Recent losses in the abundance and diversity of arthropods have been documented in many regions and ecosystems. In grasslands, such insect declines are largely attributed to land use, including modern machinery and mowing regimes. However, the effects of different mowing techniques on arthropods remain poorly understood. Using 11 years of data from 111 agricultural grassland plots across Germany, we analyzed the influence of various grassland management variables on the abundance and abundance‐accounted species richness of four arthropod orders: Araneae, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Orthoptera. The analysis focused on detailed mowing information, for example, days after mowing and mower type, and compared their effect with other aspects of grassland management, that is, rolling, leveling, fertilization, and grazing. We found strong negative effects of mowing on all four arthropod orders, with arthropod abundance being lowest directly after mowing and steadily increasing to three to seven times the abundance after 100 days post‐mowing. Likewise, Hemiptera and Coleoptera species richness was 30% higher 100 days after mowing. Mower width showed a positive effect on Orthoptera abundance, but not on the other arthropods. Arthropod abundance and Coleoptera species richness were lowest when a mulcher was used compared to rotary or bar mowers. In addition to mowing, intensive grazing negatively affected Orthoptera abundance but not the other orders. Mowing represents a highly disturbing and iterative stressor with negative effects on arthropod abundance and diversity, likely contributed by mowing‐induced mortality and habitat alteration. While modifications of mowing techniques such as mower type or mowing height and width may help to reduce the negative impact of mowing on arthropods, our results show that mowing itself has the most substantial negative effect. Based on our results, we suggest that reduced mowing frequency, omission of mowing in parts of the grassland (refuges), or extensive grazing instead of mowing have the greatest potential to promote arthropod populations.

中文翻译：

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割草后第二天：割草时间和类型影响草原节肢动物


许多地区和生态系统最近都记录了节肢动物丰度和多样性的丧失。在草原上，昆虫的减少很大程度上归因于土地使用，包括现代机械和割草制度。然而，不同割草技术对节肢动物的影响仍然知之甚少。利用德国 111 个农业草地地块 11 年的数据，我们分析了各种草地管理变量对四种节肢动物目（蜘蛛目、鞘翅目、半翅目和直翅目）丰度和丰度计算物种丰富度的影响。分析侧重于详细的割草信息，例如割草后的天数和割草机类型，并将其效果与草地管理的其他方面（即滚动、平整、施肥和放牧）进行比较。我们发现割草对所有四种节肢动物目都有强烈的负面影响，割草后节肢动物丰度最低，割草后 100 天后节肢动物丰度稳定增加到三到七倍。同样，割草后 100 天，半翅目和鞘翅目物种丰富度增加了 30%。割草机宽度对直翅目丰度有积极影响，但对其他节肢动物没有影响。与旋转割草机或杆式割草机相比，使用覆盖机时节肢动物丰度和鞘翅目物种丰富度最低。除了割草之外，密集放牧也对直翅目丰度产生负面影响，但对其他目没有影响。割草是一种高度令人不安和反复的压力源，对节肢动物的丰度和多样性产生负面影响，这可能是由割草引起的死亡率和栖息地改变造成的。 虽然修改割草技术（例如割草机类型或割草高度和宽度）可能有助于减少割草对节肢动物的负面影响，但我们的结果表明割草本身具有最显着的负面影响。根据我们的结果，我们认为减少割草频率、在部分草原（保护区）省略割草或以广泛放牧代替割草最有可能促进节肢动物种群数量。