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Boxes mimicking tree hollows can help conservation of saproxylic beetles

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Abstract

Old hollow trees have declined in Europe and many saproxylic (i.e. wood-dwelling) invertebrates living on them are threatened. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent artificial habitats can be exploited by saproxylic beetles. To mimic the conditions in tree hollows, we constructed wooden boxes filled with different combinations of substrates like oak saw dust, oak leaves, a dead hen (Gallus domesticus), chicken dung, lucerne flour or potatoes and placed them on tree trunks. To investigate the importance of distance from dispersal sources, we placed boxes at different distances (0–1,800 m) from three species-rich sites with high densities of hollow oaks. Over 3 years, 3,423 specimens of 105 saproxylic beetle species were caught in 47 boxes. Among beetles found in hollow oaks that were either tree-hollow species, bird nest species, or wood rot species, 70% were also found in the boxes. A dead hen added to the artificial wood mould gave a higher number of beetle specimens. The number of species associated with tree hollows in oak decreased with distance from sites with hollow oaks. In conclusion, the prospects for using artificial environments for boosting substrate availability, or to fill spatial and temporal gaps therein, for saproxylic beetles are good.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the land owners at Sturefors, Bjärka Säby and Brokind for letting us use their oaks in this study and Bobergs Valltork for the lucern flour. We would like to thank Kenneth Claesson and Annika Forslund with family for helping us with the field work and entomologists for help with identification of some of the species: Stig Lundberg, Rickard Andersson, Arne Ekström, Stanislav Snäll and Hans Bartsch. We would also like to thank Ted Green for interesting and fruitful discussions about creating artificial hollows and wood mould. Financial support for this project came from Stiftelsen Eklandskapet i Linköpings kommun, Stiftelsen Oscar och Lili Lamms minne, Larsénska Fonden and The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas, to Thomas Ranius’ project “Metapopulation dynamics of invertebrates associated with dead wood types differing in patch dynamics”).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IFM Biology, Division of Ecology, Linköping University, 581 83, Linköping, Sweden

    Nicklas Jansson, Anna Larsson & Per Milberg

  2. Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Thomas Ranius

  3. Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7043, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Per Milberg

Authors
  1. Nicklas Jansson
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  2. Thomas Ranius
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  3. Anna Larsson
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  4. Per Milberg
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Correspondence to Nicklas Jansson.

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Jansson, N., Ranius, T., Larsson, A. et al. Boxes mimicking tree hollows can help conservation of saproxylic beetles. Biodivers Conserv 18, 3891–3908 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-009-9687-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-009-9687-2

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