Information on the dispersal ability of flightless insect species associated with woodlands is severely lacking. Therefore, a study was conducted examining the dispersal ability of wood cricket (Nemobius sylvestris) juveniles (nymphs) and adults in a wooded landscape on the Isle of Wight, UK, to further our understanding of the ecology and management of this and other flightless insects. A series of experiments were conducted where nymphs and adults were released and observed at a range of spatial-temporal scales within different habitat environments. The results of this investigation indicated no difference in the dispersal ability of wood cricket nymphs and adults. However, adult females moved less than adult males. Adult males were found to spread twice as fast as females, and males were found capable of traversing up to 55 m away from woodland habitat through semi-natural and grazed grassland. Additionally, rates of population spread of both wood cricket nymphs and adults (males and females) were found to be accurately described by the inverse-power function, predicting only few individuals dispersing over time. Together this indicates that overall colonization success and rate of population spread, being female dependent, is likely to be low for this species. Wood crickets were found to live in and able to move along mature woodland edges directly bordering agricultural land. This indicates that conservation initiatives focusing on creating woodland corridors and developing woodland habitat networks have the potential to facilitate the spread and population viability of wood crickets, if the woodland edges are given enough time to develop. However, long-term monitoring is needed to evaluate the overall effectiveness of such approaches. and Niels C. BROUWERS, Adrian C. NEWTON, Sallie BAILEY.
Food webs are of crucial importance for understanding any ecosystem. The accuracy of food web and ecosystem models rests on the reliability of the information on the feeding habits of the species involved. Water boatmen (Corixoidea) is the most diverse superfamily of water bugs (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha), frequently the most abundant group of insects in a variety of freshwater habitats worldwide. In spite of their high biomass, the importance of water boatmen in aquatic ecosystems is frequently underestimated. The diet and feeding habits of Corixoidea are unclear as published data are frequently contradictory. We summarise information on the feeding habits of this taxon, which exemplify the difficulties in evaluating published data on feeding habits in an invertebrate taxon. It is concluded that Corixoidea are, unlike other true bugs, capable of digesting solid food, but their feeding habits are still insufficiently known. The dominant feeding strategy in this taxon is zoophagy, but several species consume other foods, particularly algae and detritus. Only members of the subfamily Cymatiainae seem to be exclusively predators. In other subfamilies, the diet of different species and different sexes or populations of a single species may vary depending on the food available or is still unknown. We conclude, that a multi-method approach is needed to elucidate the feeding habits of aquatic insects and invertebrates in general., Christian W. Hädicke, Dávid Rédei, Petr Kment., and Obsahuje bibliografii
This study determined the scale of the phoresy of mesostigmatid mite by Ips typographus. Thirty pheromone traps in the Karkonosze National Park (Poland) caught 10,575 bark beetles on which there were 2,388 mesostigmatid mites belonging to eight species. The most numerous mites were Dendrolaelaps quadrisetus (1076 ind.) and Trichouropoda polytricha (1067 ind.). and Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz, Jacek Kamczyc, Jerzy Bloszyk.
One new genus with two new fossil species, Pumilanthocoris gracilis gen. n. sp. n. and P. obesus gen. n. sp. n., which were found in the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China, are described and illustrated. These are the earliest fossil records of Vetanthocoridae., Wejing Hou ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Herbivory on liverworts is rarely reported. We studied the effects of feeding by larvae of the sciarid fly Scatopsciara cunicularius on the growth of the thalloid liverwort Marchantia polymorpha at two different constant temperatures, 12°C and 22°C. Larvae reared at the lower temperature fed slower and over a longer period of time, which resulted in more damage and a greater reduction in the growth of the liverwort than that caused by those reared at the higher temperature. The reduction in growth of the liverwort was positively density-dependent in terms of number of larvae at both temperatures. These results indicate that the larvae of S. cunicularius are likely to be an effective means of controlling M. polymorpha, which is a common weed in plant nurseries and greenhouse cultures., Weerachon Sawangproh, Johan Ekroos, Nils Cronberg., and Obsahuje bibliografii
We studied the effect of flooding on a carabid community inhabiting grassland in a large river valley (W Poland). We used pitfall-traps to catch beetles from April to November 1999–2001. Some of the samples collected were preceded by floods during the collecting period, which enabled us to evaluate the effects of flooding on species composition and abundance. We collected 17,722 individuals belonging to 108 species. The number of species and individuals per sample differed between plots and showed a nonlinear decrease over time, from spring to autumn. Carabids were more abundant in samples collected after floods than in the control samples. In contrast, the expected cumulative number of species as a function of the number of individuals collected was lower in samples collected after floods than in the control samples. In the case of the most abundant species the species-specific responses in terms of the numbers caught after flooding differed, with those of (e.g. Agonum micans) increasing and those of (Amara plebeja, Epaphius secalis) decreasing. This study shows that floods filter the community with the result that some species increase in abundance but the overall species richness decreases. Therefore natural floods are important in shaping the structure of communities of epigeic carabids on floodplains., Pawel Sienkiewicz, Michal Zmihorski., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The average soil temperature was significantly lower in plots covered with hay. Hay mulching, however, did not increase significantly the total number of soil micro-arthropods collected using a soil pin trap and a soil sampler. Significant increases in the number of individuals was recorded only for certain groups. 64% of all the arthropods collected using soil pin traps were collected in hay-covered plots and 36% in control plots. This increase was statistically significant for the orders Entomobryomorpha and Poduromorpha of the subclass Collembola and surface-dwelling (epigeic) Coleoptera. For the samples collected using the soil sampler, 57% of the specimens were collected from hay-covered plots and 43% from control plots. As for the pin traps this was reflected in differences in the numbers of the orders Entomobrhyomorpha and Poduromorpha of the subclass Collembola and Pauropoda, collected in the treated and control plots. We conclude that mulching affected the different arthropod groups differently., Péter Dudás, László Menyhárt, Csongor Gedeon, Gergely Aambrus, Ferenc Tóth., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The relative effects of two components of mountain environmental heterogeneity, altitude (1500, 1700 and 2000 m a.s.l.) and habitat (pastures, coniferous forests, wet meadows, scrub and anthropogenic woods) on the diversity of dung beetles in an Italian alpine valley were determined. The additive gamma diversity analysis indicated that differences among habitats (ßH) were always smaller than those among altitudes (ßA), irrespective of the measures used; it also showed that the contribution of ßA to γ-diversity was higher than expected by chance for all the measures of species diversity used, whereas the contribution of ßH was significantly higher in the case of one measure only. Generalized linear models confirmed that altitude was the most important factor associated with local diversity, with all the diversity parameters considered progressively and significantly increasing with increasing altitude. Indicator species analyses revealed that dung beetle altitudinal and habitat diversity patterns depended on local choice of species, with preferences for altitudinal levels being more numerous and apparent than those for habitats. Despite the minor effect of habitat differences, comparing a three-habitat with a single-habitat scenario it was possible to demonstrate that greater habitat heterogeneity is associated with a significantly greater diversity of dung beetles. This study suggests that preservation of local environmental heterogeneity by means of traditional pastoral activities should be encouraged as a means of conserving the diversity of dung beetle species in the Alps. and Matteo NEGRO, Claudia PALESTRINI, Maria Teresa GIRAUDO, Antonio ROLANDO.
Pitfall trapping is the most frequently used sampling technique for epigeal arthropods. Trap design could significantly affect the catch so the results of studies using different trap designs may be difficult to compare. Although species composition is frequently investigated in ecological studies, however when pitfall trapping is employed, the effect of trap design on the recorded species composition is rarely considered. In the present study, we investigated the effect of trap construction (funnel or cup trap) and the preservative used (formaldehyde or propylene glycol) on total catch, catch of particular species, species richness and species composition of the ground beetle assemblage sampled. We were interested in the extent to which trap design could bias these characteristics. Total catch was significantly affected by trap construction and preservative used, with the effect of the latter being the stronger. Species richness was only slightly affected by trap design when assemblages caught by traps of a particular type were corrected for unequal sample size. Moreover, we show that the traps of different designs differ in their efficiency for catching particular species of carabid and thus the composition of assemblages recorded using pitfall traps is affected by trap construction and the preservative used. We conclude that to assess the full significance of the effect of pitfall trap design on the results of ecological studies on epigeal arthropods it is necessary to simultaneously use traps of various designs., Michal Knopp, Jan Růžička., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Environmental degradation caused by climate change greatly affects the forest ecosystems of the Mediterranean region, in particular the sclerophyllous Quercus forests typical of central and southern Spain. An important pest that damages oak trees in this area is Coraebus florentinus (Herbst), a heliophilous and thermophilous insect whose survival could be favoured by the temperature increase associated with climate change. The main objective of this paper was to determine the effect of temperature on the duration and percentage survival of the preimaginal stage of C. florentinus and provide data for determining more precisely when to control for this pest by applying silvicultural techniques. The experiment included six treatments, with 25 branches infested with C. florentinus in each of the treatments, which were kept at different temperatures over the range 15–28°C. The results clearly support the hypothesis that higher temperatures affect the post-larval development of C. florentinus by increasing the percentage survival and shortening the developmental time. In fact, partial correlations confirm that the highest percentages of emergence and survival were recorded when the developmental times were shortest, which occurred at the highest temperatures used. Despite the clear influence of temperature on the development of the preimaginal stage of C. florentinus, additional trials are required to accurately determine future trends in C. florentinus populations. Accordingly, it is necessary to develop monitoring programs in zones affected by C. florentinus and to apply scheduled management techniques that ensure the control of this species., Ana M. Cárdenas, Patricia Gallardo., and Obsahuje seznam literatury