Longhorned beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) are an important biotic component of temperate forest food webs and ecosystems. We trapped longhorned beetles in forests in northwest Ohio from early June through early October of 2008 to test the hypothesis that larger forests have greater cerambycid species diversity than smaller forests. Lindgren funnel traps, panel traps, and flight intercept traps were set up in eight forests (four large forests, greater than 200 hectares in area, and four small forests, less than 20 hectares in area). Ninety-five percent ethanol was used as a chemical attractant. Beetles were trapped continuously for the entire time period.
Results/Conclusions
Large forests had a significantly greater cerambycid species richness than small forests (t = 3.16. P = 0.02), and there was a significant relationship between forest size and cerambycid species richness (larger forests had greater cerambycid species richness than smaller forests). Shannon diversity was significantly greater in the large forests compared to the small forests. Significantly larger numbers of cerambycids were also captured in larger forests than in smaller forests.