Guidelines for the monitoring of Rosalia alpina

By

Campanaro, Alessandro
Redolfi De Zan, Lara
Hardersen, Sonke
Antonini, Gloria
Chiari, Stefano
Cini, Alessandro
Mancini, Emiliano
Mosconi, Fabio
Rossi de Gasperis, Sarah
Solano, Emanuela
Marco A., Bologna
Sabbatini Peverieri, Giuseppino

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2017

Original Publication

Nature conservation

Volume

20

Pages

165--203

Subjects

Habitats Directive , Logs , monitoring methods , saproxylic beetles , transects

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2012-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.20.12728

 

Abstract

Rosalia alpina (Linnaeus, 1758) is a large longhorn beetle (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) which is protected by the Habitats Directive and which typically inhabits beech forests characterised by the presence of mature, dead (or moribund) and sun-exposed trees. A revision of the current knowledge on systematics, ecology and conservation of R. alpina is reported. The research was carried out as part of the LIFE MIPP project which aims to find a standard monitoring method for saproxylic beetles protected in Europe. For monitoring this species, different methods were tested and compared in two areas of the Apennines, utilising wild trees, logs and tripods (artificially built with beech woods), all potentially suitable for the reproduction of the species. Even if all methods succeeded in the survey of the target species, these results showed that the use of wild trees outperformed other methods. Indeed, the use of wild trees allowed more adults to be observed and required less intensive labour. However, monitoring the rosalia longicorn on wild trees has the main disadvantage that they can hardly be considered “standard sampling units”, as each tree may be differently attractive to adults. Our results demonstrated that the most important factors influencing the attraction of single trunks were wood volume, sun-exposure and decay stage. Based on the results obtained during the project LIFE MIPP, as well as on a literature review, a standard monitoring method for R. alpina was developed.