- Department of Botany & Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, 1030 Vienna, Austria
Konrad Fiedler
University of Vienna, Botany and Biodiversity Research, Faculty Member
Long-term data are important to understand the changes in ecological communities over time but are quite rare for insects. We analyzed such changes using historic museum collections. For our study area, an isolated forest reserve in... more
Long-term data are important to understand the changes in ecological communities over time but are quite rare for insects. We analyzed such changes using historic museum collections. For our study area, an isolated forest reserve in North-East Italy, data from the past 80 yr were available. We used records of 300 moth species to analyze whether extinction risk was linked to their body size or to their degree of ecological specialization. Specialization was scored 1) by classifying larval food affiliations, habitat preferences, and the northern distributional limit and 2) by analyzing functional dispersion (FDis) within species assemblages over time. Our results show that locally extinct species (mean wingspan: 37.0 mm) were larger than persistent (33.2 mm) or previously unrecorded ones (30.7 mm), leading to a smaller mean wingspan of the moth community over time. Some ecological filters appear to have selected against bigger species. By using coarse specialization categories, we did...
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The genus Eois (Larentiinae) comprises an important part of a megadiverse assemblage of geometrid moths in the mountain rainforests of southern Ecuador. Owing to the diversity of morphotypes found in this genus, the abundance of many of... more
The genus Eois (Larentiinae) comprises an important part of a megadiverse assemblage of geometrid moths in the mountain rainforests of southern Ecuador. Owing to the diversity of morphotypes found in this genus, the abundance of many of its component species, and the close relationships with larval food plants in the genus Piper, the genus Eois was chosen as a target for more detailed investigation on the suitability of DNA barcode applications and phylogenetic relationships. COI barcode sequences (676 bp) were generated from 342 individuals to establish an inventory of DNA barcodes from one study area (Reserva Biológica San Francisco). This inventory can be used to match larvae to known adult samples without rearing, and will therefore be of vital help to extend the currently very limited knowledge about food plant relationships and host specialization. Analyses of barcoding sequence divergence showed that species delimitations based on external morphology alone result in broad ove...
Research Interests: Biology and DNA Barcoding
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... Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Ale. A Buschinger in Ethology (1993). 3 readers Save reference to library · Related research. Myrmecophily in ... SF Henning in J Entomol Soc South Afr (1983). 2 readers Save reference to... more
... Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Ale. A Buschinger in Ethology (1993). 3 readers Save reference to library · Related research. Myrmecophily in ... SF Henning in J Entomol Soc South Afr (1983). 2 readers Save reference to library · Related research. More related papers ...
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In order to evaluate the importance of grazing on Alpine pastures for butterflies, we investigated 66 sample plots situated on 13 pasture areas at elevations ranging from 830–1780m a.s.l. in the Gesäuse National Park. All sample plots... more
In order to evaluate the importance of grazing on Alpine pastures for butterflies, we investigated 66 sample plots situated on 13 pasture areas at elevations ranging from 830–1780m a.s.l. in the Gesäuse National Park. All sample plots were surveyed three times during the growing season 2011. Butterfly sightings and various environmental variables were recorded and their interrelationships evaluated using multivariate models (GLM, GLMM, distLM). Overall, we observed 66 butterfly species. Species richness decreased with elevation, but was not related to grazing intensity. Butterfly activity density increased with the availability of nectar plants and diminished at higher grazing intensity, but was not related to elevation. Species composition of butterfly communities was most strongly affected by elevation, but was also significantly shaped by grazing intensity and nectar availability. Species that thrive in anthropogenically transformed habitats became more prevalent at higher grazing intensity, whereas habitat specialists con-comitantly decreased.
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Species turnover across elevational gradients has matured into an important paradigm of community ecology. Here, we tested whether ecological and phylogenetic structure of skipper butterfly assemblages is more strongly structured... more
Species turnover across elevational gradients has matured into an important paradigm of community ecology. Here, we tested whether ecological and phylogenetic structure of skipper butterfly assemblages is more strongly structured according to altitude or vegetation type along three elevation gradients of moderate extent in Serra do Mar, Southern Brazil. Skippers were surveyed along three different mountain transects, and data on altitude and vegetation type of every collection site were recorded. NMDS ordination plots were used to assess community turnover and the influence of phylogenetic distance between species on apparent community patterns. Ordinations based on ecological similarity (Bray-Curtis index) were compared to those based on phylogenetic distance measures (MPD and MNTD) derived from a supertree. In the absence of a well-resolved phylogeny, various branch length transformation methods were applied together with four different null models, aiming to assess if results wer...
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We analyzed the suitability of a combined sampling approach-consisting of visual search and branch-beating-for quantifying tropical caterpillar communities. Surveys were conducted in the Ecuadorian montane forest zone, with two shrub... more
We analyzed the suitability of a combined sampling approach-consisting of visual search and branch-beating-for quantifying tropical caterpillar communities. Surveys were conducted in the Ecuadorian montane forest zone, with two shrub species from the genus Piper serving as focal targets. We sampled 160 shrubs in the course of four experiments following a standardized sampling protocol. Subsequently each shrub was completely defoliated accompanied by an intensive leaf-by-leaf search, in an effort to extract as close to 100% of all present caterpillars as possible. We analyzed the resulting dataset with regard to completeness, taxonomical bias, and influences of daytime, complexity of shrub structure, or experience of the researcher. The standardized sampling protocol extracted between 50.6% and 71.6% of the caterpillars present on a shrub. A minor taxonomic bias of the sampling protocol was observed, but appears to be of a simple and predictable nature, and is therefore easy to accou...
The Palaearctic nymphalid genus Araschnia comprises about seven species, with highest diversity occurring in China. Life-histories of the transpalaearctic A. levana (Linnaeus, 1758) and the East AsianA burejana Bremer, 1861 are relatively... more
The Palaearctic nymphalid genus Araschnia comprises about seven species, with highest diversity occurring in China. Life-histories of the transpalaearctic A. levana (Linnaeus, 1758) and the East AsianA burejana Bremer, 1861 are relatively well known. Almost all published data (e.g. Ebert & Rennwald 1991, Fukuda et al 1 992, Tuzov et al 2000, Gorbunov 2001) indicate that both are restricted to host plants in the family Urticaceae {Urtica, Boehmeria, Laportea). Also in a comparative experimental approach Janz et
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Nocturnal moth ensembles are frequently assessed using either catches from automatic light traps or manually collected samples at artificial light sources. Up to now, Few studies have compared the influence of these methodological... more
Nocturnal moth ensembles are frequently assessed using either catches from automatic light traps or manually collected samples at artificial light sources. Up to now, Few studies have compared the influence of these methodological differences on the samples. We compared such samples, attracted by identical light sources , using geometrid moths in the montane rainforest belt of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, as an example. The average number of moths caught manually from 1900 h to 2200 h at a light tower - a reflective gauze cylinder with a lamp placed in the middle - was more than ten times higher than that caught in a light trap, with more than half of all spccies only recorded at the light tower. With regard to individuals sampled, catches were biased towards the subfamily Ennorninac in the traps (.51 % versus 30%) and towards Larentiinae in the manual samples (68% versus 44%). It remains to be tested whether the relatively higher representation of larger-sized Ennominae in the trap c...
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Nocturnal moth ensembles are frequently assessed using either catches from automatic light traps or manually collected samples at art i ficial light sources. Up to now, few studies have compared the influence of these methodological diff... more
Nocturnal moth ensembles are frequently assessed using either catches from automatic light traps or manually collected samples at art i ficial light sources. Up to now, few studies have compared the influence of these methodological diff e rences on the samples. We compared such samples, attracted by identical light sources, using geometrid moths in the montane rainforest belt of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, as an example. The average number of moths caught manually from 1900 h to 2200 h at a light tower a reflective gauze cylinder with a lamp placed in the middle was more than ten times higher than that caught in a light trap, with more than half of all species only recorded at the light tower. With regard to individuals sampled, catches were biased towards the subfamily Ennominae in the traps (51% versus 30%) and towards Larentiinae in the manual samples (68% versus 44%). It remains to be tested whether the relatively higher representation of larger-sized Ennominae in the trap catch...
Field data on ant associates of 98 species of Palaearctic Lycaenidae butterfly immatures were collated. Members of 21 ant genera from the three subfamilies Myrmicinae, Formicinae, and Dolichoderinae have been reported as ant attendants... more
Field data on ant associates of 98 species of Palaearctic Lycaenidae butterfly immatures were collated. Members of 21 ant genera from the three subfamilies Myrmicinae, Formicinae, and Dolichoderinae have been reported as ant attendants with certainty. All ants that visit lycaenid immatures also forage for other liquid carbohydrate food sources like extrafloral plant nectar or homopteran honeydew. Species of Lasius (recorded with 41 lycaenid species), Formica (24 spp.), Camponotus (24 spp; all Formicinae), Myrmica (25 spp.), and Crematogaster (26 spp.; both Myrmicinae) are the most important ant associates of Palaearctic lycaenids. Available data have almost doubled relative to the last synopsis 15 years ago, but general patterns remained robust. The recorded diversity of butterfly-ant associations has slightly increased due to the improved data-base, including the addition of six ant genera previously not reported as tending Palaearctic lycaenids. Ant associations in the Oriental, A...
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Records of Pyramica argiola (EMERY, 1869) are presented from three localities in eastern and southern Austria. The species is new to the Austrian ant fauna. Four workers were collected in litter samples during a survey of the myrmecofauna... more
Records of Pyramica argiola (EMERY, 1869) are presented from three localities in eastern and southern Austria. The species is new to the Austrian ant fauna. Four workers were collected in litter samples during a survey of the myrmecofauna in the National Park Donau-Auen, 25 km east of Vienna, in May 2008. In Klagenfurt (Carinthia) several swarming gynes and males of Pyramica argiola were observed in recent years, which indicate the first discovery of a colony of this species in Austria. The currently known European distribution of Pyramica argiola is documented.
On tropical mountains, predation pressure decreases with elevation. Accordingly, one expects an elevational decay in the prevalence of costly defensive traits such as aposematic coloration. Using light-trap catches of Arctiinae moths (353... more
On tropical mountains, predation pressure decreases with elevation. Accordingly, one expects an elevational decay in the prevalence of costly defensive traits such as aposematic coloration. Using light-trap catches of Arctiinae moths (353 species, 4466 individuals), assembled along a forested gradient in the megadiverse tropical Andes of southern Ecuador, we show that the incidence of aposematic coloration decreases strongly between 1040 and 2670 m asl. While over 60% of Arctiinae moths were warningly colored at lowest sites, this fraction decreased to less than 20% in montane forest, yet increased slightly again at the highest sites in the very open Purdiaea nutans forest. In parallel, the incidence of hymenopteran mimics and of species that mimic chemically defended beetles decreased with elevation. Hymenopteran mimics accounted for less than 5% of Arctiinae moths at sites above 2100 m, and beetle mimics were essentially lacking at high elevations. These patterns coincide with a c...
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Flooding events are an important factor shaping arthropod communities on riverine meadows. We investigated to what extent species diversity and species composition of grasshopper assemblages on meadows in the DonauAuen National Park... more
Flooding events are an important factor shaping arthropod communities on riverine meadows. We investigated to what extent species diversity and species composition of grasshopper assemblages on meadows in the DonauAuen National Park (Lower Austria) are affected by annual floods. Grasshoppers were sampled between June and September 2012 on 12 meadows prone to yearly summer inundations, and 13 meadows protected from such floods by a levee. All acoustically and visually detected individuals were counted. Excluding one stray species not associated to meadows and representatives of the genus Tetrix, which cannot be recorded reliably with our sampling method, a total of 24 grasshopper species were recorded. Species richness was nearly identical on both meadow types. However, species composition differed prominently between regularly flooded and non-flooded meadows. Furthermore, we compared local incidence of all 24 species (quantified as percentage of colonized meadows) with their regiona...
Based on a global compilation of data on ant associates of 523 Lycaenidae species, a synthesis is attempted as to which ants participate in these interactions. Ants from 63 genera have thus far been observed as visitors of facultative... more
Based on a global compilation of data on ant associates of 523 Lycaenidae species, a synthesis is attempted as to which ants participate in these interactions. Ants from 63 genera have thus far been observed as visitors of facultative myrmecophiles or as hosts of obligate myrmecophiles among the Lycaenidae. Over 98% of records come from nectarivorous and trophobiotic ants in just three subfamilies, viz. Formicinae, Myrmicinae and Dolichoderinae, with the genera Crematogaster and Camponotus occupying the top ranks. Accumulation analysis suggests that rather few ant genera remain to be added to the list of associates. The representation of ant genera as attendants of lycaenid immatures is related to their global species richness, but with some notable exceptions. Ants that form ecologically dominant, large, long-lived colonies are over-represented as hosts of obligate myrmecophiles. The taxonomic diversity of lycaenid-ant associations is highest in the Oriental and Australian region, ...
Ants are crucial for the functioning of many terrestrial ecosystems, but detailed knowledge of their ecological role is often lacking. This is true for high mountains where a steep environmental gradient exists from mountainous forest,... more
Ants are crucial for the functioning of many terrestrial ecosystems, but detailed knowledge of their ecological role is often lacking. This is true for high mountains where a steep environmental gradient exists from mountainous forest, densely populated by ants, to grassland habitats above the tree line, harboring a sparse ant community. We assessed ant communities in and around the tree line ecotone on five slopes in the southern-central Alps, focusing on their species diversity, community composition, and functional dimensions. Species richness and functional diversity were highest directly at the ecotone. Ant community composition was shaped by elevation and shrub cover. Further, the abundance of the dominant mound-building red wood ants (Formica s. str.) influenced the community composition of the subordinate species. We conclude that over the tree line ecotone a shift in predominance from biotic limitations in the forest to abiotic filters in the alpine environment takes place.
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Along environmental gradients, communities are expected to be filtered from the regional species pool by physical constraints, resource availability, and biotic interactions. This should be reflected in species trait composition. Using... more
Along environmental gradients, communities are expected to be filtered from the regional species pool by physical constraints, resource availability, and biotic interactions. This should be reflected in species trait composition. Using data on species-rich moth assemblages sampled by light traps in a lowland rainforest landscape in Costa Rica, we show that moths in two unrelated clades (Erebidae-Arctiinae; Geometridae) are much smaller-sized in oil palm plantations than in nearby old-growth forest, with intermediate values at disturbed forest sites. In old-growth forest, Arctiinae predominantly show aposematic coloration as a means of anti-predator defense, whereas this trait is much reduced in the prevalence in plantations. Similarly, participation in Müllerian mimicry rings with Hymenoptera and Lycidae beetles, respectively, is rare in plantations. Across three topographic types of old-growth forests, community-weighted means of moth traits showed little variation, but in creek fo...
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Using molecular phylogenetic data and methods we inferred divergence times and diversification patterns for the weevil subfamily Ceutorhynchinae in the context of host-plant associations and global climate over evolutionary time. We... more
Using molecular phylogenetic data and methods we inferred divergence times and diversification patterns for the weevil subfamily Ceutorhynchinae in the context of host-plant associations and global climate over evolutionary time. We detected four major diversification shifts that correlate with both host shifts and major climate events. Ceutorhynchinae experienced an increase in diversification rate at ∼53 Ma, during the Early Eocene Climate Optimum, coincident with a host shift to Lamiaceae. A second major diversification phase occurred at the end of the Eocene (∼34 Ma). This contrasts with the overall deterioration in climate equability at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, but tracks the diversification of important host plant clades in temperate (higher) latitudes, leading to increased diversification rates in the weevil clades infesting temperate hosts. A third major phase of diversification is correlated with the rising temperatures of the Late Oligocene Warming Event (∼26.5 Ma); ...
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Eois is one of the best-investigated genera of tropical moths. Its close association with Piper plants has inspired numerous studies on life histories, phylogeny and evolutionary biology. This study provides an updated view on phylogeny,... more
Eois is one of the best-investigated genera of tropical moths. Its close association with Piper plants has inspired numerous studies on life histories, phylogeny and evolutionary biology. This study provides an updated view on phylogeny, host plant use and temporal patterns of speciation in Eois. Using sequence data (2776 bp) from one mitochondrial (COI) and one nuclear gene (Ef1-alpha) for 221 Eois species, we confirm and reinforce previous findings regarding temporal patterns of diversification. Deep diversification within Andean Eois took place in the Miocene followed by a sustained high rate of diversification until the Pleistocene when a pronounced slowdown of speciation is evident. In South America, Eois diversification is very likely to be primarily driven by the Andean uplift which occurred concurrently with the entire evolutionary history of Eois. A massively expanded dataset enabled an in-depth look into the phylogenetic signal contained in host plant usage. This revealed ...
Research Interests: Multidisciplinary, DNA, Phylogeny, Animals, Plants, and 4 moreSouth America, PLoS one, Moths, and Species Specificity
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... selected within the study area and irregularly distributed throughout the forest, especially along ... Hence, each survey represents a random 'snapshot' of simultaneous ant activity on plants ... Three largely nocturnal... more
... selected within the study area and irregularly distributed throughout the forest, especially along ... Hence, each survey represents a random 'snapshot' of simultaneous ant activity on plants ... Three largely nocturnal Camponotus species and all coccoids from several families were ...