Microhabitat mosaics are key to the survival of an endangered ground beetle (Carabus nitens) in its post-industrial refugia

Volf, Martin; Holec, Michal; Holcová, Diana; Jaroš, Pavel; Hejda, Radek; Drag, Lukáš; Blízek, Jaroslav; Sebek, Pavel; Čížek, Lukáš

doi:10.1007/s10841-018-0064-x

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Movement behaviour of carabids has traditionally been investigated with mark-recapture combined with pitfall trapping of living individuals (Grüm 1971, Rijnsdorp 1980, Nève de Mévergnies & Baguette 1990, Althoff et al 1994, Skłodowski 1999, Matern et al 2007, Volf et al 2018, Wehnert & Wagner 2019. However, obtaining movement data by pitfall trapping has limitations due to its dependence on ground-dwelling activity of the beetles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat use of an endangered beetle Carabus hungaricus assessed via radio telemetry

Růžičková

Bérces

2019

Acta Zool Acad Sci H

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0000-0001-9703-4538 Carabus hungaricus is an endangered habitat specialist of tall-grass steppe occurring in the Pannonian region. In this study, we used radio telemetry to examine whether habitat type (different habitat patches in steppe mosaic), sex, time of day, temperature and air pressure affect the activity of this species. During the reproductive period of C. hungaricus in October 2017, we equipped ten individuals, five males, and five females, with small 0.3 g VHF transmitters and tracked them for seven consecutive days. The average speed of tagged individuals was 1.29 m/h for the fastest individual and 0.21 m/h for the slowest one. The shape of trajectories indicated random walk; only in few cases did beetles cover larger distances between two tracking sessions. Habitat type significantly affected beetle movement; the average speed was higher in grassy patches and common juniper stands, while it decreased in mosses and litter under shrubs. Although there was no effect of sex, time of day, or air pressure on beetles' activity, the temperature had a positive effect on movement. Beetles' movement patterns indicated preferred patches within the assumed optimal habitat. The availability of suitable patches within steppe mosaic can be therefore crucial for the persistence of this species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat use of an endangered beetle Carabus hungaricus assessed via radio telemetry

Růžičková

Bérces

2019

Acta Zool Acad Sci H

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“…3a), revealing large differences in temperature amplitudes among our treatments, with the greatest differences in topsoil‐removed plots and the lowest in forest. After topsoil removal, biological communities usually tend to shift towards less nutrient demanding, xero/thermo/heliophilic species or species of initial succession stages (Jentsch et al ., 2009; Kiehl et al ., 2010; Tropek et al ., 2017; Volf et al ., 2018). In our study, dung beetles of conservation concern, i.e ., E. paracoenosus and S. schaefferi (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, high, yet not significant, abundances of the ball‐rolling dung beetle, S. schaefferi , were found in topsoil‐removed plots. Patches of bare soil and low vegetation cover are critical for survival of many threatened organisms including plants (Česonienė et al ., 2019), bees (Heneberg et al ., 2016), and spiders (Krause et al ., 2011), as well as ground beetles (Volf et al ., 2018; Růžičková & Hykel, 2019). Our results indicated that bare soil, created by topsoil removal, is important also to some dung‐inhabiting beetles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coppicing and topsoil removal promote diversity of dung‐inhabiting beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Geotrupidae, Staphylinidae) in forests

Ambrožová

Finnberg²,

Feldmann³

et al. 2021

Agri and Forest Entomology

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Central European forests experience a substantial loss of open‐forest organisms due to forest management and increasing nitrogen deposition. However, management strategies, removing different levels of nitrogen, have been rarely evaluated simultaneously. We tested the additive effects of coppicing and topsoil removal on communities of dung‐inhabiting beetles compared to closed forests. We sampled 57 021 beetles, using baited pitfall traps exposed on 27 plots. Experimental treatments resulted in significantly different communities by promoting open‐habitat species. While alpha diversity did not differ among treatments, gamma diversity of Geotrupidae and Scarabaeidae and beta diversity of Staphylinidae were higher in coppice than in forest. Functional diversity of rove beetles was higher in both, coppice and topsoil‐removed plots, compared to control plots. This was likely driven by higher habitat heterogeneity in established forest openings. Five dung beetle species and four rove beetle species benefitted from coppicing, one red‐listed dung beetle and two rove beetle species benefitted from topsoil removal. Our results demonstrate that dung‐inhabiting beetles related to open forest patches can be promoted by both, coppicing and additional topsoil removal. A mosaic of coppice and bare‐soil‐rich patches can hence promote landscape‐level gamma diversity of dung and rove beetles within forests.

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“…Many species of Carabus are forest dwelling and may depend on large deadwood objects to complete their life cycles (Negro et al, 2017; Seibold et al, 2014). Some indicators of habitat quality such as logged forests, for example, have reduced abundance of specialist carabids (Negro et al, 2017), and it can take up to 10 years for forest species to be restored to pre‐logging levels (Koivula et al 2019), while intact habitat mosaics and high humidity benefit carabid abundance (Volf et al, 2018; Negro et al 2014). However, despite their importance in making conservation decisions, for the vast majority of Carabus species, especially forest‐dwelling species, very little knowledge on fine‐scale habitat selection exists.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting patterns of habitat use in a threatened carabid (Carabus intricatus) and a sympatric congener in ancient temperate rainforest

Pett,

Raymond,

Hackman

et al. 2024

Insect Conserv Diversity

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There is increasing concern into the decline of insect populations, with corresponding calls for conservation action aimed towards threatened species in particular. However, there is a distinct paucity of knowledge surrounding habitat requirements, microhabitat selection and conservation actions that may be undertaken for the vast majority of invertebrate species. Carabus intricatus (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Linnaeus, 1761 is a threatened ancient woodland specialist in the United Kingdom with a highly restricted distribution and is listed as a section 41 species of principal importance in England. Despite this, no empirical systematic evidence exists for even basic habitat requirements. Here, we used a patch‐occupancy modelling framework to determine occupancy and detection parameters for C. intricatus and a sympatric generalist species, C. problematicus, which is a potential competitor. Our models showed that decayed deadwood availability and leaf litter covering (an indicator of the availability of mature broadleaved trees) leads to higher occupancy of C. intricatus, whereas decayed dead wood availability and slug abundance are primary determinants of overall abundance. Additionally, detection models showed that higher humidity substantially increased activity of C. intricatus. For C. problematicus, ground moss coverage and overall deadwood volume most strongly influenced occupancy and abundance, whereas there were no humidity related influences on activity. The results support our general predictions about the specialist–generalist nature of the two species in the United Kingdom and indicate that key characteristics of old‐growth temperate rain forests, particularly the availability of deadwood and high humidity, are central to the conservation of these charismatic carabids.

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Microhabitat mosaics are key to the survival of an endangered ground beetle (Carabus nitens) in its post-industrial refugia

Cited by 20 publications

References 27 publications

Habitat use of an endangered beetle Carabus hungaricus assessed via radio telemetry

Habitat use of an endangered beetle Carabus hungaricus assessed via radio telemetry

Coppicing and topsoil removal promote diversity of dung‐inhabiting beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Geotrupidae, Staphylinidae) in forests

Contrasting patterns of habitat use in a threatened carabid (Carabus intricatus) and a sympatric congener in ancient temperate rainforest

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