Pyrophilous (literally «fire-loving» or «fire-specialist») insects are mainly found in freshly burnt habitats, where they exploit early post-fire resources. As a consequence of fire suppression management in various European countries, many pyrophilous species, mainly beetles, are threatened and included in Red Lists. In 2004, 2005, and 2006, the occurrence of pyrophilous beetles was monitored at Leuk (Canton Valais, Switzerland), where approximately 300 ha of forest were destroyed by a fire in August 2003. We sampled the beetle fauna (Coleoptera) at 18 trap sites, 12 of which were completely burnt and 6 were control plots in the intact forest.
Virtually all pyrophilous beetle species of the families Cerambycidae, Carabidae and Anthribitiae known from Western and Northern Europe were sampled: Acmaeops marginatus, and Acmaeops septentrionis (Cerambycidae); Pterostichus quadrifoveolatus and Sericoda quadripunctata (Carabidae); Platyrhinus resinosus (Anthribitiae). Our results show that forest fires in the Swiss Central Alps might have an important effect on the European distribution of pyrophilous species. The conservation value of occasional local fires in the Central Alps has to be recognized in order to maintain and enhance the populations of threatened pyrophilous species in Switzerland.