Crustacea: Copepoda - Cerambycoidea.com

1. Introduction
This checklist of the invertebrates that develop in timber and the products of its decay has
been compiled for a number of reasons. It is provided as a working tool for field workers, for
nature conservationists and for ecologists:
�� to facilitate the recording of particular species on particular sites, to focus field
workers on the significant habitat features;
�� to draw the attention of nature conservationists to the enormous variety of niches
exploited in wooded habitats and to emphasis the importance of wood decay
succession;
�� to stimulate ecological research of the fauna.
It is a working document, not intended to be complete or set in stone, a starting point to focus
minds onto its strengths and weaknesses, and to stimulate ideas on where to go from here.
Ideally it should be on a web-site for ease of up-dating and dissemination, and this will be
one of the next stages. It is very much a statement of the information I have collated to date
and so another purpose is to stimulate people to make available information that may
contribute to the next edition. There will be lots here for people to criticise - if they so wish -
but it is hoped that people will prefer a more constructive approach and help to up-grade this
Provisional list into something more useful.
The compilation has made it possible to identify how many of our species are known to be
dependant on the process of wood decay – the answer is close 1800 for Britain and over 600
for Ireland (see Summary Table). The next stage will be to break this fauna down into its
constituent communities, a process that will inform and develop our understanding of the
relative importance of particular sites.
The checklist is very much provisional at this stage. It is provided in a spirit of co-operation
and partnership, with the express hope that other specialists will help me to build on it rather
than pull it apart with criticism. It is certainly provided as an Aunt Sally, to be knocked
around and hammered into something better. It aims to be the first stage in building
something more useful, as a baseline for future developments in our understanding and
appreciation of this rich and important habitat.
Whether or not a species occurs on a particular site which appears to provide suitable habitat
depends on two things: firstly the biogeography of the species and secondly on the
management history of the area. A detailed examination of the fauna is also essential if we
are to make sensible assessments of which species are characteristic of long-established sites,
ie ancient woodlands and ancient wood pastures, and hence which may be used as indicators
of ecological continuity and conservation value. While some species individually may be
good indicators of ecological continuity, and are clearly part of the urwaldtiere or relict old
forest fauna of these islands, it is perhaps most advisable to use them collectively - the more
of the identified indicators known from a particular site the more ecological continuity can be
inferred. This latter approach has been advocated with deadwood Coleoptera and Syrphidae
(e.g. Alexander, 1995).
A large proportion of this fauna shows strong association with areas of relict old growth – old
forest, medieval parks and chases, wooded commons, old wood pastures and similar
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