Ecology Research Group
Institute of Zoology and Anthropology Klaus Hövemeyer |
Research Interests
Community Ecology of Diptera
My research in this field is based on catches from emergence traps. I am interested in analyses of community structure and the determinants of ecological diversity in dipteran communities. For example, data from the Göttingen beech forest suggest that differences in temporal activity patterns and morphological features of adults can account for the coexistence of dance fly species (Empididae & Hybotidae) in this habitat (Hövemeyer 1987). I conducted further emergence trap studies in an oak-hornbeam forest, an alder-willow forest, on a meadow and in the hedgerows surrounding it. Most dipteran families were identified to species and community structure described (Hövemeyer 1996a,b, 1997). Data from all the habitats studied were used to test the hypothesis that species density of Diptera on a small scale should increase with heterogeneity of the litter input. This prediction applied to some saprophagous groups but not to zoophages (Hövemeyer 1999). It seems likely that the diversity of this trophic group is more strongly influenced by the heterogeneity of above-ground structures utilized by the winged adults than by habitat heterogeneity or prey diversity encountered by their soil-dwelling larvae. This finding hints at the importance to look at trophic or ecological groups (or guilds) separately in studies trying to relate diversity to environmental factors.
HÖVEMEYER, K. (1999): Diversity patterns in terrestrial dipteran communities. Journal of Animal Ecology 68: 400-416. HÖVEMEYER, K. (1997): Die Dipterengemeinschaft eines südniedersächsischen Eichen-Hainbuchenwaldes. Göttinger Naturkundliche Schriften 4: 137-150. HÖVEMEYER, K. (1996a): Die Dipterengemeinschaften eines Halbtrockenrasens und einer Hecke im südniedersächsischen Bergland: eine vergleichende Untersuchung. Drosera '96: 113-127. HÖVEMEYER, K. (1996b): Die Dipterengemeinschaft eines Erlenuferwaldes im südniedersächsischen Harzvorland. Braunschweiger Naturkundliche Schriften 5: 71-84. HÖVEMEYER, K. (1987): Die Tanzfliegen (Diptera, Empididae) eines Kalkbuchenwaldes: Koexistenz der Arten. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für allgemeine und angewandte Entomologie 5: 49-52. |
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