Local Population Size and Dynamics of the Color Polymorphic Bush Cricket, Isophya rizeensis Sevgili, 2003 (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) within the Fırtına Valley

Authors: İSMAİL KUDRET SAĞLAM, SELİM SÜALP ÇAĞLAR

Abstract: Isophya rizeensis Sevgili, 2003 (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) is a color polymorphic bush cricket endemic to the Fırtına Valley in the northeast of Turkey. This paper describes the local population size and dynamics of the species distributed in 13 different habitat patches within the Fırtına Valley. Local population size varied greatly between sites, and a 1-week delay in nymph emergence and maturation was recorded at the highest habitat patch relative to all habitat patches located at lower altitudes. The results given in this paper suggest that the I. rizeensis population in the Fırtına Valley constitutes a metapopulation made up of several local populations under partially different ecological pressures.

Keywords: Isophya rizeensis, bush cricket, population size, metapopulation, distribution

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