Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2021
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E6
Höfundar / Authors: Agnes-Katharina Kreiling (1), Leivur Janus Hansen (1)
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. Faroe Islands National Museum
Kynnir / Presenter: Agnes-Katharina Kreiling
Koltur is a small (2.5 km2) island located in the central part of the archipelago of the Faroe Islands. Apart from its two permanent inhabitants and the currently 160 sheep grazing on the island, there is relatively little human influence. Despite its small size, a variety of habitats occur on Koltur, such as steep mountain slopes, wetlands, grasslands, sea bird colonies, rocky shores, and a unique beach with a high proportion of shell sand. An extensive project started in summer 2021 with the goal to inventory all species of plants, birds, and invertebrates on the island. We will give an overview over the part of the project concerned with invertebrate sampling and present some first results. Sampling methods so far include pitfall traps, dung samples, sweep net transects, and sampling of aquatic invertebrates with Surber sampler and drift net, but employment of a Malaise and a light trap are planned for the future. Coleoptera (beetles) and Diptera (flies and midges) are among the most common and most species-rich invertebrate groups on the island. Since the beginning of the project, we were able to add 23 Coleoptera species and 8 Diptera species to the island’s faunistic checklist. Some of these species are not only new records for Koltur but for the Faroe Islands. The project will provide a baseline for long-term monitoring of the soon-to-be-announced Koltur Nature Reserve and increase the knowledge on the Faroese invertebrate fauna in general.