Red Data Book invertebrates in a protected area of European Russia

Abstract

Protected Areas are considered as primary efforts for biodiversity conservation worldwide. However, there is a lack of data on the biodiversity and threats for most of the federal-level Russian Protected Areas, especially for invertebrates. Intensive research on invertebrate diversity in Protected Areas is highly important to obtain comprehensive knowledge for the management of natural refugia of biodiversity. In the present paper, we studied the most vulnerable component of invertebrate diversity, i.e. the Red Data Book species, in the Mordovia State Nature Reserve (European Russia). We used both new (2007-2018) and literature (1936-2006) data to obtain information on habitat preferences, year of the first record, and spatial distribution in the Protected Area for 121 invertebrate Red Data Book species known from the Mordovia State Nature Reserve. Our study demonstrated a remarkable increase in the Red Data Book invertebrate diversity as a consequence of the research intensification in the Protected Area in the last ten years. This is also related to the fact that only 1-2 records are known for a large number of species (57.9%) within the Protected Area. The highest species richness was found close to the research stations (cordons). On one hand, this highlights their significance for biodiversity research. On the other hand, it outlines the need for performing more research in less-studied areas of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve. Finally, the species currently known for Mordovia and Russia only from this Protected Area (27 and four species, respectively) highlight the importance of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve at regional and national levels.

Usage of Fermental Traps for the Study of the Species Diversity of Coleoptera

“…Forests are biologically diverse ecosystems that represent some of the richest communities of living organisms on Earth. Due to the diversity of these ecosystems, they are home to a significant species diversity of insects [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. While many insect species thrive, some forest species are on the verge of extinction due to forest degradation, pollution, fragmentation, changes in tree composition, climate change, and other factors, such as fires, tree felling, and draining [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”

Checklist of the Coleoptera of Mordovia State Nature Reserve, Russia

“…The Mordovia State Nature Reserve is a unique refugium of forest that has been little affected by human activity for many centuries ( Ruchin and Khapugin 2019 ). This has preserved very rare species that are known from single records in the center of the European part of Russia: Ilybius wasastjernae ( Dytiscidae ), Aleochara falcata , Alevonota egregia , Atheta sequanica , Bledius fergussoni , Gyrophaena nitidula and Sepedophilus binotatus ( Staphylinidae ), Agrilus kaluganus ( Buprestidae ), Isorhipis melasoides ( Eucnemidae ), Denticollis rubens and Ampedus nigerrimus ( Elateridae ), Erotides nasutus and Lopheros lineatus ( Lycidae ), Allonyx quadrimaculatus ( Cleridae ), Ipidia sexguttata ( Nitidulidae ), Cucujus cinnaberinus ( Cucujidae ), Clemmus troglodytes ( Anamorphidae ), Phryganophilus pseudauritus ( Melandryidae ), Diaclina fagi ( Tenebrionidae ), Leptura aurulenta , …”

“…The Mordovia State Nature Reserve is important for the conservation of rare Coleoptera species. It is home to eight species listed in the Red book of the Russian Federation ( Ruchin and Kurmaeva 2010 , Ruchin and Egorov 2017b , Ruchin and Khapugin 2019 , Egorov and Ruchin 2020 ): Dytiscus latissimus , Trypocopris vernalis , Ceruchus chrysomelinus , Osmoderma barnabita , Protaetia speciosissima , Protaetia fieberi , Elater ferrugineus and Melandrya barbata . Trypocopris vernalis , Elater ferrugineus and Melandrya barbata are only found only in the territory of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve within the Republic of Mordovia.…”

Usage of Fermental Traps for Studying the Species Diversity of Coleoptera

“…Previously, such traps were recommended for use in the study of rare insect species [46]. For example, we present the results of the study of rare species of Coleoptera, which are included or recommended in the Red Books of some regions [6,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71] and Red Data Book of Russia [72] (Table 2). Table 2.…”

“…Forests are biologically diverse ecosystems that represent some of the richest communities of living organisms on Earth. Due to the diversity of these ecosystems, they are home to a significant species and diversity of insects [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. While many insect species thrive, some forest species are on the verge of extinction due to forest degradation, pollution, fragmentation, changes in tree composition, climate change, and other factors, such as fires, tree felling, and draining [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16].…”