Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:17:32.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Invertebrates of Scottish sand dunes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

R. Colin Welch
Affiliation:
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monks Wood Experimental Station, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, U.K.
Get access

Synopsis

The first comparative study in Britain of the invertebrate fauna of a large number of coastal sites was carried out in Scotland in 1976/77. Fifty-eight sites were selected at fifty-four locations in four geographic areas: East Coast, Moray Firth, North & North-west Coast and the Outer Hebrides. Lepidoptera were collected in MV light traps, while Coleoptera, Araneae, Mollusca and Diplopoda were caught in pitfall traps. The results are analysed to show the relationships between the faunal elements of each region and how species distribution correlates with latitude and is affected by climate. Examples are given to illustrate the great range of distribution patterns of selected species in the five major invertebrate groups studied. Some priority areas for site conservation are listed and recommendations made for a different approach to dune management.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Birse, E. L., & Dry, F. T., 1970. Assessment of Climatic Conditions in Scotland. 1. Based on Accumulated Temperature and Potential Water Deficit. Aberdeen: Macaulay Institute of Soil Research.Google Scholar
Birse, E. L., & Robertson, L., 1980. Assessment of Climatic Conditions in Scotland. 2. Based on Exposure and Accumulated Frost. Aberdeen: Macauley Institute of Soil Research.Google Scholar
Blower, J. G., 1985. Millipedes. Synopses of the British Fauna (New Series). No. 35, London: Linnean Society.Google Scholar
British Myriapod Group, 1988. Preliminary Atlas of the Millipedes of the British Isles. Huntingdon: Institute of Terrestrial Ecology.Google Scholar
Chandler, T. J., & Gregory, S., 1976. The Climate of the British Isles. London & New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Doody, P., 1989. Conservation and development of the coastal dunes in Great Britain. In Perspectives in Coastal Dune Management, eds Meulen, F. van der, Jungerius, P. D., & Visser, J. H., pp. 5267. The Hague: SPB Academic Publishing.Google Scholar
Duffey, E., 1968. An ecological analysis of the spider fauna of sand dunes. Journal of Animal Ecology 37, 641674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eyre, M. D., Luff, M. L., Rushton, S. P., & Topping, C. J., 1989. Ground beetles and weevils (Carabidae and Curculionoidea) as indicators of grassland management practices. Journal of Applied Entomology 107, 508517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greatorex-Davies, J. N., 1980. Recent records of Agrotis ripae (Hubn.) and other sand dune species from Scotland. Entomologist's Gazette 31, 1922.Google Scholar
Heath, J., 1965. A genuinely portable MV light trap. Entomologist's Record and the Journal of Variation 11, 236238.Google Scholar
Hill, M., 1973. Reciprocal Averaging: An Eigenvector method of ordination. Journal of Ecology 61, 237249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, M., 1975. Indicator species analysis, a divisive polythetic method of classification, and its application to a survey of native pinewoods in Scotland. Journal of Ecology 63, 597613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology 1978. Scottish Coastal Survey. A Report on Selected Soft Coast Sites in Scotland. Unpublished Report to Nature Conservancy Council.Google Scholar
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology 1979a. The Invertebrate Fauna of Dune and Machair Sites in Scotland. Vol. 2 (Parts 1–4). Unpublished Reports (Site Dossiers) to Nature Conservancy Council.Google Scholar
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology 1979b. The Invertebrate Fauna of Dune and Machair Sites in Scotland. Vol. 1 (Introduction, Methods & Analysis of Data). Unpublished Report to Nature Conservancy Council.Google Scholar
Kerney, M. P., 1976. Atlas of the Non-Marine Mollusca of the British Isles. Cambridge: Institute of Terrestrial Ecology.Google Scholar
Lindroth, C. H., 1974. Coleoptera: Carabidae. Handbook for the Identification of British Insects 4(2). London: Royal Entomological Society.Google Scholar
Locket, G. H., Millidge, A. F., & Merrett, P., 1974. British Spiders 3, London: Ray Society.Google Scholar
Mather, A. S., & Crofts, R., 1972. Beaches of Wester Ross. Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen, Department of Geography.Google Scholar
Mather, A. S., & Ritchie, W., 1977. The Beaches of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Countryside Commission for Scotland, Butterby.Google Scholar
Meteorological Office 1976. Averages of Temperatures for the United Kingdom, 19411970. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Morris, M. G., 1987. The distribution and ecology of Philopedon plagiatus (Schaller) (Col.: Curculionidae), with particular reference to inland records. Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation 99, 1120.Google Scholar
Perring, F. H., & Walters, S. M., 1976. Atlas of the British Flora, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, D. A., 1977. A Nature Conservation Review, 2 Vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Snazell, R., 1980. Erigone aletris Crosby & Bishop, a spider new to Britain (Araneae: Linyphiidae). Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society 5(2), 97100.Google Scholar
South, R., 1961. The Moths of the British Isles, 2 Vols. London: Warne.Google Scholar
Walsh, G. B., 1925. The Coast Coleoptera of the British Isles: A study in insect oecology. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 61, 137151.Google Scholar
Walsh, G. B., 1926. The origin and distribution of the Coast Coleoptera of the British Isles. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 62, 221–231 and 257262.Google Scholar
Waterston, A. R., Owen, J.A., Welch, R. C., Bacchus, M. E., & Hammond, P. M., 1981. Present knowledge of the non-marine invertebrate fauna of the Outer Hebrides, Part 4, Insects: Coleoptera. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 79B, 264283.Google Scholar
Welch, R. C., 1979a. Survey of the invertebrate fauna of sand dunes and machair sites in the Outer Hebrides during 1976. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 77B, 395404.Google Scholar
Welch, R. C., 1979b. Coleoptera recorded from sites in Sutherland (V.C. 108) and Caithness (V.C. 109) from 28 th July to 9th August 1972. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, unpublished report to Nature Conservancy Council.Google Scholar
Welch, R. C., 1979c. Orthocerus clavicornis (L.) (Col., Colydiidae), Melanimon tibiale (F.) (Col., Tenebrionidae), and Notoxus monocerus (L.) (Col., Anthicidae), from coastal dunes in Scotland. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 114 (1978), 249250.Google Scholar
Welch, R. C., 1980. Coleoptera previously unrecorded from the Outer Hebrides. Hebridean Naturalist 3 (1979), 5461.Google Scholar
Welch, R. C., 1983. Coleoptera in the Inner Hebrides. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 83B, 505529.Google Scholar
Wormell, P., (ed.) 1982. The entomology of the Isle of Rhum National Nature Reserve. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 18, 1111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wormell, P., 1983. Lepidoptera in the Inner Hebrides. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 83B, 531546.Google Scholar