TY  - JOUR
A1  - Thormann, Birthe
A1  - Raupach, Michael J.
A1  - Wagner, Thomas
A1  - Wägele, Johann W.
A1  - Peters, Marcell K.
T1  - Testing a Short Nuclear Marker for Inferring Staphylinid Beetle Diversity in an African Tropical Rain Forest
JF  - PLoS ONE
N2  - Background: 

The use of DNA based methods for assessing biodiversity has become increasingly common during the last years. Especially in speciose biomes as tropical rain forests and/or in hyperdiverse or understudied taxa they may efficiently complement morphological approaches. The most successful molecular approach in this field is DNA barcoding based on cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) marker, but other markers are used as well. Whereas most studies aim at identifying or describing species, there are only few attempts to use DNA markers for inventorying all animal species found in environmental samples to describe variations of biodiversity patterns. 

Methodology/Principal Findings: 

In this study, an analysis of the nuclear D3 region of the 28S rRNA gene to delimit species-like units is compared to results based on distinction of morphospecies. Data derived from both approaches are used to assess diversity and composition of staphylinid beetle communities of a Guineo-Congolian rain forest in Kenya. Beetles were collected with a standardized sampling design across six transects in primary and secondary forests using pitfall traps. Sequences could be obtained of 99% of all individuals. In total, 76 molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) were found in contrast to 70 discernible morphospecies. Despite this difference both approaches revealed highly similar biodiversity patterns, with species richness being equal in primary and secondary forests, but with divergent species communities in different habitats. The D3-MOTU approach proved to be an efficient tool for biodiversity analyses. 

Conclusions/Significance: 

Our data illustrate that the use of MOTUs as a proxy for species can provide an alternative to morphospecies identification for the analysis of changes in community structure of hyperdiverse insect taxa. The efficient amplification of the D3-marker and the ability of the D3-MOTUs to reveal similar biodiversity patterns as analyses of morphospecies recommend its use in future molecular studies on biodiversity.
KW  - DNA barcodes
KW  - Biological identifications
KW  - Species richness
KW  - Taxonomy
KW  - Conservation
KW  - Coleoptera
KW  - Parataxonomy
KW  - Assemblages
KW  - Madagascar
Y1  - 2011
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-142666
VL  - 6
IS  - 3
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Requier, Fabrice
A1  - Paillet, Yoan
A1  - Laroche, Fabienne
A1  - Rutschmann, Benjamin
A1  - Zhang, Jie
A1  - Lombardi, Fabio
A1  - Svoboda, Miroslav
A1  - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
T1  - Contribution of European forests to safeguard wild honeybee
populations
JF  - Conservation Letters
N2  - Abstract
Recent studies reveal the use of tree cavities by wild honeybee colonies in European forests. This highlights the conservation potential of forests for a highly threatened component of the native entomofauna in Europe, but currently no estimate of potential wild honeybee population sizes exists. Here, we analyzed the tree cavity densities of 106 forest areas across Europe and inferred an expected population size of wild honeybees. Both forest and management types affected the density of tree cavities.
Accordingly, we estimated that more than 80,000 wild honeybee colonies could be sustained in European forests. As expected, potential conservation hotspots were identified in unmanaged forests, and, surprisingly, also in other large forest areas across Europe. Our results contribute to the EU policy strategy to halt pollinator declines and reveal the potential of forest areas for the conservation of so far neglected wild honeybee populations in Europe.
KW  - Apis mellifera
KW  - Conservation
KW  - forest management
KW  - honeybees
KW  - native populations
KW  - protected forests
KW  - tree cavities
KW  - unmanaged broadleaved forests
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-204407
VL  - 13
IS  - 2
ER  -