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The species richness of click beetles in ancient pasture woodland benefits from a high level of sun exposure

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Abstract

Forests support high concentrations of species and beetles in particular are often used to evaluate forest biodiversity. Ancient pasture woodlands are facing a major decline in Europe mainly due to the abandonment of traditional management and subsequent succession. We studied click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae) in one of the largest central-European remnants of pasture woodland in Lány Game Park (Czech Republic) using flight interception traps placed at standing veteran trees. The gradient of sun-exposure, circumference of stem, height and vitality of tree and tree species were studied in relation to the species richness of click beetles and their ecological groups. Total species richness reached nearly one half of the recently documented fauna in the study area and species accumulations showed us that the majority of species were represented. Most species preferred solitary trees in sun-exposed habitats and avoided shaded trees in closed canopies. The same results were obtained for ecological groups, such as saproxylic and non-saproxylic species, functional groups and guilds. Our results showed that the species richness of one of the most ecologically diverse beetle families, click beetles, benefits from a high level of sun exposure. Thus, the long spatial and temporal continuity of sun-exposed veteran trees could be a good predictor for sustainable forest management.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the zoologist of PLA Křivoklátsko A. Hoffmannová, and all of the forest and game managers in the Lány Game Park (LS Lány), especially J. Janda, M. Štrunc, L. Frank and Š. Stanický for their deeply kind support during our study and the permission to access the study sites. E. Chumanová helped with the statistical analyses, A. Kohutka helped in the field, Z.F. Fric had many good ideas for improving this manuscript, T. Rose reviewed the English, two anonymous reviewers provided many good suggestions and editor provided a very careful final revision of the text. This project was funded by the contract PPK-2a/24/10 of non-governmental organization Lesák, o.s. (www.lesak.eu) and a grant from the CZ Ministry of Environment MSM 6293359101 of VÚKOZ, v.v.i. (www.vukoz.cz).

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  1. Karel Rébl

    Present address: , Žižkovo náměstí 976, 27101, Nové Strašecí, Czech Republic

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  1. Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, Květnové náměstí 391, 25243, Průhonice, Czech Republic

    Jakub Horák

  2. Lesák, Arnošta z Pardubic 2597, 53002, Pardubice, Czech Republic

    Karel Rébl

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Horák, J., Rébl, K. The species richness of click beetles in ancient pasture woodland benefits from a high level of sun exposure. J Insect Conserv 17, 307–318 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-012-9511-2

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