[i]Cicada orni [/i]L. in the Food of Wild Boar in the Regional Park Maremma – Toscana, Italy
Journal Title: Ecologia Balkanica - Year 2014, Vol 5, Issue 0
Abstract
The study was conducted in the period 1991-2000, in the в Regional Park Maremma – Toscana, Central Italy. The park area is about 9800 ha, covered by Mediterranean vegetation: [i]Pinus halepensis[/i] Mill., [i]Pinus pinea domesticus[/i] L., [i]Quercus ilex[/i] L., [i]Q. pubescens[/i] Willd., [i]Arbutus unedo[/i] L., [i]Phillirea latifolia[/i] L., [i]Erica multiflora[/i] L., [i]Pistacia lentiscus[/i] L., [i]Rosmarinus officinalis[/i] L. [i]Juniperus phoenicea [/i]L., [i]Juniperus oxycedrus macrocarpa[/i] L. During the food analysis (faeces) of wild boar it was established that one of the main parts for it during the winter and spring are the larvae of [i]Cicada orni[/i] L. In one of the faeces were detected 132 pairs of front legs of those larvae. This was the reason to start a detailed investigation of cicada’s life and its role as a food source for wild boar. It was interesting to understand the influence of wild boar on the cicada’s life. The initial hypotheses were three: there is a significant influence on its number; there is no influence, or increases its number significantly. In order to achieve the aim the first and the last song of the male cicadas were registered within a period of 10 years. To investigate the number of larvae flying during the summer, in the first spring were randomly chosen 23 pine stems and an area of about 1 m around them. On this area every 15th day after the first registered song (8-10) June the empty skins were collected. This way the number of cicadas was established and their dynamics, which ended about 10-15 August. The last song registered was about 10-15 September. Each year, starting the observation the soil under the trees was divided into two categories - rooted by the wild boar or not. This way was established the influence of wild boar on the cicada’s number. T-Student analysis showed that it exists only during some of the years (1995 and 1997). This result gave an answer to the first hypothesis – that the wild boar does not influence significantly the number of cicadas. It was confirmed by the soil samples taken from different places with dimensions 50х50х30 сm.
Authors and Affiliations
Peter Genov, Atidzhe Ahmed
Keywords
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