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Research article2009Peer reviewed

An indicator system for identification of sites of high conservation value for saproxylic oak (Quercus spp.) beetles in southern Sweden

Jansson, Nicklas; Bergman, Karl-Olof; Jonsell, Mats; Milberg, Per

Abstract

The saproxylic beetle fauna on old oaks was sampled in four regions of southern Sweden using two methods: window and pitfall trapping. The aim was to test a way of finding indicator species which can be used to identify sites with high species number or that scored high on a conservation priority species index, based on occurrence of red-listed species. From 92 sites surveyed, in total 164 species of saproxylic beetles were identified. Different sets of indicator species were selected based upon 22 sites from a centrally located region. Predictions of species number and the index for 30 other sites from the same province were made. The correlation between observed and predicted species number and the index increased with increasing number of indicators. When comparing different treatment of species indata, the explanatory power of predictions was strongest for presence/absence data. Indicator sets of species effectively caught with pitfall traps gave overall the best predictions of both species number and the index. Predictions of species number and the index worked well within the same regions but gave varied result for the three other regions which shows that transferability of indicators between regions may be doubtful.

Keywords

Coleoptera; Beetles; Saproxylic; Quercus robur; Indicator; Species number; Prediction; Transferability

Published in

Journal of Insect Conservation
2009, Volume: 13, number: 4, pages: 399–412

      SLU Authors

      • UKÄ Subject classification

      Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use

      Publication identifier

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-008-9187-9

      Permanent link to this page (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/26103