The large pine weevil, Hylobius abietis, is an important economic pest of coniferous reforestation forests. The aim of the thesis was to make pitfall traps and use them to check the abundance of H. abietis at Scots pine (P. sylvestris) forest in the local unit of Moravče, to check the effectiveness of attracting ethanol in combination with twigs of three different tree species, namely Scots pine (P. sylvestris), spruce (P. abies) and fir (A. alba), and to compare the results of our research with the research that took place at the same time in spruce (P. abies) forest in the vicinity of Kočevje. 24 traps were set, monitoring took place for 8 weeks, from 3 April 2020 to 29 May 2020. A total of 2518 beetles (Coleoptera) were caught in the traps. The largest share (57%) was represented by weevils (Curculionidae). The target species, H. abietis, accounted for 49.7% of the total beetle catch with 1246 beetles caught. The most H. abietis beetles (426) were caught in traps containing spruce twigs, but the catch in traps with fir twigs (408) and red pine twigs (412) was not much lower, therefore, statistical differences in catches between different bait combinations were not significant. An average of 51.9 beetles/trap were caught in the traps in locations around Moravče, compared to 42.6 beetles/trap in the traps around Kočevje, but even in this case the differences in catch were not statistically significant. Bark beetles (Scolytinae) accounted for 7.1% of the total beetle catch with 180 beetles caught. The most numerous were Hylurgops palliatus, Hylastes sp. and Xyleborinus saxesenii. Two non-native species, already present in our area, were also detected in the catches, namely Xylosandrus germanus and Gnathotrichus materiarius.
|
