Restoration trajectory of carabid functional traits in a formerly afforested blanket bog

Abstract

The restoration of peatland function and services on damaged peatland sites is seen as an increasingly important goal for ecological, environmental and societal reasons. Restoration monitoring often places fauna as secondary in importance to water table depth and vegetation, and when carried out, it often focuses on taxonomic indices. The use of functional traits, however, can be a complementary approach that clarifies mechanistic links between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This study was conducted in large blanket bog site in northern Scotland, using a space-for-time-substitution of restoration sites from which conifer plantations had been removed 2-18 years previously. Carabid beetles were sampled by pitfall trapping in each of three treatments (undamaged bog, restored, afforested). Functional trait data were summarised from available literature. The study found that sites under forestry had different functional traits than blanket bog, and that restoration initially shifted the suites of functional traits away from both forested and open blanket bog. However, no other change in functional traits was observed, and after two decades, restoration sites continue to support carabid communities with higher dispersal capacity and more diurnal activity than the open bog. On the other hand, the functional diversity measures used in this study failed to differentiate the different treatments and further analyses suggest that environment, rather than traits, better explain carabid beetle composition following restoration of formerly afforested blanket bog. In particular, the lack of recovery of typical blanket bog vegetation and microhabitat following felling to waste and drain blocking appear to limit carabid functional recovery.

Grazing impacts on ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) abundance and diversity on semi‐natural grassland

“…(2006) found that large flightless Carabus species favoured an extensive grazing regime over an intensive one. However, other research has failed to find species that are indicators of different management treatments within habitat mosaics (Pravia et al ., 2019). This is in line with our own findings in which we did not identify species or assemblages that were particularly associated with different intensities of grazing at our site, including no evidence that some species preferred the less intensively grazed plots that might equate to a more extensive grazing regime.…”

Ground Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Responses to Cattle Grazing, Grassland Restoration, and Habitat across a Precipitation Gradient

“…Habitat restoration can positively influence insect community reassembly [ 6 , 7 , 8 ], and a focus specifically on insect communities can promote essential ecosystem services such as pollination, pest control, carrion and waste removal, and food resources for other organisms [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. One key invertebrate group that provides ecosystem services [ 10 ], is heavily impacted by human-imposed stressors [ 13 ], and responds positively to habitat restoration [ 14 , 15 ] is the ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae). Ground beetles fill several crucial niches within ecosystems as predators, seed dispersers, and prey for other organisms [ 10 ].…”