The beetles of decaying wood in Ireland - National Parks & Wildlife ...

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Saproxylic beetles of Ireland ____________________________ Executive Summary A full list is provided of the saproxylic (wood-decay) beetles known to have been resident in Ireland in modern times, together with information about their ecology and distribution, with site records organised by vice county. For each of the 274 species an estimation of their current status is suggested, and species with an apparent association with old growth (ancient woodland and/or ancient wood pasture conditions) are also identified. At least 208 species appear to be native to Ireland, while 9 of these may have become extinct within the past 100 years. Only 25 species appear to be common and widespread, in contrast to the 104 species (50% of the natives) which have been assessed as ‘rare’. This suggests a serious imbalance in species status, reflecting the overall rarity and fragility of saproxylic habitats across Ireland. A list of important sites is included. Acknowledgements Brian Nelson arranged for this independent report to be published by NPWS. The authors would like to thank the recorders who have generously made their records available to us: Martin Cawley, Tom Gittings and Jervis Good. Also our thanks go to Eugenie Regan of the National Biodiversity Data Centre for encouragement to move towards publication.
Saproxylic beetles of Ireland ____________________________ Introduction Saproxylic and other woodland invertebrates have a reputation for being very poorly represented in Ireland (Speight 1986, 1989b) although Alexander (2003) suggests that this merely reflects the overall species representation in Ireland in comparison with Britain and continental Europe – a factor of Ireland’s biogeographic relationships – rather than saproxylics being rarer than any other habitat grouping. However, what may be true is that the background fauna – the common and widespread species which can be found very widely across Ireland – is a relatively small range of species, while the more restricted species form a greater proportion of the fauna than might be expected. Species richness is certainly greatest in sites which are almost certainly ancient woodlands and ancient wood- pastures (including historic demesne parklands), and it is suggested that the species which are virtually exclusive to these relatively rich sites are the remains of Ireland’s old growth fauna (Alexander et al., 2002). Ancient tree-scapes do appear to be relatively scarce across Ireland, although probably not as scarce as many people assume – the historic demesnes have hardly been studied at all. The definition of saproxylic used for the purposes of this list is the one proposed by Alexander (2008b) as it emphasises fungal decay of wood and does not require trees to be senescent or dead (Speight, 1989c): Species which are involved in or dependent on the process of fungal decay of wood, or on the products of that decay, and which are associated with living as well as dead trees. Conventionally two further groupings of organisms are included within the definition: i) sap-run associates, ie species dependent on fluxes of sap and its decomposition products, and ii) organisms other than fungi that feed directly on wood. This checklist is presented in order to provide a complete statement of where we are with knowledge of the current Irish saproxylic beetle fauna. Subfossil records have not been included. It is hoped that this baseline data will provide a framework for developing an Irish Red List of saproxylic beetles and enable the development of site quality statistics along the lines of those already in use in Britain (Alexander, 2004; Fowles et al., 1999). Aims and methods This checklist aims to include all resident breeding species, and so includes the long-established native fauna plus introductions which have proved able to maintain viable populations in Ireland. Casual imports are omitted where their status is clear-cut, e.g. Silvanus bidentatus in pallets associated with a consignment of computer parts from Japan (Good & Hume, 1991), but recent arrivals are included as these may become established. 3
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