Nicolò Brunelli 23-09-2024

Fieldwork concluded in the second week of September. In July and September, a total of 270 pitfall traps, specifically designed for collecting dung beetles, were set up across nine Italian alpine valleys (three in the Aosta Valley and six in Piedmont). The traps were installed at three different elevation bands to observe how the dung beetle community changes along the altitudinal gradient and were placed in two distinct habitats: open grasslands and forested areas. Each pitfall was left in place for three consecutive days. Fieldwork proceeded smoothly overall, although a few weeks were affected by widespread bad weather across northern Italy.

We now move into the project’s second phase, which will focus on DNA extraction and sequencing of the collected samples. This next step is crucial, as it will enable us to better understand how these populations are structured!