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Effect of land-use history and site-specific environmental factors on solitary bees and flower beetles in clear-cuts of boreal coniferous forest

Land-use history has been recognized as an important factor in shaping biological communities in clear-cuts. Many solitary bees and flower beetles (Cerambycidae: Lepturinae) are commonly found in clear-cuts, which serve as early successional habitats. I analyzed the effect of land-use history on the abundance and species richness, as well as the preference for land-use history in specific species, of solitary bees and flower beetles in coniferous clear-cuts in southern Sweden. Additionally, the effect of site-specific environmental factors was examined. Insects were caught with blue, white and yellow pan-traps in 48 clear-cuts, of which half were meadow and half were forest in the 1870s. With few exceptions, the species found did not show preference for any land-use history. Furthermore, land-use history had no significant effect on the abundance or species richness of solitary bees or flower beetles. This may be due to pan-traps being less attractive in flower-rich locations, a bias in the sampling method. However, species richness and abundance of solitary bees was higher in young clear-cuts (2-4 years old), probably best explained by more exposed soil and higher frequencies of flowering plants in newer clear-cuts. Abundance of flower beetles was higher in old clear-cuts (6-8 years old). This may be due to larger amounts of more strongly decomposed wood in older clear-cuts, which is used in the flower beetles´ larval development. I conclude that solitary bees are likely to benefit if clear-cuts, particularly with meadow history, are kept more open by introducing disturbance regimes, as suggested by previous studies.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-119821
Date January 2015
CreatorsEriksson, Victor
PublisherLinköpings universitet, Biologi, Linköpings universitet, Tekniska fakulteten
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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