engleski

Meteorological elements which influence the abundance of Agriotes ustulatus Schall.

Recently investigations indicated that A. ustulatus is much more abundant and frequent in North West Croatia than it was stated in old literature. We hypothesized that temperatures and rainfall in the year when the flight of species is recorded as well as the temperatures and rainfall at the time of egg and larval development, influence the abundance of these species. During five years, five most important Agriotes species were monitored by pheromone traps (Csalomon) in two fields in North West Croatia. Based on the total individual number of all species and the individual number of A. ustulatus, the dominance index was calculated for each field and year. Climatic conditions about air temperature and rainfall were taken from the nearest meteorological station. Meteorological elements: average air temperature and total amount of rainfall in given year, mean temperature in April and May and amount of rainfall in April and May of given year, mean temperature and amount of rainfall in August and September of year when egg and larval development started ; were correlated with the dominance indexes. Correlation coefficients between all elements except average yearly temperature and dominance indexes are medium to very strong. Our findings confirmed that temperatures and rainfall in the year when the flight is recorded as well as the temperatures and rainfall at the time of egg and larval development, could be used for prediction on the abundance of these species in certain field.

abundance; Agriotes ustulatus; amount of rainfall; average air temperature; average monthly temperatures; correlations; dominance index

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