Diversity and composition of carabids during a forestry cycle

Abstract

Carabids (Carabidae, Coleoptera) were studied for 2 yearsto explore changes in their diversity and composition during a forestry cycle inthe Hungarian Mountain Range. Native beech forest was clear-cut and replantedwith Norway spruce. Recently planted (5 years old), young (15years old), middle-aged (30 years old) and old spruceplantations (50 years old) were studied using pitfall traps. Ourresults showed that the species richness of carabids was significantly lower inthe plantations than in the native beech forest. Species composition washomogeneous in the beech forest. β-Diversity of the 15–30year old plantations was also low, and it increased slightlytowards ageing. Heterogeneity of the species composition of the 5year old plantation was higher than that of the others, whichreflected the patchiness of the young plantation. The main tendencies of thecompositional changes were as follows. Deciduous forest specialists decreasedsignificantly in abundance in the plantations; they appeared in highabundance only in the beech forest. Species characteristic of open habitatsincreased remarkably in abundance in the recently established plantation.Multiple linear regression between the diversity of carabids and of 12environmental variables shows that the pH and compaction of the soil, and thecover of leaf litter had a significant effect in determining diversity ofcarabids.