Abstract Effective conservation of highly specialized butterflies in fragmented landscapes requires quantitative estimates of population size, turnover and functional connectivity. Here, we present the first capture–mark–recapture (CMR) survey of the last known metapopulation of Tomares nogelii dobrogensis , a locally monophagous Lycaenid, in northern Dobrogea, Romania. From May to July 2025, six spatially separated colonies were surveyed, recording 832 capture events (638 first captures and 194 recaptures). Apparent survival (Φ) and recapture probability ( p ) were estimated using Cormack–Jolly–Seber models. Population sizes were assessed using the POPAN parameterization of the Jolly–Seber framework. Dispersal was quantified by fitting dispersal kernels to movement distances derived from georeferenced capture histories. Additionally, wing wear was recorded as a surrogate of butterfly age. POPAN models estimated a metapopulation size of 1801 imagines (sum of colonies 1–5) with a pronounced core–periphery structure: 840 imagines in Colony 1, 277–338 imagines in three intermediate colonies and two small satellite colonies with <50 imagines. The observed flight period was 24 May to 24 June (32 days), longer than previously reported. Dispersal between colonies was only observed in three females. Dispersal kernels were heavy‐tailed, with females showing higher probabilities of long‐distance flights than males. Residence times differed among colonies and between sexes, ranging between approximately 1.6 and 5.3 days. Variation in female residence time was consistent with colony‐specific differences driven by emigration and immigration, plausibly linked to external pressures or density‐dependent intraspecific competition. Conservation efforts should prioritize safeguarding the core colony and maintaining stepping‐stone habitat patches.
Abstract Saproxylic beetles are a highly diverse group of tree‐associated insects that play key roles in forest ecosystem functioning, comprising both rare primeval relicts and taxa of economic importance in timber production. Morphological identification of these beetles remains challenging due to high similarity among species‐rich taxa and a number of taxonomic specialists. While European DNA barcode reference databases have expanded in recent years, they remain dominated by western and northern populations, leaving Central and Eastern European taxa heavily underrepresented. Because previous studies have revealed pronounced east–west genetic divergence in several saproxylic beetle species, expanding barcode coverage in Central and Eastern Europe is highly necessary. Located within a biogeographical transition zone and harbouring some of Europe's last remnants of primeval forests, Poland represents a critical source of genetic data for these insects. We present a DNA barcode dataset comprising 285 morphologically identified species totalling 652 individuals, of which 261 species (557 individuals) were successfully barcoded and assigned to 274 distinct barcode index numbers (BINs), including nine species new to the BOLD database. Comparisons with GenBank and BOLD sequences revealed multiple deeply divergent lineages indicative of cryptic taxa, alongside shared haplotypes that may reflect misidentification, introgression or hybridization. This database provides a valuable resource for identifying evolutionarily significant units for conservation and may facilitate the assignment of source populations in studies of invasive pest species.
Abstract Global insect declines are unfolding at a pace and scale that calls for direct, collective action. Among the bioindicator taxa signalling the need for prompt intervention, dung beetles play a critical role in several sectors of agriculture and face regionally unique, multifaceted stressors in temperate and tropical ecosystems. Despite the essential ecosystem services dung beetles provide, most species remain largely invisible to the public, whereas the plight of pollinators (i.e., bees and butterflies) is widely known. Monitored populations in temperate and tropical ecosystems are facing threats from habitat destruction and degradation, climate change, industrial livestock pharmaceuticals and pesticides, invasive species and artificial light at night. Global decreases in dung beetle diversity and abundance were initially documented in the 1990s, with many of the same factors contributing to continued losses today. Field data collected from France, Italy and Spain document some of the first accounts of dung beetle declines and range reductions. Similar conservation assessments from the tropics mirror this pattern. Tackling the uphill battle to protect these remarkable insects begins by convincing government agencies, agricultural industries (i.e., field crop cultivation, forestry and livestock production), nonprofit organizations and the public that dung beetle declines merit global attention. This multistakeholder call to action responds to a specific biodiversity crisis with six action items that can make an immediate difference.
Biodiversity monitoring is essential to understand anthropogenic impacts on ecological communities. However, species-rich groups such as parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera) remain poorly documented despite their importance as ecosystem regulators. We require improved monitoring approaches for such neglected taxa. Capitalising on nocturnal parasitoid wasps' attraction to light traps used by moth trappers, we aimed to determine the efficiency of this method to generate information on the diversity and distributions of nocturnal parasitoids in the United Kingdom. We enlisted 130 moth-trappers from across the United Kingdom to sample the parasitoid 'bycatch' from their traps between May-September. This resulted in over 6700 specimens belonging to over 184 taxa collected over 6141 nights, generating a near-complete national species inventory of our focal genera, Netelia (19/24 expected species), Ophion (31/35), Enicospilus (8/9), Perilissus (6/8), Eremotylus (2/2) and Stauropoctonus (1/1), equalling nearly half (46.8%) of all known Great Britain records for these genera. We assessed the quality of our data based on historical records. Our analyses suggest that 5 months of sampling in this way can produce species distribution models comparable to multiple decades of historical data, as well as information on life-history traits such as phenology. Such information is vital for conservation. Overall, this study illustrates how high-quality national-level data on understudied insects can be obtained rapidly using existing infrastructure, and highlights the value of amateur naturalists in monitoring neglected taxa. We provide recommendations for future studies on such taxa and discuss sampling effort and biases.
Recurrent fires, combined with other disturbances, can severely degrade tropical rainforests. These disturbances alter abiotic conditions such as temperature, moisture and soil organic matter, which may affect termite communities and ecosystem processes. We investigated whether the indirect effects of fire in forests influence termite communities and organic matter decomposition and explored the mechanisms involved. We quantified ecological processes across undisturbed and degraded forests: (1) the relative contributions of invertebrates-particularly termites-and microorganisms to litter decomposition; (2) the relationship between termite abundance and litter decomposition; and (3) the top-down regulatory effects of ants on termite communities. We took advantage of a long-term fire experiment in southeastern Amazonia, comprising annually burned, triennially burned and an unburned forest recovering over a decade. Litter decomposition in burned forests was approximately 1.7 times higher than in unburned forest. In burned forests, decomposition was twice as high under invertebrate-access treatments compared to microbes-only treatments. In contrast, no difference was observed between invertebrate- and microbe-driven decomposition in unburned forests. These results suggest a more significant role of invertebrates-especially termites-in litter decomposition in degraded forests than in undisturbed ones, while microbial decomposers appear able to compensate for the absence of termites only under undisturbed conditions. Higher litter decomposition was associated with increased termite abundance and reduced ant predation in annually burned plots. These findings suggest that forest degradation is associated with increased termite abundance and activity, potentially accelerating organic matter decomposition and improving soil conditions. Such changes may facilitate forest recovery through cascading effects on nutrient cycling and seedling establishment.
