title: Centipede assemblages along an urbanization gradient in the city of Heraklion, Crete (Greece).
abstract: Global urbanization is a major force that causes alteration and loss of natural habitats. Urban ecosystems are strongly affected by humans and there is a gradient of decreasing human influence from city centers to natural habitats. To study ecological changes along this continuum, researchers introduced the urban-rural gradient approach. The responses of centipedes to an urbanization gradient (urban-suburban-rural areas) were studied using pitfall traps in and near the city of Heraklion, in the island of Crete, Greece, from November 2010 to November 2011. Our results do not support the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, in which suburban areas located in the transitional zone between urban and rural habitats failed to indicate significant increase in terms of species richness and diversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Crete, GR-71100 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Papastefanou
authors.affiliation: Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Knossos Av., PO Box 2208, GR-71409 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Panayiotou
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Crete, GR-71100 Heraklion, Crete, Greece ; Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Knossos Av., PO Box 2208, GR-71409 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: Moisis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mylonas
authors.affiliation: Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Knossos Av., PO Box 2208, GR-71409 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: Stylianos Michail
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Simaiakis
keywords: Abundance; Eupolybothruslitoralis; Lithobiusnigripalpis; Scolopendracretica; Scutigeracoleoptrata; activity density; pitfall traps; spatial distribution; species diversity; temporal distribution