Hopp til hovedinnholdet

Publications

NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

1998

To document

Abstract

Effects of isolation, habitat size and several microhabitat variables on presence/absence of the monophagous Bolitophagus reticulatus (L.) (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) were investigated in 58 forest fragments in an agricultural landscape (15 km2) in south-eastern Norway. All potential habitats of the beetle, dead Fomes fomentarius (L.) Kickx basidiocarps (n=587), were collected from trees (n=185) within the study area. The basidiocarps were dissected and the number of B. reticulatus specimens (larvae, pupae and adults) counted. The material was analysed at four distinguishable spatial scales: basidiocarp-, tree-, tree-group- and forest island level. Different patterns of beetle presence emerged at the different scales. Increasing habitat size and decreasing degree of isolation increased the probability of B. reticulatus presence at three (basidiocarp-, tree- and forest island level) and one (tree level) scales, respectively, whilst no such trends were found at the fourth level (tree-group level). Increasing insolation and thereby higher ambient temperatures, indicated by several microhabitat variables, improved the probability of beetle presence amongst the trees. The number of beetle specimens correlated positively with an increase in the habitat size at the tree level.

Abstract

1. Habitat use of Bolitophagus reticulatus (L.) (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae), living in the basidiocarps of Fomes fomentarius (L.) Kickx, was investigated in three forest areas in south-eastern Norway: (1) a continuous, coniferous forest, (2) an agricultural area with mostly deciduous forest islands in a matrix of cultivated land and (3) a homogeneous, old deciduous forest stand. B. reticulatus was almost exclusively found inside dead basidiocarps. 2. The size of the basidiocarp was the most important variable for predicting the probability of B. reticulatus presence in the basidiocarps from all three study areas. 3. Drier basidiocarps had a higher probability of beetle presence than the wetter ones. Basidiocarps situated above the ground level had a higher probability of beetle presence than those close to or on the ground level. 4. The disappearance of beetles from previously inhabited basidiocarps seemed to be due to depletion of resources. 5. In the first study area, the presence of Cisidae was found to reduce the probability of B. reticulatus presence perhaps as a result of competition.

Abstract

Photoperiodic effects on woody plants were reported already by Gardner and Allard in 1923 and comprehensive studies during the ’50s confirmed the role of photoperiod as an important environmental regulator of growth and growth cessation in many northern tree species (Nitsch, 1957; Wareing, 1956). In woody plants cessation of apical growth is a prerequisite for cold acclimation (Weiser, 1970) and photoperiod, as a factor controlling growth cessation, is therefore an important environmental signal for initiation of cold acclimation. In many cases a proper timing of acclimation and deacclimation, in respect to annual variation of temperature conditions, is more critical for winter survival than the maximum level of frost hardiness. Also in such coniferous species where cessation of apical growth is not controlled by photoperiod, short photoperiod is necessary for good cold acclimation, low temperature causes no or only a limited level of hardiness if combined with long day conditions (Schwarz, 1970; Aronsson, 1975; Christersson, 1978; Jonsson et al., 1981). Thus, photoperiod may have both an indirect, through induction of growth cessation, and a more direct influence on cold acclimation in woody plants.