| Summary
Conservation biologists struggles to maintain the landscape as a whole with all the different habitats that are harboured within. Old trees with hollows are vital habitats for many endangered species. This habitat is declining due to a management not favouring old trees in agricultural lands, productions forests and urban areas. This has created a lack of hollow trees in both time and space in many landscapes. This study will evaluate if artificial habitats could be used as substitutes for these decreasing habitats and thus create a more stable ecosystem in landscapes with deficiencies in the oak population. For ten years 47 boxes, filled with artificial wood mould, hung on oaks in different distances from species rich oak areas. Samples taken after three and ten years in the boxes will be examined to see if they could be used as temporal and/or spatial habitats for endangered species. The project will evaluate if 1) species can utilize the boxes for colonization and if the species composition change over time, 2) if spatial distances affects the composition of colonized species. The sampling is made already so the work in this thesis will comprise sorting and determination of beetles. The species data from the boxes will then be compared with species data from studies of real hollow trees in the same region. The knowledge from this study can hopefully provide a great tool for management of already damage and fragmented landscapes for conservation of saproxylic invertebrates in hollow trees.
Utförlig projektplan finns bifogat som PDF-fil. |