Guidelines for the monitoring of Rosalia alpina

Conservation of saproxylic beetles in the Carpathians

Romanian Carpathians are considered a biodiversity hotspot in Europe, with large forested areas, including old-growth forests. Past forestry practices, such as selective logging resulting in forest high grading and removal of ancient or decaying trees, reduced the heterogeneity of forest structure and composition. These practices led to forest habitats with few veteran trees and a small amount of deadwood, which protected saproxylic beetles rely on for completing their complex life cycles. Moreover, saproxylic species are considered pest species under traditional forestry practices, as they reduce the value of timber. As such, Romanian forestry practices have actively sought to reduce the amount of deadwood in an effort to decrease the presence of saproxylic species, thus effectively isolating stands with a high diversity of saproxylic beetles.

The European Commission will finance the project LIFE19 NAT/RO/000023 Conservation of saproxylic beetles in the Carpathians LIFE ROsalia. The project aims to stop and reverse the loss of protected saproxylic beetles (Rosalia longicorn Rosalia alpina, the hermit beetle Osmoderma eremita, great capricorn beetle Cerambyx cerdo, grey beetle Morimus funereus, and stag beetle Lucanus cervus) in the Carpathians by demonstrating conservation actions for increasing the connectivity of favorable habitats in the ROSCI0208 Putna-Vrancea (Eastern Carpathians, Romania), and transferring and replicating best management practices in other Romanian Natura 2000 sites.

LIFE ROsalia will be implemented between 2020 and 2025 by the Environmental Protection Agency Vrancea, the Center for Environmental Research at the University of Bucharest, the Putna-Vrancea Natural Park Administration, and the Association for Biodiversity Conservation.

Photonic structures improve radiative heat exchange of Rosalia alpina (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

The insect cuticle serves a multitude of purposes, including: mechanical and thermal protection, water-repelling, acoustic signal absorption and coloration. The influence of cuticular structures on infrared radiation exchange and thermal balance is still largely unexplored. Here we report on the micro- and nanostructured setae covering the elytra of the longicorn beetle Rosalia alpina (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) that help the insect to survive in hot, summer environments. In the visible part of the spectrum, scale-like setae, covering the black patches of the elytra, efficiently absorb light due to the radiation trap effect. In the infrared part of the spectrum, setae of the whole elytra significantly contribute to the radiative heat exchange. From the biological point of view, insect elytra facilitate camouflage, enable rapid heating to the optimum body temperature and prevent overheating by emitting excess thermal energy.

The LIFE Project “Monitoring of insects with public participation” (MIPP): aims, methods and conclusions

The Life Project “Monitoring of insects with public participation” (LIFE11 NAT/IT/000252) had as the main objective to develop and test methods for the monitoring of five beetle species listed in the Annexes of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC): Osmodermaeremita (hermit beetle, Scarabaeidae), Lucanuscervus (European stag beetle, Lucanidae), Cerambyxcerdo (great capricorn beetle, Cerambycidae), Rosaliaalpina (rosalia longicorn, Cerambycidae) and Morimusasper/funereus (morimus longicorn, Cerambycidae). The data gathered represent an important contribution to the monitoring of these target species in Italy. The methods developed for monitoring of the target species are intended for use by the local management authorities and staff of protected areas. These developed methods are the result of extensive fieldwork and ensure scientific validity, ease of execution and limited labour costs. The detailed description of methods and the results for each species are published in separate articles of this special issue of Nature Conservation. A second objective of the project was to gather faunistic data with a Citizen Science approach, using the web and a mobile application software (app) specifically built for mobile devices. The validation of the records collected by the citizens was carried out by experts, based on photographs, which were obligatory for all records. Dissemination activities represented the principal way to contact and engage citizens for the data collection and also offered the possibility of providing information on topics such as Natura 2000, the Habitats Directive, the role of monitoring in nature conservation, the importance of forest ecosystems and the ecological role of the saproxylic insects. An innovative method tested during the project was the training of a dog for searching and monitoring the elusive hermit beetle; the trained dog also added a “curiosity” factor to attract public attention towards this rare insect and the issues mentioned above.