Eur. J. Entomol. 117: 226-234, 2020 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2020.024

Using sentinel prey to assess predation pressure from terrestrial predators in water-filled tree holesOriginal article

Martin M. GOSSNER1, Elena GAZZEA2, Valeriia DIEDUS3, Marlotte JONKER4,5, Mykola YAREMCHUK3
1 Forest Entomology, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zuercherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; e-mail: martin.gossner@wsl.ch
2 Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy; e-mail: e.gazzea@gmail.com
3 Department of Biology, Uzhhorod National University, Voloshyna 32, 88000 Uzhhorod, Ukraine; e-mails: valeriia.dedus@gmail.com, kolya.yaremchuk.1995@mail.ru
4 University of Freiburg, Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Management, Tennenbacher Str. 4, D-79106 Freiburg i. Br., Germany; e-mail: marlot.jonker@gmail.com
5 Forest Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg (FVA), Wonnhaldestr. 4, D-79100 Freiburg i. Br., Germany

Tree-related microhabitats are important for forest biodiversity. Water-filled tree holes are one such microhabitat and can be abundant in temperate forests. The arthropod community in this microhabitat not only contribute to forest biodiversity but also provides food for terrestrial predators such as arthropods, small mammals and birds. The extent of the threat of attack from terrestrial predators on insect larvae in this microhabitat, however, is poorly known. To measure predation in this microhabitat, we produced fake prey resembling insect larvae using white plasticine and exposed them at the aquatic-terrestrial habitat interface. We recorded: (1) which predators attacked the fake larvae, (2) the predation probability on the fake larvae after two days and after two weeks and (3) whether predation probability on fake larvae differed between managed and unmanaged forest zones in one of the last primeval beech forests, the Uholka division of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve in the Ukrainian Carpathians. By addressing these questions, we aimed to quantify the predation pressure of terrestrial predators on insect larvae in tree-holes. The probability that a fake larva in a tree hole was attacked by predators ranged between 25-58% (95% CI) after two days and between 76-96% (95% CI) after two weeks. Overall, the highest attack rates were recorded for small mammals, followed by arthropods and birds. Arthropods took longer to detect potential prey items than small mammals and birds, and they were the only group that showed significant differences in attack rates between forest zones (unmanaged > managed). This study revealed that sentinel prey might be a suitable method for measuring the predation pressure from terrestrial predators on insect larvae in water-filled tree holes.

Keywords: Predation, artificial prey, dendrotelm, dummy larvae, forest, insect larvae, microcosms, tree-related microhabitats

Received: February 2, 2020; Revised: April 16, 2020; Accepted: April 16, 2020; Published online: April 28, 2020  Show citation

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GOSSNER, M.M., GAZZEA, E., DIEDUS, V., JONKER, M., & YAREMCHUK, M. (2020). Using sentinel prey to assess predation pressure from terrestrial predators in water-filled tree holes. EJE, 117, Article 226-234. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2020.024
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