The fauna of cambioxylophagous insects on Scots pine trees declined after spells of drought in 2003

Abstract

The paper deals with cambioxylophagous insects on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees. Research was conducted in forest stands growing on steep slopes on the left bank of the Otava River about 1 km north of Písek. These are nearly unmanaged stands of a special-purpose function with the natural occurrence of Scots pine. In total, twenty standing trees at 60 to 160 years of age that died after the spell of drought in 2003 were analysed. The composition of the community of cambioxylophagous insects was recorded in detail. The frequencies of occurrence of particular insect species were determined. In total, 34 species of cambioxylophagous insects were recorded. The order Coleoptera was quite a dominant group and within the order bark beetles (Scolytidae) and longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) prevailed. The median of the species developing on one tree was 11. Tomicus piniperda (L.) was markedly the most frequent species with the frequency of occurrence 90%. Based on the composition of the communities of cambioxylophagous insects the potential importance of the insect in the decline of the analysed Scots pine trees was evaluated. Cambioxylophagous insects probably played a secondary role there.