The fauna of cambioxylophagous insects on Scots pine trees declined after spells of drought in 2003

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The paper deals with cambioxylophagous insects on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees. Research was conducted in forest stands growing on steep slopes on the left bank of the Otava River about 1 km north of Písek. These are nearly unmanaged stands of a special-purpose function with the natural occurrence of Scots pine. In total, twenty standing trees at 60 to 160 years of age that died after the spell of drought in 2003 were analysed. The composition of the community of cambioxylophagous insects was recorded in detail. The frequencies of occurrence of particular insect species were determined. In total, 34 species of cambioxylophagous insects were recorded. The order Coleoptera was quite a dominant group and within the order bark beetles (Scolytidae) and longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) prevailed. The median of the species developing on one tree was 11. Tomicus piniperda (L.) was markedly the most frequent species with the frequency of occurrence 90%. Based on the composition of the communities of cambioxylophagous insects the potential importance of the insect in the decline of the analysed Scots pine trees was evaluated. Cambioxylophagous insects probably played a secondary role there.

Bark- and wood-boring beetles on Scots pine logging residues from final felling: effects of felling date, deposition location and diameter of logging residues

“…The number of recorded species (25) was comparable to that found on whole standing mature Scots pine trees (17 species in Finland (Väisänen et al 1993), 23 species in Poland (Zabecki 1999), and 34 species in the Czech Republic (Foit 2007(Foit , 2010). The relatively high number of species recorded in the present study might be explained by the high sun-exposure of the LRs on the clearcut area because sun-exposure favours species richness among saproxylic beetles (Bouget & Duelli 2004 (16) that was found in a similar study in the Czech Republic on shaded Scots pine LRs, which were generated by thinning (Foit 2011).…”

Factors affecting the occurrence of bark- and wood-boring beetles on Scots pine logging residues from pre-commercial thinning

“…Accordingly, the number of species found in the present study (28) was considerably higher than that reported in studies performed on other types of Scots pine LR, such as pine stumps (8 species, England, Wallace (1953); 17 species, Czech Republic, Foit (2012a)) or pine branches and tops generated through thinning or main felling (16 and 25 species respectively, Czech Republic, Foit (2011)). Moreover, the number of recorded species was comparable to that found on whole standing mature Scots pine trees (17 species, Finland, Vaisanen et al (1993)); 23 species, Poland, Zabecki (1999); 34 species, Czech Republic, Foit (2007Foit ( , 2010). Although no red-listed BWBB species were observed, the high total number of species identified within the studied insect group suggests that the overall saproxylic insect assemblages associated with these LR might be notably species rich and conservationally valuable.…”

Colonization of disturbed Scots pine trees by bark‐ and wood‐boring beetles

“…Mortality episodes have been observed mainly in inner-alpine valleys of Austria (Cech & Perny, 2000), Italy (Vertui & Tagliaferro, 1998;Vacchiano et al, 2012) and Switzerland (Dobbertin et al, 2005;Bigler et al, 2006;Wermelinger et al, 2008), as well as in the Czech Republic (Soukup & Pešková, 2004), southern France (Thabeet et al, 2009) and the Spanish Pyrenees (Galiano et al, 2010). In the case of the aforementioned Scots pine declines, drought and high temperatures were inciting factors (Dobbertin et al, 2005;Bigler et al, 2006;Galiano et al, 2010;Vacchiano et al, 2012), whereas various pathogens and bark-and wood-boring insects (BWBI) were contributing or inciting factors (Dobbertin et al, 2007;Foit, 2007;Wermelinger et al, 2008). Most of the declines can be attributed to a set of complex interacting factors (e.g.…”

“…Longterm influences, such as climate and other site conditions, are predisposing, whereas extreme weather, pathogens and insect pests may be designated as inciting or contributing factors. In the case of the aforementioned Scots pine declines, drought and high temperatures were inciting factors (Dobbertin et al, 2005;Bigler et al, 2006;Galiano et al, 2010;Vacchiano et al, 2012), whereas various pathogens and bark-and wood-boring insects (BWBI) were contributing or inciting factors (Dobbertin et al, 2007;Foit, 2007;Wermelinger et al, 2008).…”