(North-Western Italy), Applying Diptera Syrphidae As Bioindicators
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Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2021; volume 53:9617 ENTOMOLOGY Ecological assessment of the lowland relit forest “Bosco delle Sorti della Partecipanza” in Trino (North-Western Italy), applying Diptera Syrphidae as bioindicators U. Maritano Indipendent researcher, Condove, Italy est is moderately negative but the alluvial alder forest macrohabi- Abstract tat can be considered good and overall saproxylic and saprophagous species are particularly well-preserved. The pres- The survey has been realized in the lowland relict forest Bosco ence of a high number of rare or decreasing species makes Trino delle Sorti della Partecipanza, a site situated in Trino (Piedmont, wood an important source of biodiversity in Po Plain. North-Western Italy), to assess the ecological conservation level of forest habitats using the Syrph the Net methodology. 67 species were recorded, using three Malaise traps, seven Emergence traps only and several Net transect in the year 2020. Among these species, 6 Introduction are reported for the first time in Piedmont region, 19 are consid- ered decreasing at European level and 2 are threatened in Europe. Forest ecosystems represent an invaluable source of biodiver- Forest habitats under scrutiny in the study area are oak-hornbeam sity and they useare precious elements for the insect conservation mesophilic woodland and alluvial alder lowland. The data analysis (Ulyshen, 2018). In Po Plain (Northern Italy) urbanization, agri- allowed to compare observed with expected syrphids for each culture and human activities have greatly reduced the extension of habitat. At the ecosystem level, the ecological integrity of the for- lowland forests to very few remnants (Camerano et al., 2009). Some of these relict forests located in Piedmont region, such as ‘Merlino Wood’ in Caramagna Piemonte (Maritano, 2020) and ‘Bosco delle Sorti della Partecipanza’ in Trino (follow called Correspondence: Umberto Maritano, Condove (TO), Italy. ‘Trino Wood’) are completely isolated from any other area with E-mail: [email protected] arboreal vegetation. This is because they are set into an intensive Key words: Syrph the Net, bioindicator, hoverflies, pollinators, agriculture landscape, especially corn and hay fields for the first Piedmont, ecological integrity, Myolepta obscura area and rice plantations for the second one. Thanks to this distinc- tive feature, these natural reserves lend themselves well to study Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Daniele Sommaggio for helping the existing insect assemblages such as hoverflies. Syrphidae can me in the identification of some critical species. I am grateful to be used as bioindicators (Sommaggio, 1999; Larrieu et al., 2015; Lorenzo Bianco for precious suggestions which he made in the first Maritano, 2020) of the ecological integrity thanks to the high het- draft on the manuscript. I sincerely thank the anonymous reviewer for erogeneity of the larval ecological preferences in different hover- useful comments. I would like to thank “Ente di gestione delle aree pro- fly genera. Therefore, in order to standardise the use of Syrphidae tette del Po vercellese-alessandrino” toNon-commercial giving me permission to sample in “Bosco delle Sorti della Partecipanza” in Trino. as bioindicators the Syrph the Net (StN) database was developed (Speight et al., 2020). This work contributes to the series of inves- Conflict of interest: The author declares no potential conflict of interest. tigations (Bertollo et al., 2012; Maritano & Sommaggio, 2020; Maritano, 2020) aimed at understanding which of the current rem- Funding: None. nants is closest to the original primary forest that covered Po Plain in the ancient past. Received for publication: 16 January 2021. The purposes of this paper are 1) Provide a checklist of the Revision received: 11 March 2021. Accepted for publication: 19 April 2021. Syrphidae fauna in Trino Wood; and 2) gain a better appreciation of the conservation status of the 2 main woodland habitats in the ©Copyright: the Author(s), 2021 survey area. Licensee PAGEPress, Italy Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2021; 53:9617 doi:10.4081/jear.2021.9617 Materials and methods This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (by-nc 4.0) which permits any Survey area noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Located in North-Western Italy Bosco delle Sorti della Partecipanza is a Regional Natural Park and Site of Community [page 26] [Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2021; 53:9617] Article Interest (code IT1120002) consisting in a woodland of 586 ha indefinite senescence in order to obtain a network of old trees. In (Figure 1), at 160-200 m a.s.l. 2020, the average forest density was 393 specimens of plants The main portion is a mesophilic oak-hornbeam that occupies (diameter >7,5 cm) per hectare (thirty years ago it was 347) and 86% of the entire wooded area, while the remaining portion is the wood volume increased at 158 m3/ha. Forestry data come from composed by an alder alluvial forest 5,5% and reforestation 7,1%. Guido Blanchard personal comment. Trino Wood is an undivided The current forest cover consists in Quercus 19%, Carpinus 35%, private property inherited from a group of people that inhabited Robinia 19%. The average age of the oldest Quercus is 115 years Trino town in the year 1275. The common interest and the collec- with a peak at 145 years, but the regular cut usually takes place at tive administration were sufficient to protect it from agricultural 60-80 years. In the past, negligence or a misguided forest manage- speculation which caused the transformation of the vast wooded ment have led to a wide dissemination of Robinia. In the study area of the southern Vercelli Province. The few surveys available area, Robinia appeared for the first time in the XIX century and on the insect fauna are mainly referred to beetles (Allegro et al., reached the maximum abundance (39% of the forest) in 1989. A 2016), Carabidae coenoses reveal the presence of several region- simultaneously reduction of the wood volume was recorded in the ally isolated species, and the data are supported also by some same year with a value of 79 m3/ha. The latest management plans Orthoptera and Odonata surveys (database of regional managing encourage a gradual maturity of trees and an improvement of bio- authorities). No data is available for Diptera, especially diversity also through the mandatory selection of plants with an Syrphidae. only use Non-commercial Figure 1. Map of “Bosco delle Sorti della Partecipanza” in Trino (Italy) with setting of traps and transects. [Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research 2021; 53:9617] [page 27] Article Monitoring methods the field and expected species. BDMF is a numeric parameter Field research began on 19th February with the activation of 2 expressed as a percentage (Table 1). This ratio can be derived for Malaise and 2 Emergence traps and ended on 27th of October with each macrohabitat or microhabitat (e.g. trunk cavity, herb layer, the removal of all traps. Overall, 3 Malaise traps (M1 and M2 in rotten wood, cow dung etc.) existing in the field, based on the StN alluvial forest and M3 in oak-hornbeam) and 7 Emergence traps database. High BDMF value indicates a well-preserved ecological were activated (Figure 1). The locations of the Malaise traps were: integrity, by contrast poor ratio denote a scarce conservation con- M1 45°14’04”N, 8°15’30”E; M2 45°14’05”N, 8°15’33”E and M3 dition of one or more microhabitats. The unpredicted species col- 45°13’26”N, 8°15’41”E. The distribution of the traps is not propor- lected, if non migrant, can represent an added value for the site or tional to the extent of the two-habitat surveyed due to an unexpected be indicator of the high complexity in the surrounding landscape lack of supply. Therefore, it was decided to reduce traps in oak-horn- (Burgio et al., 2015). beam because easier accessible for net transects and simultaneously intensify sight hunts in order to balance monitoring scheme. Malaise traps were set out along small ditches with slow-flowing fresh water and overmature trees. Using an entomological net can be fundamen- Results tal to increase the performance of samplings (Maritano, 2020; Maritano & Sommaggio, 2020), for this reason nine 200 m long These sampling have provided a total of 67 species (Table 2). transects were defined (Figure 1). Netting was conducted primarily Six species are recorded for the first time in Piedmont. Two species during clear, sunny days with no wind. All netting was carried out are threatened in Europe and 19 have a decreasing number of pop- between 8:30 and 16:30 with a minimum of 6 hours in each day of ulation and/or range in Europe (this type of information is in the sampling activities. Hand harvesting took place every 7 days in April Excel file: Speight et al., 2020). Furthermore, seven species are and May and every 10 days during the other months, for a total of threatened in the Continental Biogeographical Region (as defined more than 120 hours of hand net transects. The specimens collected in Speight & Castella, 2020) and twenty species are decreasing in were partly pinned (reference collection) and partly preserved in 80° the same area (Table 3). ethyl alcohol. All samples are kept in the author’s entomological col- As a whole, the study area has a moderately negative ecologi- lection with future deposition in a publicly accessible collection. The cal integrity as stated by theonly StN value of 37,50% (Table 4) with keys proposed in Van Veen (2004) and Speight and Sarthou (2017) alluvial forest well-preserved while the oak-hornbeam section has have been used to identify the species, while the taxonomy follows a poorer preservation.