Dr. Ina Gorban has joined the ranks of PhDs at the Vilnius University Life Sciences Center (VU LSC). After defending her thesis "Bibionomorpha and Tipulomorpha (Diptera: Nematocera) Flies in the Most Common Deciduous Deadwood", she was awarded a PhD in zoology. Congratulations!
The academic consultant of this dissertation is VU LSC Prof. Virginija Podėnienė.
The Dissertation Defence Panel is composed of Chairman Prof. Dr. Kęstutis Arbačiauskas (VU LSC), and members Dr. Rasa Bernotienė (Nature Research Centre), Assoc. Prof. Virginijus Sruoga (VU LSC), Prof. Olavi Kurina (Estonian University of Life Sciences), and Assoc. Prof. Artūras Gedminas (Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry).
Introduction:
One of the important microhabitats supporting biodiversity in forests is deadwood. The primary decomposers of wood (fungi and bacteria) transform complex wood compounds into forms that can be consumed by other groups of organisms, such as insects. Many species of microorganisms, fungi, and insects depend on standing and fallen deadwood. Despite the growing interest in recent years in researching biodiversity in deadwood, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the life habits and feeding patterns of a significant portion of insects, especially flies (Diptera). Information on the diversity of flies in deadwood is very scarce, and one of the main reasons for this is the high species diversity and the complex nature of their identification, as well as the lack of research.
Flies (Diptera) are a diverse group of insects found in various habitats, including deadwood. Most commonly, the larval stages of flies are found in deadwood, where they develop into adults. Some larvae of the suborder Bibionomorpha are mycetophages, feeding on fungi or their mycelium in wood or soil, some are saprophages, while many have unknown biology.
The intensive exploitation of wood and the insufficient amount of deadwood left in forests reduce the availability of habitats for saproxylic organisms to live and develop. Research on saproxylic flies has been conducted in Scotland, Finland, Germany, Karelia (Russia), Switzerland, but in Lithuania, saproxylic insects, including Bibionomorpha and Tipulomorpha flies, have not been studied so far.