SHORT COMMUNICATION
J For Res (2006) 11:61–64 © The Japanese Forest Society and Springer-Verlag Tokyo 2006
DOI 10.1007/s10310-005-0181-8
Amin Setyo Leksono · Kenta Takada
Nobukazu Nakagoshi · Koji Nakamura
Species composition of Modellidae and Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) in a
coppice woodland
Received: April 14, 2005 / Accepted: August 11, 2005
Abstract A continuous sampling of canopy beetles was car-
ried out to determine variations in the abundance, species
diversity, richness, and composition of the Mordellidae and
Cerambycidae in a coppice woodland. Changes in the abun-
dance and the species richness were monitored at three
heights in the forest throughout the season in 1999, using
yellow and blue water pan traps. The results showed signifi-
cant variations in the abundance of Mordellidae among
the canopy layers, while little variation was found for
Cerambycidae. The abundance, species diversity, and rich-
ness were generally greater in summer. The results showed
distinct species compositions in both families among layers.
Key words Canopy beetles · Forest strata · Vertical distri-
bution · Satoyama · Trap color
Introduction
Coppice woodland or satoyama in Japanese, covers ap-
proximately 40% of the national landscape of Japan. Re-
cently, this landscape has come under increasing pressure
from the expansion of urban areas. There is evidence to
show that certain types of destruction have had serious
impact on the species richness of butterflies (Kitahara and
Fujii 1994; Moriyama 1996).
Recently, efforts toward conservation and management
in this habitat have become concerted, and data of canopy
insect compositions, including beetles, are one of basic in-
puts into management plans. However, local-scale data of
canopy insects at the species level is insufficient due to
difficulty in gaining access into the canopies of suburban
forests. This study presents a local-scale species composi-
tion of two anthoxylic/saproxylic families, Mordellidae and
Cerambycidae, because such literature information is, to
date, insufficient (e.g., Shiyake 1993; Kirmse et al. 2003).
The aim of this study was to investigate the abundance,
species diversity, richness, and composition of these fami-
lies in correlation with height, trap color, and season.
Study site and methods
This study was carried out on a research tower located in a
74-ha suburban coppice woodland of Kanazawa University,
about 6 km southeast of Kanazawa city in central Japan
(36°33¢N, 136°43¢E, 150 m in altitude). The tower was con-
structed of alloy metal with a height of 23 m. The mean
annual air temperature in Kanazawa is 14.3°C, with the
highest monthly mean temperature of 26°C (August) and
the lowest of 1°C (January) (Leksono et al. 2005). The
vegetation around the tower is a secondary deciduous
broad-leaved forest dominated by deciduous oak trees:
Quercus serrata and Quercus variabilis. A subcanopy layer
is composed of various saplings and shrubs including
Cornus spp., Ilex spp., and Styrax spp.; while an understory
layer is composed of Callicarpa spp., Eurya spp., Lindera
spp., and Vibrunum spp. (Nakamura et al. unpublished
data). The upper canopy usually reaches a height of 20–24 m
with diameter at breast height (DBH) of 20 cm or greater,
while the heights of subcanopy and understorey plant spe-
cies are below 10 m.
This area was formerly developed from the preindustrial
rural agricultural landscape. In the 1980s, a part of the area
was converted into the university campus. In 1997, the re-
maining area was declared as reserved area and has been
used in many activities such as field studies by Kanazawa
University, environmental education, and nature conserva-
tion by local people. Recently, management of the forest
and restoration of terraced paddy fields have been initiated
A.S. Leksono · N. Nakagoshi
Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation,
Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan
K. Takada · K. Nakamura
Faculty of Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
A.S. Leksono (*)
Jurusan Biologi, FMIPA, Unibraw, Malang, Indonesia
Tel. +62-341-575840; Fax +62-341-554403
e-mail: leksono72@yahoo.com