the field edges of adjacent strawberry crops, but that overall visitation and pollination services do not increase. Moreover, our findings show that major pollinator taxa exhibit distinct responses, resulting in a shift of pollinator community composition as a function of distance to WFS with direct effects on crop pollination. Our results that WFS enhance rather than reduce crop pollination services near WFS should distract possible concerns by farmers that WFS may locally absorb rather than export crop pollinators. Considering the spatial restricted enhancement of wild bees and associated pollination services we suggest to establish WFS in the center of crop fields.

Aim:Anthropogenic landscape change, such as urbanization, can affect community structure and ecological interactions. Furthermore, changes in ambient temperature and resource availability due to urbanization may affect migratory and non‐migratory species differently. However, the response of migratory species to urbanization is poorly investigated, and knowledge for invertebrates in particular is lacking. Our aim was to investigate whether there was a shift in community structure and phenology of hoverflies in urban landscapes, depending on migratory status.Location:Switzerland.Methods:Using a paired design, we compared urban and rural landscapes to investigate the impact of urbanization on the abundance, diversity and phenology of hoverflies. Furthermore, we tested whether migratory and non‐migratory species responded differently to urbanization.Results:We observed a difference in the response of migratory and non‐migratory hoverfly communities. Although the abundance of hoverflies was higher in the rural ecosystem, driven by a high abundance of migratory species, there was no difference in species richness between the land use types. However, the community structure of non‐migratory species was significantly different between urban and rural ecosystems. The phenology of hoverflies differed between the two ecosystems, with an earlier appearance in the year of migratory species in urban landscapes.Main conclusions:To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the response of migratory insect communities to urbanization. We demonstrated that migratory and non‐migratory hoverflies respond differently to urbanization. This highlights the importance of differentiating between trait and mobility groups to understand community assemblage patterns in anthropogenic landscapes. The differences in phenology supports the growing evidence that urbanization not only affects the phenology of vegetation, but also affects the higher trophic levels. Changes in the phenology and community composition of species as a result of anthropogenic landscape change may have important implications for the maintenance of key ecosystem functions, such as pollination. published

Cities are growing rapidly, thereby expected to cause a large-scale global biotic homogenization. Evidence for the homogenization hypothesis is mostly derived from plants and birds, whereas arthropods have so far been neglected. Here, I tested the homogenization hypothesis with three insect indicator groups, namely true bugs, leafhoppers, and beetles. In particular, I was interested whether insect species community composition differs between urban and rural areas, whether they are more similar between cities than between rural areas, and whether the found pattern is explained by true species turnover, species diversity gradients and geographic distance, by non-native or specialist species, respectively. I analyzed insect species communities sampled on birch trees in a total of six Swiss cities and six rural areas nearby. In all indicator groups, urban and rural community composition was significantly dissimilar due to native species turnover. Further, for bug and leafhopper communities, I found evidence for large-scale homogenization due to urbanization, which was driven by reduced species turnover of specialist species in cities. Species turnover of beetle communities was similar between cities and rural areas. Interestingly, when specialist species of beetles were excluded from the analyses, cities were more dissimilar than rural areas, suggesting biotic differentiation of beetle communities in cities. Non-native species did not affect species turnover of the insect groups. However, given non-native arthropod species are increasing rapidly, their homogenizing effect might be detected more often in future. Overall, the results show that urbanization has a negative large-scale impact on the diversity specialist species of the investigated insect groups. Specific measures in cities targeted at increasing the persistence of specialist species typical for the respective biogeographic region could help to stop the loss of biodiversity.

Pollinators are declining worldwide1 and this has raised concerns for a parallel decline in the essential pollination service they provide to both crops and wild plants2,3. Anthropogenic drivers linked to this decline include habitat changes, intensive agriculture, pesticides, invasive alien species, spread of pathogens and climate change1. Recently, the rapid global increase in artificial light at night4 has been proposed to be a new threat to terrestrial ecosystems; the consequences of this increase for ecosystem function are mostly unknown5,6. Here we show that artificial light at night disrupts nocturnal pollination networks and has negative consequences for plant reproductive success. In artificially illuminated plant–pollinator communities, nocturnal visits to plants were reduced by 62% compared to dark areas. Notably, this resulted in an overall 13% reduction in fruit set of a focal plant even though the plant also received numerous visits by diurnal pollinators. Furthermore, by merging diurnal and nocturnal pollination sub-networks, we show that the structure of these combined networks tends to facilitate the spread of the negative consequences of disrupted nocturnal pollination to daytime pollinator communities. Our findings demonstrate that artificial light at night is a threat to pollination and that the negative effects of artificial light at night on nocturnal pollination are predicted to propagate to the diurnal community, thereby aggravating the decline of the diurnal community. We provide perspectives on the functioning of plant–pollinator communities, showing that nocturnal pollinators are not redundant to diurnal communities and increasing our understanding of the human-induced decline in pollinators and their ecosystem service.

The positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is mainly derived from studies concerning primary producers, whereas a generalization of this relationship for higher trophic levels is more difficult. Furthermore, most evidence of the biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationship is derived from experiments manipulating only one trophic level and, as a consequence, interactive diversity effects at multiple trophic levels have mostly been ignored. Here, we performed a mesocosm experiment in which we manipulated functional group diversity at two trophic levels (primary and secondary consumers) applying a full-factorial design. More specifically, we asked whether 1) predator functional diversity affects prey mortality rates, 2) prey functional diversity affects prey mortality rates, 3) whether there are interactive effects of simultaneous diversity changes at both trophic levels. For each trophic level we used two functional groups, i.e. organisms belonging to two different habitat domains: at the higher trophic position 1) a ground foraging spider species and 2) a spider species foraging in the vegetation canopy and at the lower trophic position 3) a ground living cricket species and 4) leafhoppers living in the vegetation canopy. Increasing predator functional group diversity increased prey mortality by 53%, and increasing prey functional group diversity increased prey mortality by 24%. Further, prey mortality was highest at the uppermost level of functional group diversity (142% increase in prey mortality compared to single prey and predator functional diversity), most likely due to resource partitioning between the predators. This finding demonstrates that a multi-trophic perspective is necessary, and that previous studies focusing on only one trophic level have most likely underestimated the strength of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Agri-environmental schemes involving organic farming or set-aside management aim at promoting biodiversity and restoring ecosystem functioning in agrarian landscapes. Application of pesticides in these crop fields is strongly regulated facilitating the spread of weeds but also allowing for the establishment of endangered herbs and a variety of animals. Recent studies found gastropods and earthworms to be legitimate dispersers of seeds of wild plants. We assumed that both groups also play a significant role in the spread and establishment of wild plants within crop fields. Therefore, we are conducting a series of experiments in three different study systems on (1) the role of earthworms and gastropods as dispersers of rare herbs and weeds in an organic rye field in Germany, (2) the seed feeding behavior of gastropods of plants sown in fallow ground in Switzerland, and (3) weed dispersal in irrigated rice fields by golden apple snails in the Philippines.

There is compelling evidence that more diverse ecosystems deliver greater benefits to people, and these ecosystem services have become a key argument for biodiversity conservation. However, it is unclear how much biodiversity is needed to deliver ecosystem services in a cost-effective way. Here we show that, while the contribution of wild bees to crop production is significant, service delivery is restricted to a limited subset of all known bee species. Across crops, years and biogeographical regions, crop-visiting wild bee communities are dominated by a small number of common species, and threatened species are rarely observed on crops. Dominant crop pollinators persist under agricultural expansion and many are easily enhanced by simple conservation measures, suggesting that cost-effective management strategies to promote crop pollination should target a different set of species than management strategies to promote threatened bees. Conserving the biological diversity of bees therefore requires more than just ecosystem-service-based arguments.

While effects of urbanization on species assemblages are receiving increasing attention, effects on ecological interactions remain largely unexplored. We investigated how urbanization influences the strength of direct and indirect trophic interactions in a tri- trophic system. In a field experiment including five cities and nearby farmed areas, we used potted Vicia faba plants and manipulated the presence of Megoura viciae aphids and that of naturally occurring aphid predators. When predators could access aphids, they reduced their abundance less in the urban than in the agricultural ecosystem. Compared to aphid abundance on plants without predator access, abundance on plants with predator access was 2.58 times lower in urban and 5.27 times lower in agricultural areas. This indicates that urbanization limited top-down control of aphids by predators. In both ecosystems, plant biomass was negatively affected by herbivores and positively affected by predators, but the positive indirect predator effect was weaker in cities. Compared to aphid-infested plants without predator access, plants with predator access were 1.89 times heavier in urban and 2.12 times heavier in agricultural areas. Surprisingly, differences between ecosystems regarding the indirect predator effect on plants were not explained by the differentially strong herbivore suppression. Instead, the urban environment limited plant biomass per se, thereby mitigating the scope of a positive predator effect. Our results show that urbanization can influence direct and indirect trophic interactions through effects on biotic top-down forces and on plant growth. In order to understand how urbanization affects biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, it is fundamental to not only consider species assemblages, but also species interactions.

Lindbergina aurovittata (Douglas, 1875) (Fig. 2I) First record from Switzerland: Basel-Landschaft, Muttenz, urban settlement area, specimen collected on Betula pendula [47 �� 31 ��� 32.53 ������ N; 7 �� 38 ��� 21.59 ������ E, 289 m], 1 ♂ and 1 ♀, 17.08. 2011, tree-suction sampler, leg. Tabea Turrini, det. Gernot Kunz. Distribution: Ireland, England, Belgium, Luxembourg (Niedringhaus et al. 2010), Germany, France, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia, Switzerland. Remarks:This leafhopper produces two generations each year. The summer generation switches the host plant from different woody species (Quercus spp., Fagus sylvatica, Alnus glutinosa, Corylus avellana and Betula pubescens)to Rubus fruticosus and lays the eggs on this evergreen plant for overwintering. Adults during springtime switch again to their summer hosts., Published as part of Valeria Trivellone, Eva Knop, Tabea Turrini, Line Andrey, Jean-Yves Humbert & Gernot Kunz, 2015, New and remarkable leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) from Switzerland, pp. 273-284 in Mitteilungen Der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 88 on page 282, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.33990

Hephathus nanus (Herrich-Sch��ffer, 1835) (Fig. 2H) First record from Switzerland: Ticino, Bioggio, Righetto, vineyard [46 ��0��� 18.88 ������ N, 8 �� 53 ��� 45.11 ������ E, 437 m], 1 ♂,0 4.08. 2011, D-vac, leg. &det. Valeria Trivellone. Second record from Switzerland: Ticino, Monteceneri, Bironico-Cassona, vineyard [46 �� 7 ��� 3.79 ������ N, 8 �� 55 ��� 59.18 ������ E, 511 m], 2 ♂♂, 14.06. 2014 & 04.08.2011, D-vac, leg. &det. Valeria Trivellone. Third record from Switzerland: Ticino, Lavertezzo, Montedato, vineyard [46 �� 10 ��� 47.25 ������ N, 8 �� 53 ��� 16.87 ������ E, 336 m], 1 ♂, 20.07. 2011, sweep-net, leg. &det. Valeria. Trivellone Distribution:Albania, Austria, Balearic Is., Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danish mainland, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland. Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ukraine, former Yugoslavia. Remarks:This species is usually found on sunny, oligotrophic and xerothermic sites, often in quite disturbed pastures (Nickel 2003). In this study some specimens were collected on vineyards floor vegetation and one specimen was unexpectedly collected from vine canopy., Published as part of Valeria Trivellone, Eva Knop, Tabea Turrini, Line Andrey, Jean-Yves Humbert & Gernot Kunz, 2015, New and remarkable leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) from Switzerland, pp. 273-284 in Mitteilungen Der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 88 on pages 279-281, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.33990

Horvathianella palliceps (Horv��th, 1897) (Fig. 2B) First record from Switzerland: Ticino, Lavertezzo, Montedato, vineyard [46 �� 10 ��� 47.25 ������ N, 8 �� 53 ��� 16.87 ������ E, 336 m], 5 ♂♂, 24.06. 2011, 10.08. 2011 & 0 8.09. 2011, D-vac and sweep-net, leg. &det. Valeria Trivellone. Distribution: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Iraq, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, former Yugoslavia. Remarks: Horvathianella is amonotypic genus and is known to feed on Chrysopogon gryllus.In Switzerland this plant species is largely confined to xerothermic meadows and stony areas of southern parts of the country. In Swiss vineyards C. gryllus is quite rare and found only in steep embankments. H. palliceps specimens were collected in avineyard where wide stands of C. gryllus were recorded., Published as part of Valeria Trivellone, Eva Knop, Tabea Turrini, Line Andrey, Jean-Yves Humbert & Gernot Kunz, 2015, New and remarkable leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) from Switzerland, pp. 273-284 in Mitteilungen Der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 88 on page 275, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.33990

Arboridia simillima (Wagner, 1939) (Fig. 2F) First record from Switzerland: Valais, Orsi��res, extensively managed meadows [46 ��01��� 44 ������ N; 07��09��� 82 ������ E, 1022 m], 1 ♂, 17.08. 2011, D-vac, leg. Aline Andrey, det. Gernot. Kunz Distribution in Europe: Luxembourg (Nickel et al. 2010), Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland. Remarks:In Germany A. simillima occurs on sun-exposed shrubs in open xerothermic woodlands, mainly in slope and plateau situations on limestone, gypsum and porphyry. Host plants are Rosa spinosissima and other roses, probably R. rubiginosa and perhaps R. canina (Nickel 2003)., Published as part of Valeria Trivellone, Eva Knop, Tabea Turrini, Line Andrey, Jean-Yves Humbert & Gernot Kunz, 2015, New and remarkable leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) from Switzerland, pp. 273-284 in Mitteilungen Der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 88 on page 277, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.33990

Chlorita cf. tamaninii Wagner, 1959 (Fig. 4) First record from Switzerland: Ticino, Ludiano, Ronco Pizzotti, vineyard, [46 �� 24 ��� 57.92 ������ N; 8 �� 58 ��� 11.39 ������ E, 459 m], 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, 21.06. 2011, D-vac, leg. & det. Valeria. Trivellone Distribution in Europe:Italy, Switzerland. Remarks:In total 24 species of the genus Chlorita Fieber are known from the Palaeartic region. Four of them: C. subulata (Ribaut, 1933), C. viridula (Fallen, 1806), C. tamaninii Wagner, 1959 and C. paolii (Ossiannilsson, 1939) belong to the Chlorita viridula species group and are closely related. Wagner (1959) published a key to distinguish the above-mentioned species. Up to now, in Switzerland only C. viridula (Ribaut 1933, Cerutti 1939) and C. paolii (Trivellone &Pollini Paltrinieri 2011) were recorded. In 2011, the first author had collected specimens with aedeagus morphological characteristics quite different from C. viridula and C. paolii. According to the key after Wagner (1959), two main subgroups of species were recognized based on the characteristics of the appendages of the aedeagus: appendages without ablunt tooth and convergent in the viridula-subulata subgroup; and appendages with ablunt tooth and divergent in the paolii-tamaninii subgroup. The appendages of the examined specimens do neither coincide perfectly with the first, nor with the second subgroup. The following description of aspecimen is proposed as reference to further collections. Determination:The genital plate with parameres and the appendices of the anal tube are illustrated in Figs 4 A and 4 B, respectively; they are similar to C. viridula after Le Quesne &Payne (1981). In the male, aedeagus with apair of recurved appendages, longer than main stem, without tooth along outer margin; but hardly S-shaped in the middle (Fig. 4C) and ending in sharp-hooked apices (Fig. 4D)., Published as part of Valeria Trivellone, Eva Knop, Tabea Turrini, Line Andrey, Jean-Yves Humbert & Gernot Kunz, 2015, New and remarkable leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) from Switzerland, pp. 273-284 in Mitteilungen Der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 88 on page 278, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.33990

Bobacella corvina (Horv��th, 1903) (Fig. 3) First record from Switzerland: Valais, south-east of Saint-Martin, Eison, extensively managed meadows at subalpine level (that received 20 mm of irrigation water every week from May to August since 2011) [46 ��09��� 18 ������ N; 7 �� 28 ��� 10 ������ E, 1768 m], 1 ♀, 26.07. 2012, D-vac, leg. Aline Andrey, det. Gernot Kunz. Distribution in Europe: Austria, France, Hungary & Switzerland but also known from the surroundings of the Black Sea and Pannonian velds (Gy��rffy 1982, Anufriev &Emeljanov 1988, Della Giustina &Remane 2001, Holzinger 2009). Remarks:This brachypterous leafhopper is rarely found in Europe, therefore almost nothing is known about its biology (see Della Giustina &Remane 2001, Holzinger 2009)., Published as part of Valeria Trivellone, Eva Knop, Tabea Turrini, Line Andrey, Jean-Yves Humbert & Gernot Kunz, 2015, New and remarkable leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) from Switzerland, pp. 273-284 in Mitteilungen Der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 88 on page 278, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.33990

Kelisia praecox Haupt, 1935 (Fig. 2D) First record from Switzerland: Ticino, Lavertezzo, Montedato, vineyard [46 �� 10 ��� 47.25 ������ N, 8 �� 53 ��� 16.87 ������ E, 336 m], 1 ♂, 1 ♀,0 8.09. 2011, D-vac, leg. &det. Valeria. Trivellone Distribution:Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Kazakhstan, Iran, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, former Yugoslavia. Remarks:the species is frequently associated with Carex brizoides at moist sites, usually forest meadows or clearings (Nickel 2003). In this study, two specimens were collected on embankments inside avineyard with Carex caryophyllea and Carex hirta., Published as part of Valeria Trivellone, Eva Knop, Tabea Turrini, Line Andrey, Jean-Yves Humbert & Gernot Kunz, 2015, New and remarkable leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) from Switzerland, pp. 273-284 in Mitteilungen Der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 88 on page 276, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.33990

Conomelus lorifer Ribaut, 1948 (Fig. 2A) Second record from Switzerland: Ticino, Cadenazzo, Vignette, vineyard [46 �� 8 ��� 57.12 ������ N, 8 �� 55 ��� 11.89 ������ E, 209 m], 1 ♀,0 7.09. 2011, D-vac, leg. &det. Valeria Trivellone. Distribution: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, former Yugoslavia. Remarks: C. lorifer feeds on Juncus effusus and probably other rushes. This species was recorded in Switzerland for the first time in 2010 (Trivellone 2010) and was collected in abundance from the phytocenosis of Sphagno-Caricetum rostratae in the cantons Ticino and Grisons. The single macropterous female of C. lorifer was collected in avineyard under ahigh mowing disturbance regime with small scattered patches of the nearctic neophyte Juncus tenuis., Published as part of Valeria Trivellone, Eva Knop, Tabea Turrini, Line Andrey, Jean-Yves Humbert & Gernot Kunz, 2015, New and remarkable leafhoppers and planthoppers (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha) from Switzerland, pp. 273-284 in Mitteilungen Der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 88 on pages 274-275, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.33990

Emeljanovianus medius (Mulsant &Rey, 1855) (Fig. 5) Second record for Switzerland: Valais, Miège, south-west of Cordona, extensively managed meadows at subalpine level (that received 20 mm of irrigation water every week from May to August since 2011 and fertilisation in spring and autumn) [46 ° 19 ’ 45 ’’ N; 7 ° 33 ’08’’ E, 1153 m], 1 ♂ and 3 ♀♀,0 3.07. 2012, D-vac, leg. Aline Andrey, det. Gernot Kunz. Distribution in Europe:Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Greece (Drosopolous et al. 1986), Italy, Slovenia (Holzinger &Seljak 2001), France (Ribaut 1952, Guistina & Remane 2001), Switzerland. Remarks:this species was described from the surroundings of Lyon by Mulsant &Rey (1855). The only previous record from Switzerland originates from Château-d’Oex and was published under its junior synonym Deltocephalus reiberi Puton, 1877.

Individual marking by using transponders represents a promising tool to further investigate causes of population trends of farmland invertebrates and the dynamics of farmland biodiversity. Once common in agricultural fields the slug Arion rufus is now restricted to forests, whereas the closely related and similar Arion lusitanicus recently built up high populations. Here, it was tested whether (1) transponder tagging combined with artificial shelters for recapturing is a suitable approach for quantifying adult survival of farmland gastropods under real field conditions, (2) whether captive bred and wild A. lusitanicus differ in survival, and (3) whether in agricultural fields the declining slug A. rufus shows reduced survival rates compared to the invasive slug A. lusitanicus. One hundred and thirty transponder-tagged slugs were released and individual-based mark–recapture models were performed. Individual marking by using transponders proved to be a successful method for quantifying survival rates of the slugs. The favoured model showed no differences in survival or encounter rates between captive bred and wild A. lusitanicus. A. rufus showed significantly reduced survival rates compared to A. lusitanicus coinciding with their population trends in farmland areas. This might be due to differential susceptibility to habitat degradation, differential predation rates or promotion of the invasive competitor species. A further decrease of A. rufus in agricultural landscapes is expected.

In recent years a multitude of studies have been performed to evaluate potential risks of genetically modified (GM) plants on the environment. We investigated enchytraeids as we regard them as important model decomposer species, so far widely neglected in the context of GM plants risk assessments. Feeding experiments with transgenic and non-transgenic diets were conducted to check for possible effects on survival as well as reproduction of Enchytraeus albidus. We used GM wheat with either specific resistance against powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis) or unspecific resistance against fungi via chitinase and glucanase expression. Results indicate that effects due to specific resistance are either absent or too weak to affect number of surviving adults or number of offspring in a relevant way. Chitinase and glucanase expression affects the number of surviving adults negatively, however, a comparison of five conventional wheat varieties also revealed significant differences in the number of surviving adults. Since these differences were in the same range as the effect of glucanase and chitinase expression, it is questionable whether the negative transgenic effect is of ecological relevance or whether other biotic, abiotic and genetic factors are more important. Analysis of plant compound composition showed no differences between transgenic and non-transgenic wheat varieties, i.e. no correlation to number of surviving adults or number of offspring was observed for lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose contents.