The Coleoptera diversity in the Giroc forest, part of the site Natura 2000 Lunca Timisului, Romania
Abstract
The site Natura 2000 Lunca Timisului conserves habitats and species of Community interest, on more than 10 thousand hectares, in West of Romania, a considerable surface of the protected area (60%), being covered by forests. Giroc forest is a part of the site Natura 2000 Lunca Timisului, which covers 256 ha, at altitude of 90 m, composed by following species: oak, ash, hornbeam, field maple, with mean age of 114 years for oak, 73 years for ash, 65 years for hornbeam and 79 years for field maple. Due to their major beneficial role in the ecosystem as a whole and, implicitly, in the forest ecosystem, knowledge of insect species diversity and the size of their populations is an essential element in describing the quality of the habitat, the living environment. Knowing that the anthropic influence in the Giroc forest is substantial and appreciating that climatic changes can influence insect species diversity, we set out to observe their existence during to the second part of the growing season, from July to September. In the present paper we aimed to inventory the insect species in old and scrubby trees, dry stand trees, moss-covered dead trunks and old stumps. Insect collection was carried out either by using transparent winged scoops or by direct observation and capture from the targeted material of interest. In the three experimental areas, the 13-coleopteran species, belonging to 9 families. The most numerous species were from the Family Elateridae (12%), followed by others families (Cerambycidae, Elateridae, Carabidae, Chysomelidae, Staphylinidae, Silvanidae, Hydrophilidae, Mordellidae, Mycetophagidae), each one with one species. In addition, species belonging to the Order Hemiptera, Dermaptera and Blattodea has been found. Based on the results obtained, we can state that species diversity was relatively low in the second part of the growing season, which indicates the necessity to assess the populations diversity even in the first part of the year and the need to comply with responsible measures for the conservation of biodiversity in forests subject to anthropogenic influence and rapid climate change.
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