Estimating population density of Nicrophorus quadripunctatus (Coleoptera: Silphidae) in Korea

Abstract

AbstractEstimating the population density of organisms is of great concern to ecologists and much effort has been put into making accurate assessment of population levels in nature. We evaluated the trapping web (TW) method for the determination of the density of species of burying beetles. We found eight and six species of burying beetles at Beopjusa and Ssanggok‐ri areas, respectively. Most of the species population comprised Nicrophorus quadripunctatus, with densities of 65 and 195 per ha for Beopjusa and Ssanggok‐ri areas, respectively. Moreover, the flight intercept trap (FIT) method from 2003 to 2007 also revealed the same trend: Beopjusa temple (2928) to Ssanggok‐ri (5835). However, the differences in number of individuals were probably due to the differences in the methods and the length of the trapping period. The populations of N. quadripunctatus exist as metapopulations, making accurate assessment of the population densities extremely difficult. We hypothesized that the TW method could accurately estimate population densities extrapolated from patch population size per area.