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Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a remote sensing technique with multiple uses throughout scientific fields. It can also be used to transfer point data measured in the field to broader spatial scales, which might enable the evaluation of habitats over large areas and define biodiversity hotspots. Our study took place in Cabañeros National Park, which is situated in the Mediterranean, namely, central Spain, and its vegetation is dominated by forest and impenetrable scrubland. LiDAR was used to detect veteran trees as key elements for a highly diverse saproxylic community. The saproxylic beetle community inhabiting tree hollows was studied among different forest types and habitats to determine its preferences. We identified potential hotspots for the saproxylic beetle community of tree hollows both inside and outside of the park, as well as the connectivity of suitable habitat patches. This was based on the species response to the spatial partitioning of the landscape. We found that not all potentially suitable forest types hosted the same saproxylic diversity or similar species compositions. In addition, forest distribution and connectivity inside and outside of the park also varied highly among forest types and habitats, where the most diverse deciduous oak forest was also the least connected together with the riparian forest. The evergreen oak forest could act as a habitat linkage for most of the threatened and less mobile species in the park. However, the low connectivity of the most diverse forest types in the park surroundings can compromise the persistence of saproxylic diversity in the near future. We concluded that LiDAR data were an effective tool for estimating saproxylic beetle diversity distribution over large-scale areas in the context of landscapes with low accessibility. Additionally, this tool allowed us to identify the most threatened forest types and critical patches for connectivity persistence where management practices capable of accelerating tree veteranisation could help to increase adequate forest connectivity in the region. Financial support was provided by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (PID2020-115140RB-I00) granted to EM. This study was also supported by the programme Erasmus + and by UHK specific research project (2116/2020) granted to PR.

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Fruit orchards under different types of management represent the most common agroforestry practice in central Europe. Traditional fruit orchards with trees usually planted in meadows are at a surplus, providing suitable habitats for many plant and animal species. We examined the influence of different management and biotope types on three insect groups. This study was conducted in thirty orchards across the capital city of the Czech Republic – Prague (496 km²). We investigated the diversities of butterflies, hymenopterans and beetles. Their species richnesses mainly benefitted from orchard management and were partly higher at xerothermic sites than at mesic sites. Red-listed species did not show any clear patterns. Open-landscape specialists were influenced by management, while forest species were influenced by habitat type. Generally, orchard abandonment led to insect biodiversity loss. Therefore, active agricultural management appears to be essential for insect biodiversity conservation in orchards, and different management and biotope types provide suitable conditions for specific species. Mowing and maintaining orchards are two important biodiversity management actions in highly human-populated landscapes.

Traditional fruit orchards are an important and conspicuous part of the cultural landscape and heritage. These formerly typically rural artifacts are disappearing across Europe. Some of them, however, remain in big cities, as in our study area of a million city, Prague, in the Czech Republic. We were interested in the most important determinants of the poorly studied urban land use type of orchards from the rural past of the city environment in comparison with those that were not continuous. All orchards were described by characteristics that comprehensively illustrate the actual state of their environment. We found and studied all 76 existing freely accessible fruit orchards in Prague. Thirty-two continuous orchards had a larger area and were mainly determined by rectangular spatial distribution of trees, while 44 newer ones were smaller and had mainly triangular spacing. The majority of orchards were still managed. Even if orchards are a rather marginal type of land use in Prague, we found that continuous and newer sites were highly diversified regarding their structure and surroundings. Nevertheless, old orchards conserve higher potential for the future regarding their biodiversity, land use policy and agricultural value. Traditional fruit orchards are gradually disappearing from the suburbanized landscape, and therefore, their conservation cannot be considered merely as a trend but as a strategy to combat a real loss of cultural heritage. The final loss of this type of land use might lead to the loss of know-how of traditional management.

Human-induced climate and land-use changes are important factors influencing global insect diversity. Nevertheless, the influence of weather on biodiversity is still relatively rarely studied. Grassland insects may be the taxon that is most affected by changing weather. We focused on the influence of weather and land-use management on butterflies in hayed meadows in the Czech Republic. During two consecutive years (2019–2020), we studied nearly 300 independent meadows. The abundance of butterflies was more influenced by the weather than their species richness. We observed positive and mainly linear effects of increasing vegetation temperatures. One very influential variable was the light intensity, which had a nonlinear effect that promoted butterflies under direct sunlight. The humidity had mainly moderate, nonlinear effects. Surprisingly, the wind had only a small effect. We observed important effects of the flowering intensity and vegetation height on the butterfly species richness and abundance regarding land use. Marginal woody vegetation cover had a positive effect on the butterfly abundance, and management had little effect. We concluded that weather and land use had important effects on butterflies. Based on our research, we recommended the reconsideration of scientific studies and monitoring programs for insects concerning the temperature threshold (≥ 25 °C) and the consideration of light intensity as an important factor. Applying a detailed approach to measuring the flowering intensity is likely unnecessary, while meadow land-use parameters appear to be necessary for insect populations.

Non-native trees have been introduced into Europe for hundreds of years. Some have become an important part of the human diet, and many have aesthetic value. Nevertheless, some of them became aliens and host other alien species that might have undesirable effects on native organisms. We studied the possible effects of an alien-alien relationship (formed by the Horse-chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum, and the Horse-chestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella) on litter-dwelling invertebrates in the Czech Republic. We studied 42 sites widely distributed throughout the country. Leaf litter samples were collected under A. hippocastanum trees. Macro-arthropods were reared and collected using metallic extractors. Beetles, true bugs and terrestrial isopods were analyzed in detail as the most diversified taxa. Environmental predictors were abundance of Horse-chestnut leaf miner in litter, day of start of rearing, weight and volume of the sample and distance to the forest. We found that beetles, true bugs, and terrestrial isopods were the most abundant and species-rich taxa. The most important independent variables that influenced native biota were the total abundance of emerged Horse-chestnut leaf miner adults and the distance to large forests. The total number of individuals of all invertebrates and the abundance of terrestrial isopods were positively associated with abundance of the Horse-chestnut leaf miner, and the species richness of true bugs was higher in areas far from forests. This study describes how an alien-alien relationship can influence a leaf litter community of native biota. The results illustrate that the leaf litter of the non-indigenous tree could support a diverse arthropod community. Non-native leaf miner has the potential to accelerate decomposition of leaf litter of non-native tree for native biota.

The rural landscapes surrounding large cities are rapidly becoming incorporated into the urban environment. The most conspicuous changes involve green spaces, such as former agro-forestry systems like fruit orchards. In this paper, we assess the influence on biodiversity of restoring a large urban traditional fruit orchard as reflected by six selected taxa: plants, lichens, butterflies, beetles, orthopteroids and birds. The study was performed in Prague, which is the capital city of the Czech Republic and has more than a million inhabitants. We studied the effect of orchard renewal in 45 patches (15 for birds and 30 for other taxa). The majority of taxa responded positively to the restoration. The restoration had a significant positive effect on the species richness of lichens, butterflies and beetles. All taxa showed significantly altered species compositions, and the number of red-listed species increased. Orchards have a high potential for multi-functional use. Orchards are productive agro-forestry systems and host numerous possible human activities. Therefore, orchard restoration also has a social aspect. Moreover, our research in this artificial ecosystem revealed that its restoration increased the biodiversity and conservation potential of the associated areas.