Ground Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Communities on Upland Heath and Their Association with Heathland Flora

Gardner, Sarah

doi:10.2307/2845398

Cited by 73 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The road-side verges in this study run from such an area through surroundings consisting of forest or agricultural land. Many species of poor sandy, open areas are regarded as restricted to these types of habitat (Hopkins and Webb, 1984;Bauer, 1989;den Boer, 1990b;Gardner, 1991;Turin et al, 1991), so it can be expected that they invade the road-side verge for such an area. The results of this study confirm that most of the species hardly occur in these other surroundings (Table 2), although there are stenotopic species which are less restricted to the poor sandy, open habitat.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The composition of the carabid fauna on poor sandy road-side verges in relation to comparable open areas

Vermeulen

1993

Biodivers Conserv

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In The Netherlands, the majority of heathlands and dry, unproductive grasslands have been brought into cultivation or afforested since the end of the 19th century. As a result, the original landscape has become highly fragmented. Nowadays, the heath habitat occurs in more or less isolated patches only. Many of these fragments show a small spatial variation in conditions. Ground-dwelling arthropods, with a low dispersal power and a specific preference for poor, sandy, open habitats, could disappear from such small fragments under the influence of temporarally unfavourable conditions. As recolonization from other fragments is often very difficult because of hostile surrounding areas, isolated small fragments that have lost their populations will remain unoccupied. The absence of some carabid species in such small, isolated fragments is thought to be the result of this situation. By introducing heathy corridors between such fragments, animals might be enabled to pass a hostile environment. This study shows that heathy road-side verges can possibly function as such a corridor. On the studied road-side verges, carabid species of poor sandy, open habitats were present, including the more rare species. Some species even found a better habitat at road-side verges than in adjacent poor sandy open areas. For other species the road-side verge seemed to be a more marginal habitat in which they occur only because of the presence of a suitable adjacent area. The distance to such an area, as well as the width of the poor sandy, open stripon the road-side verge seem to be important conditions for the occurrence of the latter species. In order to increase the survival chance in such a corridor, it is suggested that some wider strips or patches be created at the road-side verges, suitable for reproduction. In this way, road-side verges might contribute to a metapopulation structure by which species are better protected against regional extinction.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The composition of the carabid fauna on poor sandy road-side verges in relation to comparable open areas

Vermeulen

1993

Biodivers Conserv

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“…The preservation of a heterogeneous (coastal) heathland containing different successional stages may therefore favour a high diversity (c.f. Gardner 1991;Irmler 2004;Buchholz 2010). Most important for the conservation of specialized, xerothermic species are open and dynamic grey dunes and dwarf-shrub heath.…”

Section: Implications For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Especially the use of carabid beetles in ecological heathland studies has a long tradition in Europe (Gardner 1991;Usher and Thompson 1993). Recently, Irmler (2004) described the development of carabid assemblages from inland heathlands to forest in Northern Germany.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) to coastal heathland succession

Schirmel

Buchholz

2011

Biodivers Conserv

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We analyzed the impacts of succession and grass encroachment on carabid beetle and spider assemblages in a coastal heathland. Further, indicator species for different successional stages (grey dunes, dwarf-shrub heath, grassy heath, heath with shrubs, birch forest) were identified, and their relations to habitat parameters were analyzed. The study was conducted on the Baltic island of Hiddensee, Germany. Ground-dwelling arthropods were sampled using pitfall traps along a successional gradient containing five stages. Ordination by nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) revealed a clear separation of species composition among the successional stages. Both in carabid beetles and spiders, most indicator species were obtained in the youngest stage (grey dunes) and fewest in the intermediate stages (grassy heath, heath with shrubs). Also the proportion of endangered species was highest in grey dunes. Based on our results, conservation management of coastal heathlands should preserve a mosaic of different successional stages with a clear preference on younger stages (grey dunes and dwarf-shrub heath).

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“…They account for a large amount of biomass and represent a substantial proportion of all terrestrial biodiversity (Adis 1988;1990;Stork 1988;Basset et al 2004;Nakamura et al 2007). The diversity and composition of terrestrial arthropod communities have widely been used as bio-indicators for a variety of processes and habitat characteristics, including vegetation properties, river flooding regime, land use and management practices, ecosystem restoration, and soil contamination (e.g., Basset et al 2004;Cartron et al 2003;Gardner 1991;Irmler 2003). However, because of the large abundance and richness, considerable time and taxonomic expertise are required for sorting terrestrial arthropods samples and identifying individuals to the species level (Basset et al 2004;Caruso and Migliorini 2006;Gardner et al 2008;Lawton et al 1998;Moreno et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using datasets of different taxonomic detail to assess the influence of floodplain characteristics on terrestrial arthropod assemblages

et al. 2010

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Four arthropod datasets of different taxonomic detail were compared on their discriminatory power for various environmental characteristics in a lowland floodplain area along the river Rhine. The arthropod datasets comprised ground-dwelling arthropods at class-order level (n = 10), beetle families (n = 32), ground beetle genera (n = 30) and ground beetle species (n = 68). Environmental characteristics included vegetation characteristics, hydro-topographic setting, physical-chemical soil properties and soil contamination levels. Relations between arthropod assemblages and environmental factors were assessed with variance partitioning: a multivariate statistical approach that attributes variation in community composition to specific explaining variables. The variance partitioning showed comparable results for the four datasets. A substantial part of the variation (31-38%) could be ascribed to vegetation characteristics. Variance could further be attributed to physical-chemical soil properties (7-10%), hydro-topographic setting (3-7%) and soil metal contamination (2-4%). Thus, in strongly heterogeneous landscapes like lowland river floodplains, relatively coarse taxonomic data can already provide a valuable indication of the relative importance of different environmental factors for structuring arthropod communities. However, the ground beetles showed a higher specificity for different vegetation types and a more distinct relation to soil contamination levels than the other arthropod datasets. Hence, a higher degree of taxonomic detail will be beneficial for investigating the consequences of for example environmental pollution or vegetation characteristics in terms of taxonomic diversity or community composition.

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Ground Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Communities on Upland Heath and Their Association with Heathland Flora

Cited by 73 publications

References 13 publications

The composition of the carabid fauna on poor sandy road-side verges in relation to comparable open areas

The composition of the carabid fauna on poor sandy road-side verges in relation to comparable open areas

Response of carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) to coastal heathland succession

Using datasets of different taxonomic detail to assess the influence of floodplain characteristics on terrestrial arthropod assemblages

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