Carabid assemblages along a land use gradient in a Carpathian Mountain landscape (original) (raw)

Agricultural land use intensification and deforestation are between the most significant drivers of biodiversity loss of terrestrial systems. However, if used in small scale and extensive way (as in traditionally used farmlands), land use may create a heterogeneous landscape that maintains high biodiversity. Here we evaluate the effect of traditional land use on carabid beetle communities in Eastern Carpathians, Romania. Three sampling areas were selected along a gradient of mountain landscape within the boundaries of the Olt river and mountain zone from Eastern Carpathian region: (i) forests (natural deciduous and pine plantation), (ii) semi natural habitats (willow and clearcut), and (iii) extensively used agricultural areas (apple orchard and cropland). We found that carabid communities react to landscape change induced by land use, the highest species diversity was found in clearcut and willow, whereas arable land contained the highest number of individuals and most of the commo...