Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)

Woodland pastures are among the habitats most seriously affected by fragmentation. Many insects associated with hollow deciduous trees are therefore threatened. The European red click beetle , Elater ferrugineus L., is one of the affected species, and can be found mainly on oaks. This beetle is rare and very difficult to sample using traditional trapping methods. In recent years, pheromone-based trapping method has been used to study about this beetle. With this method, we are able to sample the beetle with great accuracy, and hence learn much more about its distribution and habitat requirement. So far, rare species have been surveyed in the potential 'hotspots' only, thereby potentially biasing conclusions. Therefore, systematic sampling strategy was used in this study. 

For conservation purposes, we need to know :

• which tree quality and tree group are important for E. ferrugineus,
• at what scale E. ferrugineus responds to the substrate and,
• where the suitable patches in the landscape are.