The LIFE Project “Monitoring of insects with public participation” (MIPP): aims, methods and conclusions

Abstract

The Life Project “Monitoring of insects with public participation” (LIFE11 NAT/IT/000252) had as the main objective to develop and test methods for the monitoring of five beetle species listed in the Annexes of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC): Osmodermaeremita (hermit beetle, Scarabaeidae), Lucanuscervus (European stag beetle, Lucanidae), Cerambyxcerdo (great capricorn beetle, Cerambycidae), Rosaliaalpina (rosalia longicorn, Cerambycidae) and Morimusasper/funereus (morimus longicorn, Cerambycidae). The data gathered represent an important contribution to the monitoring of these target species in Italy. The methods developed for monitoring of the target species are intended for use by the local management authorities and staff of protected areas. These developed methods are the result of extensive fieldwork and ensure scientific validity, ease of execution and limited labour costs. The detailed description of methods and the results for each species are published in separate articles of this special issue of Nature Conservation. A second objective of the project was to gather faunistic data with a Citizen Science approach, using the web and a mobile application software (app) specifically built for mobile devices. The validation of the records collected by the citizens was carried out by experts, based on photographs, which were obligatory for all records. Dissemination activities represented the principal way to contact and engage citizens for the data collection and also offered the possibility of providing information on topics such as Natura 2000, the Habitats Directive, the role of monitoring in nature conservation, the importance of forest ecosystems and the ecological role of the saproxylic insects. An innovative method tested during the project was the training of a dog for searching and monitoring the elusive hermit beetle; the trained dog also added a “curiosity” factor to attract public attention towards this rare insect and the issues mentioned above.

Monitoring of the saproxylic beetle Morimus asper funereus Mulsant, 1862 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Măcin Mountains National Park, Romania

“…At a European level, it has been shown that this silvicolous species prefers semishaded and semi-open habitats characteristic of mature and old forests (Jurc et al 2008, Solano et al 2013, Carpaneto et al 2017). According to Rossi de Gasperis et al 2016, this species showed a preference for huge fallen trees, branches on the ground, a low percentage of debarked surface and high canopy closure.…”

“…Our investigation mainly targeted large trees (both alive and degraded), stumps and fallen trunks, as the most favourable woody material to host individuals from the investigated species (Jurc et al 2008, Fusu et al 2015, Carpaneto et al 2017 (Fig. 2).…”

“…Climate data were recorded at the starting point of each monitored transect, on every occasion when we went in the field (Table 1). Correlations between the number of individuals observed and the environmental parameters were also considered, in order to provide some practical indications for the monitoring (Carpaneto et al 2017).…”

A first assessment of genetic variability in the longhorn beetleRosalia alpina(Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) from the Italian Apennines

“…Collection of individuals was performed during the monitoring of R. alpina carried out in the framework of the EU LIFE-MIPP Project (Campanaro et al 2017;Carpaneto et al 2017;Rossi De Gasperis et al 2017) in two Italian National Parks (also "Sites of Community Importance" or SCI): "Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Faltenora e Campigna" National Park (hereafter abbreviated as "FC"; SCI: IT4080001), located in the Northern Apennines (Forlì-Cesena and Arezzo provinces), and "Abruzzo Lazio e Molise" National Park (hereafter abbreviated as "PA"; SCI: IT7110205), located in the Central Apennines (L'Aquila, Isernia and Frosinone provinces). The distance between the two areas is about 250 km.…”

“…The study area within the FC corresponded to the locality "Foresta della Lama" (700 m asl; 43.4312°N, 11.8381°E), characterized by closed forests dominated by Fagus sylvatica and Abies alba. In PA, three sub-areas were selected: "Difesa di Pescasseroli" (DP; 1300 m asl; 41.8461°N, 13.8600°E), and "Val Fondillo" (VF; 1200 m asl; 41.7841°N, 13.9563°E), characterized by pure beech forests with wide clearings and old growth trees (the distance between these two subareas is about 6.5 km); and "Zio Mas" (ZM; 1700 m asl; 42.0802°N, 14.0566°E), characterized by fragmented beech woodlands interspersed among open mountain grasslands (distant~10 and 30 km from VF and DP, respectively; for more detail on the ecological features of the sampling areas see Carpaneto et al 2017). The sample tissues for molecular analysis were obtained over a 2year sampling period (2014-2015, during July and August), from specimens caught on trees along specific sampling transects (for details on positions of "wild trees" and the areas covered by the sampling transects, see figs 6 and 7 in Campanaro et al 2017).…”