Boreal forests undergo rapid transformation from more or less intact states to even-aged production stands, due to the expanding clearcutting practice. Deepened knowledge on how species diversity and composition vary with local resource availability, such as dead wood, as well with remaining never clearcut forest (having long continuity = ‘continuity forest’) in the surrounding...
The recently created Vjosa Wild River National Park sets precedence at the European scale to protect a rare river ecosystem and, at the same time, the last refuge of the almost extinct mayfly Prosopistoma pennigerum (Müller 1785, Fig. 1). We extensively searched for the species in the Vjosa and five abiotically similar but fragmented surrounding rivers. To characterize the...
The conservation of insects, particularly endangered species such as the Apollo butterfly, is a pressing global concern. Understanding the habitat requirements and factors influencing species occupancy is crucial for designing effective conservation strategies. We focused on investigating the habitat characteristics expected to affect the occupancy of the nationally endangered...
For effective conservation management of endangered taxa, it is important to define operational units for conservation. In the absence of detailed genetic analyses, morphology-based taxonomy is often used as a surrogate. The Apollo butterfly, Parnassius apollo, is one of the most endangered butterfly species in Europe (considered as a flagship species) with 26 subspecies rank...
Most Pamphagidae species are at risk of being endangered due to their flightlessness, low mobility, and small habitat range. For the same reason, Haplotropis brunneriana (Orthoptera: Pamphagidae) has been designated an endangered species in South Korea. Endangered species with small populations are difficult to observe and investigate because any damage or disturbance to them are...
Originally, the coastal region of East Africa was largely covered with coastal forest. With the human settlement, the majority of these forests have been transformed into agricultural land for subsistence farming. Today, only small and geographically isolated forest remnants exist and form a mosaic of different habitat types, including natural, semi-natural and anthropogenic ones...
Ground-nesting bees are susceptible to disturbances that affect foraging resources, vegetation structure and soil characteristics. We studied the effects of 12 invasive alien plant species on environmental variables and directly on ground-nesting bees to reveal their specific importance. We sampled bees along transects; flowers, vegetation, bare ground and litter in quadrats, as...
Odonates are widely considered to be bioindicators of freshwater habitat quality. Somatochlora arctica (Corduliidae) is commonly found across Eurasia, predominantly in North and Central Europe, but in the UK, it has a restricted range and is listed as near threatened despite a large, potential habitat availability. Across their range, larvae are found in Sphagnum-filled bog pools...
The high Andean mountains are ecosystems subject to high human pressure activities, resulting in disturbed areas increasingly dominating the landscapes. However, there needs to have more knowledge about the contributions of different vegetation coverages and species to global diversity at the local level. For three consecutive years, we studied a guild of fruit-feeding...
Renewable energies are a major tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. Among renewables, solar parks are a key technology and their expansion will strongly increase in the future. Hence, there is a great need for research regarding their impact on biodiversity. In this study, we investigated the importance of three solar parks in northern Germany as...
Most species co-evolve with their predators and develop strategies to avoid predation. This is not possible when a novel predator invades an environment. Native residents must quickly adapt to their new predator or face local extinction. Intense competition for mating opportunities exerts significant selective pressure that can drive the evolution of exaggerated structures across...
The two main goals of peatland restoration are habitat improvement and climate change mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from damaged peatlands and providing a net carbon sink. The biodiversity of specialist peatland species is threatened because of habitat destruction and the large heath butterfly Coenonympha tullia has become a flagship species for peatland...
As urban land use expands, understanding the conservation of biodiversity in urban settings becomes increasingly important. Urban areas contain a wide range of remnant natural, semi-natural and anthropogenic woodlands but the biodiversity of these woodlands is not well studied. Urban woodlands are usually constrained in size and subject to management which may not be focused on...
In the NW-European region of Flanders (northern Belgium), wet heathlands harbour several threatened species among which the emblematic Alcon Blue butterfly Phengaris alcon is rapidly declining. Since 1990, the number of occupied grid cells in Flanders has decreased from 61 to only six in 2023, a decline of 90%. Due to the loss of many populations, the mean distance between...
Anthropophony is a prominent component of soundscapes worldwide and is known to impact biota. While responses to anthropophony in terrestrial and marine animals have been relatively well-studied, there is still a lack of knowledge regarding freshwater animals. In fact, freshwater taxa are among the possibly most threatened groups, and unveiling the reasons for their threat is...
With the increasing awareness of biodiversity loss, the demand for standardized monitoring is also growing. Moths are a species rich group and can easily be monitored with traps. However the traps have to be portable to cover remote areas. The disadvantage of the commonly used Heath trap are heavy batteries and the unreliable actinic is not very energy efficient. Therefore we...
Citizen Science projects aim to make data entry as easy as possible and often provide online data recording or data recording with an App. However, many participants cannot or do not want to use these possibilities and record their data the “old-fashioned” way with pen on paper. We ask whether the quality of data recorded in the “old-fashioned” way (transect walkers record their...
As evidence of global insect declines continues to mount, insect conservationists are becoming increasingly interested in modeling the demographic history of at-risk species from long-term survey data. However, certain entomological survey methods may be susceptible to temporal biases that will complicate these efforts. Entomological light traps, in particular, may catch fewer...
Invasions of alien plants often result in biodiversity loss and may impact the biology of native species. However, the effects of biological invasions on the behavioural responses of native species have rarely been investigated. We studied how the alteration of habitat due to the invasion of alien goldenrod (Solidago spp) affects a native butterfly, the scarce large blue...
Orchid bee species are important pollinators in the Neotropics. While male orchid bees are known to have a close interaction with odor-rewarding flowers, orchid bee females are often pollen generalists. In the current study, we investigated differences in the pollen diet diversity of orchid bees in various vegetation types and across sites with varying levels of forest cover by...
Insects and arachnids are abundant and diverse, respond to key human impacts and support a diversity of key ecological functions. They are therefore widely recognised as effective surrogates for ecosystem condition. Their efficacy as indicators and surrogates in coastal dunes has, however, rarely been quantified, but might be instructive in guiding management in these often...
Climate change has led to changes in the phenology of Lepidoptera species. While phenological shifts have been previously measured for moth species in England and Wales, the drivers of these shifts are not well known. Here, we use data from the National Moth Recording Scheme and the Garden Moth Scheme to investigate the drivers of phenology in 149 moth species over a 50 year...
Insect habitat specialists have declined more than generalists over the last decades. Understanding how habitat requirements and increased climate variability interact to explain persistence of populations is needed to enable effective conservation measures. Habitat specialists with a complex life cycle, such as myrmecophilous butterflies, are likely to be most vulnerable. Here...