Habitat evaluation of the terrestrial firefly Luciola parvula in Shonai region, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

く影響される(Soga et al. 2016a, b, 2018;Hosaka et Abstract: In this study, our aim was to quantitatively evaluate the habitat of the terrestrial firefly Luciola parvula in the Shonai region of Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Sixteen survey sites with differing topography and types of forest vegetation were set around Mt. Takadate. We counted the number of individual adult fireflies at each survey site between June and July 2018. The relationship between the number of adult individuals and topographic position index (TPI), an indicator of topography, and the forest vegetation types (broad-leaved forest, pine forest, or cedar forest), was analyzed by the generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). In addition, the amount of food resources (land snails and soil animals) considered important during the larval stage was surveyed in October 2018, and the survey of soil water content was conducted in June and October 2018. The relationships between food resources and soil water content and environmental conditions (i.e. TPI and forest vegetation types) were analyzed by the generalized linear model or GLMM, respectively. The result of the model revealed that TPI is related to the number of adult individuals, and that the population tends to be larger near the valley. Moreover, it was shown that the valley tends to have a large number of land snails and a high soil water content. It is therefore suggested that the environment with a large number of individual adult fireflies was a suitable habitat for the larvae of fireflies. This may be related to the poor ability of adult females and larvae to migrate.