Carabid beetle occurrence at the edges of oak and beech forests in NW Spain

[EN] We examined the occurrence of carabid beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) at the edges of oak (Quercus pyrenaica) and beech (Fagus sylvatica) forests in León, NW Spain. Pitfall traps were used to collect beetles from April to October 2002, and leaf litter cover and depth were measured. Traps were p...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Taboada Palomares, Ángela, Kotze, David Johan, Salgado Costas, José María
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2004
País:España
Recursos:Ajuntament de Barcelona
Repositorio:BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
OAI Identifier:oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/22524
Acesso em linha:https://www.eje.cz/artkey/eje-200404-0010_carabid_beetle_occurrence_at_the_edges_of_oak_and_beech_forests_in_nw_spain.php
https://hdl.handle.net/10612/22524
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Ecología. Medio ambiente
Zoología
Beech forest
Carabid beetles
Edge effects
Forest edge
Oak forest
2413 Biología de Insectos (Entomología)
2413.03 Ecología de Los Insectos
Descrição
Resumo:[EN] We examined the occurrence of carabid beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) at the edges of oak (Quercus pyrenaica) and beech (Fagus sylvatica) forests in León, NW Spain. Pitfall traps were used to collect beetles from April to October 2002, and leaf litter cover and depth were measured. Traps were placed at three distances (0, 50 and 100 m) from the edges of eight forest patches. A total of 5436 carabids belonging to 43 species were collected. We found no statistically significant edge effect at the carabid assemblage level, i.e. the number of species and individuals was not higher at the edge compared to the forest interior. However, individual species were affected by distance from the edge. Five of the 14 species analysed responded predictably to the edge, three of them statistically significantly so. Four species did not respond in the predicted direction, two of them statistically significantly so. We found a considerable difference between forest types in terms of carabid assemblage composition and response to the edge. Oak forests were species richer and beech forests had a higher number of individuals. These differences were probably due to small-scale habitat heterogeneity in the oak forest patches, caused by man, and the homogeneous structure of beech forests. Leaf litter appeared to be one possible factor influencing the distribution of some species from the interior to the edge of forests