Vertical and seasonal variation in the abundance and the species richness of Attelabidae and Cantharidae (Coleoptera) in a suburban mixed forest (original) (raw)

Composition and Abundance of Ground-Dwelling Coleoptera in a Fragmented and Continuous Forest

Environmental Entomology, 2006

The structure of the ground-dwelling beetle community at two forested sites in northern Delaware was compared by examining composition and abundance at the species or genus level for Þve target families and at the family level for all other Coleoptera. The beetle communities at an isolated 15-ha woodlot and a nearby plot of relatively continuous forest were sampled using pitfall traps during 2000 and 2001. The results showed an absence or reduced abundance of many beetle taxa in the isolated woodlot relative to the continuous forest site and elevated abundances of a few taxa. Most notably, the species richness of poorly dispersing species of carabid beetles was lower in the isolated woodlot, with 12 of 19 brachypterous species completely absent from pitfall samples. Although this study does not constitute a test of habitat fragmentation hypotheses, the data do suggest that the beetle community in the woodlot may be suffering from isolation effects. The estimated response to fragmentation was correlated with body size for the 19 most common carabid species caught, suggesting that body size may be a useful predictor of vulnerability to forest fragmentation. At least in Carabids, larger body size seems to be associated with greater susceptibility to fragmentation. A number of staphylinid beetle taxa were also signiÞcantly less abundant or absent in the isolated woodlot, as were some beetles in other trophic groups, including carrion beetles (Silphidae) and geotrupid beetles (Geotrupidae). Although it retains some faunal similarity with nearby continuous forest, the woodlot may be too isolated to sustain populations of some beetle taxa, especially large, poorly dispersing forest species.

Abundance and diversity of beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) in land use and management systems

Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo

Soil beetles' communities are responsible for many ecosystem services, and are very sensitive to environmental changes. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the abundance and diversity of the soil coleoptera fauna under uses and management and also to identify relationships of the beetle community with soil's physical and chemical properties. The experiment had six experimental plots set up an Oxisol (Latossolo): corn (CO), soybean (SO), 7-year-old eucalyptus (EI), 4-year-old eucalyptus (EII), preserved Cerrado (PC), and disturbed Cerrado (DC). Soil beetles were sampled at 128 points for each experimental plot, where the soil physical and chemical properties were analyzed. The Coleoptera fauna organisms were identified at the family, subfamily, and gender level, and then, the number of individuals per day, richness, Shannon diversity indexes, and Pielou evenness were determined. The data were analyzed using multivariate techniques (hierarchical grouping and factor analysis). On total, 750 specimens of beetles were collected, distributed into 9 families, 14 subfamilies, and 27 genera. The most abundant family was Scarabaeidae (11 genera) with the highest occurrence in the PC (143 specimens) and DC (81 specimens). Cultivation with SO presented the greatest number of trap day individuals (ind trap-1 day-1 = 0.548); however, the highest diversity was found in the PC. (20 taxonomic groups) and CO (16 taxonomic groups). Shannon diversity was higher for the CO (H' = 3.107), followed by the PC (H' = 2.699), and the lowest value was found for the SO (H' = 1.530). The similarity dendrogram grouped the plots into two extracts, demonstrating how the intensity of land use influences the abundance and diversity of beetle fauna. The factor analysis grouped the Coleoptera and the physical and chemical soil properties in two factors: elements related to the state of aggregation and porous system's elements. The Coleoptera community was influenced by the intensity of land use and the portion with anthropized natural vegetation showed the highest richness, demonstrating that the Coleoptera fauna responds to environmental changes. Edaphic beetles in the different use and management systems were primarily related to soil physical properties, which explain the state of aggregation (pH, altitude, Ca 2+ , BD, clay, macroporosity, silt, K + , and microporosity) and the porous soil system (sand and total porosity).

CANOPY AND GROUND LEVEL INSECT DISTRIBUTION IN A TEMPERATE FOREST

We tested for the effect of height on the number of flying insects at one site in a mixed hardwood temperate forest in Williamstown, Massachusetts, by trapping insects at two heights, 0 and 2 0 meters above the ground, using two types of traps, light traps and malaise traps, from May through September 1992. Overall, insects were approximately eight times more abundant in traps at ground level than in the canopy. Of 101 insect families collected, 8 6 families (85%) were more abundant in the ground level traps than in the canopy traps. For most groups, these abundance differences with height were consistent in both types of trap. Our results contrast with previous work, done in tropical forests, which has consistently shown more insects in the canopy than in the understory. Our results suggest that the canopy, which supports a major component of insect diversity in the tropics, might not directly support the bulk of insect diversity in temperate forests.

Biodiversity, Abundance and Seasonal Fluctuation of Ground Beetles on Massa Region

Al-Mukhtar Journal of Sciences, 2018

The present study was carried out to investigate the biodiversity, abundance and seasonal fluctuation of ground beetles on Massa region from June 2015 to October 2016. The beetles were collected using 20 pitfall traps which were operated on a weekly basis, a total of 2867 specimen representing two families Carabidiae and Tenbrionidae and 10 genera (Blaps polychresta, Zophosis punctata, Pimelia interpunctata, Blaps nitens, Adesmia dilatata, Scaurus vicinus, Tentyria cyrenaica, Laemostenus complanatus, Ditomus cilpeatun and Akis costitubera were recorded. Overall diversity was 81% and 83% Simpson's scale and Shan-non's scale respectively. The highest index; 0.116841 (Simpson's index) and 0.36693 (Shan-non's index) was found in species Z. punctata. Results showed the influence of temperature on A. costitubera, B. polychresta and D. cilpeatun with the A. costitubera being a better predictor, addition to constant of A. costitubera Beta =0.818 ; constant of A. costitubera and B. polychresta Beta = 0.625 and 0.53 and constant of A. costitubera , B. polychresta and D. cilpeatun Beta = 0.629 , 0.335 and 0.191. The results concluded the importance of using ecological indexes in studying the abundance and seasonality of ground beetles fluctuated during different seasons.

A comparison of diversity and species composition of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) between conifer plantations and regenerating forests in Korea

Ecological Research, 2014

Ground beetles were collected by pitfall trapping to compare their species richness between conifer plantations (14 sites) and regenerating forests (14 sites) and among forest ages and to examine how different functional groups responded to forest type, forest age, patch size, elevation, and geographic location in terms of abundance and richness. Ground beetles were collected from middle August to late October, 2008. A total of 34 species were identified from 3,156 collected ground beetles. Individual-based rarefaction curves showed greater species richness in regenerating forests, especially in 40-50-year-old forests, than in conifer plantations. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that patch size and elevation were major predictors of species richness and/or abundance of forest specialists, brachypterous species, and large-and medium-bodied species. A multivariate regression tree indicated that patch size and elevation were major predictors of assemblage structure. Although our results suggest that maintaining forest areas adjacent to agricultural landscapes may be essential to preserve ground beetle assemblages irrespective of forest types, further study is necessary to clarify the effects of habitat quality and amount on ground beetles in forests.

Functional species traits of carabid beetles living in two riparian alder forests of the Sila plateau subject to different disturbance factors (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

Fragmenta Entomologica, 2015

We studied carabid beetle assemblages found in riparian black alder forests in the Sila plateau (Southern Apennines). These carabid assemblages are characterized by a high incidence of endemic small-sized, low dispersal, highly stenotopic (hygrophilic), and trophycally specialized species. To evaluate the influence of anthropogenic disturbance on these insects, we compared carabid assemblage of an old undisturbed forest (65-170y, wilderness landscape) with that of a younger, partly grazed stand (40-60y, cropland landscape). The carabid assemblage of the disturbed stand was characterized by a higher number of species, but showed a lower incidence of zoophagous specialists and brachypterous beetles, with many species probably coming from an adjacent cropland. However, the disturbed stand maintains almost 80% of the core species found in the older forest, which suggests that these insects are not particularly sensitive to disturbance factors represented by periodic wood harvesting and extensive cattle grazing.

Altitudinal Accumulation and Diversity of Leaf Beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) at Fraser’s Hill, Pahang

2017

Most of the research on leaf beetles more focusing on their roles as a pest or biological control. On the ecological part is much understudied. So the objective of this study is to determine the accumulation and diversity of leaf beetles at different altitude on Fraser’s Hill, Pahang. Sampling was done in Dec 2016 – Feb 2017 at lower ( 900 m a.s.l) altitudes by using sweep net from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. A total of 296 individuals, 28 species and five subfamilies successfully collected. Galerucinae has the highest number of species and individuals with 14 and 154 respectively. Lower altitude has the highest individuals with 116 but has the lowest number of species with only 11. Meanwhile, sampling on Jan 2017 has the highest abundance of 108 individuals and 17 species. However, t-test indicates that there is no significant different between all Shannon index either by altitude-wise (H’ Higher = 1.80; Middle = 2.07; Lower = 1.95) or month-wise (H’ Dec ’16 = 2.36; Jan ’17 = 2.46;...

The Impact of Climate Variations on the Structure of Ground Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Assemblage in Forests and Wetlands

Forests, 2020

We studied the effect of climate variations on the structure of the assemblage of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in a wetland and surrounding watershed forest. We analyzed the changes in the structure of the assemblage of ground beetles provoked by a two-year dry period against the background of studies carried out during the two-year wet period. Aridization influenced the structure of the assemblage of ground beetles more in wetlands than in forests. It was shown that despite the stabilizing effect of the forest on the structure of assemblages of terrestrial arthropods, the two-year dry period had a negative impact on the assemblage of ground beetles in the studied area. The Simpson dominance index of 4.9 during the wet season increased to 7.2 during the drought period. Although the total number of species during the dry period did not significantly decrease in comparison with the wet period-from 30 to 27 species-changes occurred in the trophic structure: during the drought period, the number of predators decreased. It is concluded that the resistance of forest habitats to climate aridization is somewhat exaggerated and, very likely, the structure of the community of arthropods in forests will change significantly.

Changes in Nothofagus pumilio forest biodiversity during the forest management cycle. 1. Insects

Biodiversity & Conservation, 2001

Human activities, like logging, modify the dynamics and composition of virgin forest, affecting the equilibrium between the natural species. Nothofagus forests sustain an entomofauna that is endemic, and includes relict species of significant conservation importance. The aim of this work was to evaluate the changes in insect diversity and abundance of a Nothofagus pumilio forest managed by a shelterwood cut system. Insect capture was carried out using a set of traps along a horizontal and vertical gradient. Sampling was taken in day and night conditions, in post-harvesting situations and different phases of stand development. The diversity and abundance of insects varied significantly during the forest cycle (defined as 100-200 years according to site quality). One morphospecies was lost every 11 years until the end of the forest cycle. It may be necessary to modify the current silvicultural system to one that conserves insect diversity through a reduction in disturbance.