Abstract:

Aims: Lawns in airport environments play an important role in visual navigation, noise reduction, and soil erosion prevention. However, they can also provide shelter and foraging opportunities for birds, thereby increasing the risk of bird strikes. Selecting appropriate turf species is essential for effective bird strike prevention. This study aims to evaluate the effects of Buchloe dactyloides (buffalo grass) lawns on invertebrate diversity and abundance, exploring its potential to reduce bird foraging opportunities and lower bird strike risks. 

Methods: From April to October 2023, we surveyed invertebrate diversity on six lawns at Beijing Capital International Airport (three weedy lawns and three buffalo grass lawns) using sweep metting and trapping methods. Specimens were identified to species level using taxonomic monographs. T-tests were performed to assess the significance of differences in individual counts, family-level diversity, and species-level diversity between the two lawn types. The α diversity was evaluated using the Simpson dominance index, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Pielou evenness index, and Margalef richness index. The Bray-Curtis distance was applied to assess invertebrate community similarity across different months and lawns types. 

Results: A total of 4,395 invertebrates were collected, belonging to two phyla, six classes, 15 orders, 75 families, 102 genera, and 146 species. Among them, Diptera (flies) and Hemiptera (true bugs) exhibited the highest species richness and individual abundance, respectively. The shared dominant species between both lawn types included Geocoris pallidipennis, Psammotettix alienus, Nysius sp.1, and Trigonotylus caelestialium. In buffalo grass lawns, species diversity peaked in August, with two peaks in individual numbers observed in May and August. In weedy lawns, species diversity peaked in June and August, while individual abundance was highest in June. Although weedy lawns exhibited generally higher species diversity, individual abundance, and Margalef richness index compared to buffalo grass lawns, the differences were not statistically significant. This may be due to the sampling sites and the clustered distribution of collected samples. The Bray-Curtis similarity analysis showed that species composition similarity across all month-lawn combinations ranged from moderate to extreme dissimilarity. UPGMA clustering, based on Bray-Curtis distances, grouped samples from April to July into one cluster and samples from August to October into another. However, there was no clear grouping based on lawn type, indicating that temporal variation had a greater influence on community composition that lawn type. 

Conclusion: This study suggests that buffalo grass lawns in airport environments may help reduce invertebrate abundance, thereby potentially decreasing bird foraging opportunities. However, due to limited sampling sites and range, the results were not statistically significant. Future studies should expand the sampling area and increase replicates to obtain more reliable results. Long-term monitoring and multi-year studies at airports in different regions would further clarify the effect of buffalo grass on invertebrate control, providing scientific evidence for bird strike prevention strategies.

Key words: Beijing Capital International Airport, buffalo grass, bird strike prevention, biodiversity, community composition