Demography and Dispersal Ability of a Threatened Saproxylic Beetle: A Mark-Recapture Study of the Rosalia Longicorn (Rosalia alpina)

The Rosalia longicorn or Alpine longhorn (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is an endangered and strictly protected icon of European saproxylic biodiversity. Despite its popularity, lack of information on its demography and mobility may compromise adoption of suitable conservation strategies. The beetle experienced marked retreat from NW part of its range; its single population survives N of the Alps and W of the Carpathians. The population inhabits several small patches of old beech forest on hill-tops of the Ralska Upland, Czech Republic. We performed mark-recapture study of the population and assessed its distribution pattern. Our results demonstrate the high mobility of the beetle, including dispersal between hills (up to 1.6 km). The system is thus interconnected; it contained ∼2000 adult beetles in 2008. Estimated population densities were high, ranging between 42 and 84 adult beetles/hectare a year. The population survives at a former military-training ground despite long-term isolation and low cover of mature beech forest (∼1%). Its survival could be attributed to lack of forestry activities between the 1950s and 1990s, slow succession preventing canopy closure and undergrowth expansion, and probably also to the distribution of habitat patches on conspicuous hill-tops. In order to increase chances of the population for long term survival, we propose to stop clear-cuts of old beech forests, increase semi-open beech woodlands in areas currently covered by conifer plantations and active habitat management at inhabited sites and their wider environs

Use of databases for research and conservation of the Eastern Arc Mountains

The establishment and use of computer databases to hold biological records is common in many countries. Such systems can accommodate a large volume of data with many potential uses, but many databases have failed due to poor design or programming, or to the lack of a proper user-need analysis. In all biological databases there are problems with the data being used. The most common problems are uneven collection effort, taxonomic confusion leading to unreliable records, difficulties with finding exact collection localities, differences in map projections leading to inaccurate record positions and more. Data in databases, either the raw biological records, or interpreted/modelled range distributions, can be used for analyses of value to both conservationists and to academic biogeographers. However, all such analyses are highly influenced by the analytical scale, and results from one scale cannot be used at another. This is a fundamental problem with analyses using computerised data, especially for conservation planning. Data at different scales can be used to illustrate areas of high species richness, or areas where species of narrow distributional range congregate, although the results from one scale may not be applicable at another. Computer programs can be used to select areas so that all species in the database are covered. The last method, using the principles of complementarity, is the most efficient way to select 'ideal' conservation areas. With such an analysis the theoretical minimum number of areas required to conserve all the species within a given database (e.g. all the birds in Sub-¬Saharan Africa) can be chosen. However, all such analyses are only indicative, as they do not take into consideration population viability, threats to the areas selected, or other 'real-world' variables that are important when conservation plans are being formulated. For academics the patterns of species richness and range-restriction (i.e. endemism) can be used in large-scale models that can develop and test hypotheses to explain why species are distributed as they are and how evolution/extinction may have operated over time in order to produce the patterns observed. Such studies can have relevance to the development of conservation plans at the broad scale. Journal of East African Natural History Vol. 87 (1&2) 1998: pp. 159-18

Faunal importance of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Kenya and Tanzania

Published and unpublished data are used to assess the faunal (animal) values of the Eastern Arc Mountains in terms of the numbers of endemic species, and number of species shared with the adjacent lowland Coastal Forests and with the Tanganyika¬-Nyasa Mountain Forest Group. Emphasis is placed on vertebrates, although some data for invertebrate groups are also provided. At least 74 vertebrate species are strictly endemic to the Eastern Arc Mountains, split as follows: birds 10 species, mammals 11 species, reptiles 23 species and amphibians 30 species. A further 40 species are near-endemics, but range slightly more widely than the strict definition of the Arc. Eastern Arc Mountain blocks that possess endemic vertebrates are the Taita Hills (two species), the East and West Usambaras (12 species), the Ngurus (one species), the Ulugurus (13 species) and eastern Udzungwas (13 species). A minimum estimate of 265 invertebrate species confined to single Eastern Arc Mountain blocks was obtained, although insufficient collection and taxonomic work means that this figure is certainly an underestimate. Detailed work in the Uluguru Mountains provided an estimation of 169 invertebrate species endemic to that mountain alone. Almost all endemic species are closed-forest specialists, although there are Eastern Arc endemic birds and butterflies confined to montane grasslands and heathlands. The most important locations for the conservation of biodiversity are the east-facing scarps directly influenced by the Indian Ocean in the largest highlands. The North and South Pare Mountains, Rubehos and Ukagurus seem genuinely poorer in endemics than other areas. The Eastern Arc Mountains possess species with both an ancient history and those of more recent evolution. Ancient affinities of the fauna are with West Africa, Madagascar and even SE Asia. An extremely long history of forest cover and environmental stability are the likely causes of these remarkable affinities. Journal of East African Natural History Vol. 87 (1&2) 1998: pp. 37-5

De Toekomst van Waterkwaliteitsmonitoring, Deel 4: Monitoring Stategieen voor Complexe Mengsels

Available at: VROM, Distribution Office, PO Box 351, 2700 AJ Zoetermeer - ECU 10,-<br>In general terms the problems with the existing water quality monitoring approach concern effective and efficient monitoring strategies. In 1993 the project "Monitoring water quality in the future" started in order to address these problems which will only increase in the future. In the framework of this project five reports have been produced, focusing on: Chemical Monitoring (Volume 1) ; Mixture toxicity parameters (Volume 2) ; Biomonitoring (Volume 3) ; Monitoring strategies for complex mixtures (Volume 4) ; and Organizational aspects (Volume 5). The specific objectives were to produce concise reviews of methods to signal changes in and control water quality (Volumes 1-3), to give a review of testing strategies for complex mixtures of chemical substances which can give more complete information at less costs (Volume 4) and to review existing practices and make recommendations concerning standardization, optimization and organization of monitoring activities in the European Union, with a focus on effectiveness and efficiency (Volume 5). In an executive summary overall recommendations are also made by drawing these together from the individual studies. The present report (Volume 4) has the objective to present a review of possible strategies for the monitoring of complex mixtures in effluents and to a lesser extent, the freshwater environment and sediments. Next to this it presents a proposal for one or more strategies to use in the European Union and it gives recommendations regarding these monitoring strategies.DGM/SVSEU/CEC-DG XI-C

Take-off capacity as a criterion for quality control in mass-produced predators, Rhizophagus grandis (Col. Rhizophagidae) for the biocontrol of bark beetles, Dendroctonus micans (Col. Scolytidae)

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe