Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) of the Bug Valley Plant Communities in the Włodawa–Kodeń Section
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Teka Kom. Ochr. Kszt. Środ. Przyr. – OL PAN, 2014, 11, 211–228 ECOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF LEAF-BEETLE ASSEMBLAGES (COLEOPTERA, CHRYSOMELIDAE) OF THE BUG VALLEY PLANT COMMUNITIES IN THE WŁODAWA–KODEŃ SECTION Radosław Ścibior, Robert Stryjecki, Krzysztof Pawlęga Department of Zoology, Animal Ecology and Wildlife Management, University of Life Sciences in Lublin Akademicka str. 13, 20-950 Lublin, [email protected] Summary. In the years 2005–2007, in the valley of middle Bug, studies on the structure of leaf- -beetle assemblages inhabiting, inter alia, typical for this area and environmentally valuable moist habitats, were carried out. In total, the occurrence of 114 species was recorded. Most of them inhabited the riparian zone (49) and the least, mesoxerothermic and psammophilous (35). The highest biodiversity was reached in beetle communities of ruderal (2.88), moist meadows (2.59) whereas the smallest in fresh meadow (1.29). A characteristic feature of Chrysomelidae fauna from this section of the river is a high proportion of hydro, hygro-, and mesohygrophilic species in several plant communities and the complete lack of xerothermic species. Beetle assemblages are species-rich here, however dominated primarily by broad range elements (Holarctic, Palaearctic or Euro-Siberian) with a total of 82 species (71.2%) and 2606 specimens (79.91%). The tested seg- ment of the riverbank is inhabited by a typical lowland fauna of Chrysomelidae, with the presence of very few rare species that were not previously listed either in the area of Belarus, or not distant Polesie National Park. Key words: leaf-beetles, West Polesie, habitat corridor, the Bug Valley, moist biotopes INTRODUCTION The valley of the middle Bug, which is a part of the largest unregulated and characterised by the annual flooding river of Europe is under the care of several different forms of nature conservation. This is a specific area where beside natu- ral plant communities, substantially altered by human activity biotopes are met. Currently, the main impact on the habitat have diverse climatic, hydrological and anthropogenic conditions. The entire border segment of the river (with Ukraine and Belarus) has a length of 363 km and is often divided into three sections: Volhynia, Polesie and Podlasie [Dombrowski et al. 2002]. According to the physiographic division of Poland, the analysed fragment belongs to West 212 Radosław Ścibior et al. Polesie, and the river constitutes the western border of two mesoregions: Kodeń Plain in the north and Włodawa Hummock in the south. Flat, partly marshy ero- sional plains and water-accumulation plains, belonging to the mixed broadleaf forest zone are the dominating landscape [Kondracki 2002]. High diversity of aquatic and terrestrial habitats of the Bug Valley indirectly promotes the richness of invertebrates. This relationship has been noted by many authors, as reflected in numerous publications, either as a larger fauna-ecological study, or the contributions to faunal analyses concerning only determining of the presence of specific taxa. In recent years, a few studies on various groups of arthropods in Polesie section, differing in terms of habitat conditions from Volyn and Podlasie sections have been published. They concerned terrestrial arachnids fauna [Hajdamowicz and Stańska 2006], water mites [Stryjecki 2009], selected groups of aquatic beetles and caddisflies [Buczyńska and Buczyński 2006], dragonflies [Buczyńska and Buczyński 2006, Buczyński 2012], as well as click beetles [Pawlęga 2011]. In 2010, the publication was released, in which the diversity of the Leaf beetle from the Bug River section between Hrubieszów and Drohiczyn was discussed in detail [Kubisz et al. 2010]. According to the au- thors, the total number of leaf-beetles known to inhabit the river valley amounts to 185 species. Volyn section is inhabited respectively by 70 species (15 of which exclusively in this segment of the river), Polesie section – 123 (31 exclusively) and Podlasie section 133 species (39 exclusively). This work is, however, the only one in which the multifaceted ecological analysis of Chrysomelidae assemblag- es inhabiting several types of riparian habitats in the middle section of the Bug River Valley was conducted and its detailed implementation was the overarch- ing goal of this work. The focal point of the study were representative species of varied, in this area, hygroscopic and mesohygrophilic habitats, which group the river valley into the following communities: riparian, rushes and moist mead- ows. In addition, beetle assemblages of mesophilic habitats: fresh meadows and ruderal communities, as well as mesothermophilic (for mesoxerothermic and psammophilous) were analysed. RESEARCH AREA Chrysomelidae catches were conducted in six most representative plant communities set on a 65 km segment of the Bug River between Włodawa and Kodeń (Fig. 1). The following are all examined types of plant communities in nine villages populated by chrysomelid assemblages, with detailed information on community letter code, GPS coordinates and next station number: 1. riparian forests [le]: Szuminka, 51°35’18.76N 23°33’07.08E (1); 51°35’21.19N 23°33’09.85E (2); 51°35’22.86N 23°33’01.19E (3); Pawluki, 51°39’22.48N 23°32’18.73E (4); Dołhobrody, 51°40’26.24N 23°33’07.54E (5); ECOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF LEAF-BEETLE ASSEMBLAGES… 213 Hanna, 51°42’57.42N 23°30’17.98E (6); Sławatycze, 51°46’08.26N 23°34’39.61E (7); 51°45’35.28N 23°35’03.86E (8); Jabłeczna, 51°48’22.83N 23°38’17.61E (9); Szostaki, 51°50’33.98N 23°36’13.62E (10); Kodeń, 51°53’44.97N 23°35’53.91E (11); 2. rushes [sz]: Szuminka, 51°35’28.13N 23°33’00.85E (1); Pawluki, 51°39’27.01N 23°31’56.77E (2); Sławatycze, 51°46’08.78N 23°34’41.87E (3); Kodeń, 51°53’44.06N 23°35’49.12E (4); 3. moist meadows [wl]: Szuminka, 51°35’20.45N 23°32’53.38E (1); Pawluki, 51°39’28.83N 23°31’57.04E (3); Dołhobrody, 51°40’28.88N 23°32’43.31E (4); Jabłeczna, 51°48’23.92N 23°38’07.83E (5); 4. fresh meadows [sl]: Szuminka, 51°35’25.24N 23°33’02.96E (1); Pawluki, 51°39’30.23N 23°31’57.05E (2); 51°39’25.88N 23°32’19.96E (3); Dołhobrody, 51°40’27.05N 23°33’00.92E (4); Hanna, 51°42’28.95N 23°31’13.77E (5); Sławaty- cze, 51°46’05.61N 23°34’36.52E (6); Jabłeczna, 51°48’25.14N 23°38’13.31E (7); Kodeń, 51°55’02.51N 23°36’32.28E (8); 5. ruderal [ru]: Szuminka, 51°35’17.47N 23°33’05.88E (1); Pawluki, 51°39’28.96N 23°32’19.58E (2); Sławatycze, 51°46’08.32N 23°34’38.94E (3); 6. mesoxerothermic and psammophilous [mp]: 1) Szuminka, 51°35’22.12N 23°33’05.16E (1); Stawki, 51°38’52.19N 23°31’38.10E (2), 51°38’17.41N 23°31’22.32E (3); Dołhobrody, 51°40’28.22N 23°32’28.69E (4); Hanna, 51°42’56.43N 23°30’20.46E (5); Sławatycze, 51°45’37.03N 23°35’02.46E (6); Kodeń, 51°53’46.33N 23°35’51.70E (7). RESEARCH METHODS Detailed studies of leaf-beetles fauna were conducted from early May to late September (monthly on average) in 2005–2007. A scoop was used in order to catch beetles in each stand, additionally a beating tray was used only in willow riparian (Salicetum triandro-viminalis), which constituted a unique community covered only with shrubs. For the purpose of analysis of collected material, dominance of beetles in individual communities (D%) (Tab. 1), assemblage biodiversity (Shannon-Wiener index) [Shannon-Weaver 1949], the distribution of species evenness (J') [Pielou 1974], the similarity of the faunal assemblages (Bray-Curtis formula) [Bray and Curtis 1957] were calculated and a zoogeo- graphic analysis was conducted. For a part of the calculation the free version of Biodiversity Pro [McAleece et al. 1997] was used. Chrysomelidae systematic arrangement in the summary table at the end of the work (Tab. 1) was adopted from Löbl and Smetana [2010] with minor changes proposed by Borowiec et al. [2011]. The division into zoogeographic components was based on the species range characteristics, described in the work of Borowiec [1984], Warchałowski [2003] and Löbl and Smetana [2010], the names and the distribution of range 214 Radosław Ścibior et al. types were taken from Wąsowska [1994] and Pawłowski et al. [1994]. The ma- jority of data of the leaf-beetle species preferences in relation to the degree of humidity of habitats were taken from Kubisz et al. [2010]. RESULTS In particular plant communities of the valley of the middle Bug a total of 3312 specimens of Chrysomelidae were caught, and 114 species distinguished; these represent 23.41% of Polish fauna of leaf-beetles and up to 55.1% of the fauna of Podlasie (Polesie), included in the Catalogue of Fauna of Poland. From the quantitative analysis 51 undetectable taxa were excluded: Altica sp. (21 ♀), Chaetocnema concinna / picipes (28 ♀) and Longitarsus succineus / noricus (2♀). In the examined area, assemblages of Chrysomelidae from hygro- and mesohygrophilic habitats: riparian (49 species, 1183 specimens), and subse- quently moist meadows (44 species, 337 specimens) and rushes (43 species, 316 specimens) were characterised by the highest number of species. Mesophilic habitats: fresh meadows (42 species, 1004 specimens), ruderal (35 species, 90 speci- mens) and mesothermophilic: mesoxerothermic and psammophilous (35 species, 331 specimens) were proved slightly poorer (Tab. 1). The highest biological diversity (H') was characteristic of the following areas of chrysomelid assemblages: ruderal (2.88), moist meadows (2.59), rushes (2.44), riparian forests (2.34), followed by mesoxerothermic and psammophilous communities (1.96) and fresh meadows (1.29).