caa a22 4500 605527334 CHVBK 20210128100807.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10531-015-0942-4 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10531-015-0942-4 Assessing the biodiversity value of wet grasslands: can selected plant and insect taxa be used as rapid indicators of species richness at a local scale? [Elektronische Daten] [Margaret Hayes, Pamela Boyle, James Moran, Michael Gormally] Sixty percent of the land surface of the Republic of Ireland is farmland of which up to 12% is estimated to sustain high species richness. Given that this farmland is predominantly pasture-based, the ecological status of semi-natural grasslands is particularly important for biodiversity. Recent studies indicate that those grasslands with high nature value (HNV) in the north-west of Ireland are wet grasslands. We investigated seven taxa as potential bioindicators of species richness of wet grassland habitats and examined how this information could be used in rapid assessment methodologies to identify areas of HNV. Grasses, sedges, rushes, ground beetles (Coleoptera) and marsh flies (Diptera) were identified to species and Diptera to parataxonomic units. Sedges was the most significantly correlated taxon with overall species richness of the remaining taxa. In addition, ten combinations of taxa revealed significant positive correlations with the remaining species richness of which sedges and carabids combined showed the strongest correlation. Our data indicate the appropriateness of using more than one taxon in rigorous studies to reflect the overall species richness of wet grasslands. Nevertheless, the use of a single taxon or a combination of two taxa has a useful role to play in the rapid identification, protection and future monitoring of species-rich wet grasslands where taxonomic and financial resources for rigorous studies are limited. We discuss this in the context of agri-environmental schemes and HNV farmland identification. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2015 Sedges nationallicence Carabidae nationallicence Grasslands nationallicence Bioindicators nationallicence Rapid assessment nationallicence Hayes Margaret Applied Ecology Unit, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland aut Boyle Pamela Department of Environmental Science, Centre for Environmental Research Innovation and Sustainability, School of Science, Institute of Technology, Ash Lane, Sligo, Ireland aut Moran James Department of Environmental Science, Centre for Environmental Research Innovation and Sustainability, School of Science, Institute of Technology, Ash Lane, Sligo, Ireland aut Gormally Michael Applied Ecology Unit, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland aut Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/10(2015-09-01), 2535-2549 0960-3115 24:10<2535 2015 24 10531 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0942-4 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0942-4 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hayes Margaret Applied Ecology Unit, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Boyle Pamela Department of Environmental Science, Centre for Environmental Research Innovation and Sustainability, School of Science, Institute of Technology, Ash Lane, Sligo, Ireland aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Moran James Department of Environmental Science, Centre for Environmental Research Innovation and Sustainability, School of Science, Institute of Technology, Ash Lane, Sligo, Ireland aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Gormally Michael Applied Ecology Unit, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/10(2015-09-01), 2535-2549 0960-3115 24:10<2535 2015 24 10531