Pheromone-based monitoring of threatened saproxylic insects: A game-changer in insect conservation

Monitoring the distribution and population changes of insects is crucial to determine the conservation status of potentially threatened species. Assessing their threat status can be a formidable task, however, due to the difficulty of obtaining population estimates and accurate geographical distributions. The legendary attractiveness of sex pheromones makes them an ideal tool for studying many insect species occurring at very low population densities, and constitutes a game changer for

We present model systems from saproxylic hollow tree and dead wood habitats that likely constitute the first to exploit pheromones in the context of conservation and biodiversity. Our investigations illustrate the versatility of pheromones for precise monitoring in space and time and include estimates of absolute population size by capture-recapture studies; estimates of presence/absence and population density on landscape and regional scales, connected to habitat distribution and land use history; monitoring of population fluctuations over several years, and studies of dispersal frequency and dispersal distance.