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Björn Eriksson
PhD student in Chemical Ecology
Research
Project: Substrate dynamics and ecological adaptations as key factors in conservation of forest biodiversity
I work with chemical and conservation ecology to preserve threatened insect species tied to the Swedish forest landscape. In particular I work with saproxylic species, living on dead or dying wood, substrates that has become rare with the advent of modern forestry. Although a growing number of actions to increase the amount of dead wood has been undertaken during the last decades, their effects are still largely unknown. This is in large part due to the difficulty in conducting systematic surveys and evaluations of insect population dynamics, both on habitat and landscape levels.
Within the project I work on developing new methods of monitoring threatened insect species using pheromones (sexual attractant chemicals). Using the species own attractants it possible to set up systematic large scale monitoring schemes to observe changes in the distribution and abundance of specific insect species. By utilizing large scale pheromone based trapping, I hope to find new insights into the relationship between saproxylic species abundance and the resource availability of the surrounding landscape at different spatial and temporal scales.
Aims:
- Development of a pheromone portfolio of potential indicator species useful for systematic and large scale monitoring programs of forest insect biodiversity.
- Investigate the relationship between substrate and resource availability to population dynamics of saproxylic insects at different spatial and temporal scales.
- Evaluate the most important factors for the preservation of saproxylic insects and provide guidelines on how to sustain long term insect biodiversity in modern forestry context.
Background
Master of Science in Ecology, Linköping University, 2016
Selected publications
Molander, Eriksson, Winde, et al. Chemoecology (2019) 29: 111.
The aggregation-sex pheromones of the cerambycid beetles Anaglyptus mysticus and Xylotrechus antilope ssp. antilope: new model species for insect conservation through pheromone-based monitoring