Olena Slobodian
Other projects
20 May 2015
Diversity and Conservation of Ground Insects in the Gorgany Range (Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains)
Carpathian region is rich and not well explored biodiversity. In many places mosaic habitats and unsustainable use of natural resources (modern agriculture, tourism) affected the population size of ground insects. At the same time lack of scientific data effects planning and management of protected areas, which often neglect insects diversity. The project aims to conserve the ground beetles (Carabidae family) of Ukrainian Carpathians by maintaining connectivity of their habitats and propose a series of measures for long - term conservation.
Ground beetles are an important component of old and stable ecological systems. Our study will focus on distribution and functional roles of ground beetles across natural forests of some part of Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains (Carpathian National Nature Park and adjacent to it areas). The complex investigation of diversity of ground entomofauna in the Carpathian forests will show how rich biodiversity of beetle communities there and will provide and approximate figure of condition of these unique ecosystems. The summarized data on diversity, distribution of ground beetles of Ukrainian Carpathians will show necessity of development species conservation action plan for the Carpathian National Nature Park and adjacent to it areas. It will be additional step for nature -protection activities in the Carpathian region and attract general public, government and research institutions to the conservation of ground beetles.
The specific project objectives include:
- evaluation of the project area to identify critical habitats, needs of recovering the population of ground beetles in the Carpathians;
- proposal and implementation of effective management tools to conserve critical habitats of ground beetles;
- development of management measures designed to help conserve ground beetles and specific habitats;
- increasing capacity for conservation of the ground beetles in the Carpathian region.