Local climate mediates spatial and temporal variation in carabid beetle communities in three forests in Mount Odaesan, Korea

Abstract

1. Global environmental change can dramatically alter the composition of floral and faunal communities, and elucidating the mechanisms underlying this process is important for predicting its outcomes. Studies on global climate change have mostly focused on statistical summaries within wide spatial and temporal scales; less attention has been paid to variability in microclimates at narrower spatial and temporal scales.2. The microclimate is the suite of climatic conditions measured in a local area. Environmental variables at the microclimatic scale can be critical for the ecology of organisms inhabiting each area. The effect of spatial and temporal changes in the microclimate on the ecology of carabid beetle communities in three sites on Mount Odaesan, Korea was examined.3. Carabid beetle communities and quantified site‐specific environmental factors from measurements of air temperature, air humidity, light intensity and soil temperature over 5 years (2010–2015) were surveyed.4. It was found that microclimatic variables and the patterns of temporal changes in carabid beetle communities differed between the three sites within the single mountain system. Microclimatic variables influencing temporal changes in beetle communities also differed between the sites. Therefore, it is suggested that variation in local microclimates affects spatial and temporal variation in carabid beetle communities at a local scale.5. The present results demonstrate the importance of regular surveys of communities at local scales. Such surveys are expected to reveal an additional fraction of variation in communities and underlying processes that have been overlooked in studies of global community patterns and change.