Assemblages of ground beetles (Carabidae, Coleoptera) in peatland habitat, surrounding dry pine forests and meadows

Abstract

This research was conducted to study assemblages of ground beetles in peatland, surrounding dry pine forests and meadows in the Šuja peatbog (in northern part of Slovakia) in 2013. The main aim was to classify assemblages of beetles into different habitat types, compare their composition and analyse the relation of species occurrence at study sites. Carabids were sampled between May and October 2013 at 8 study sites using pitfall traps and 1,627 individuals belonging to 55 species were registered in total. All features such as diversity, equitability, species composition, their preference for humidity and vegetation cover, inclusion in the group of their ecological valence and habitat association and community index of the ground beetles were used to characterize ground beetle communities at each study site. In order to evaluate the relationship among the communities of the carabid beetles at the sampling sites we used principal component analysis. The scatter of species formed four groups of species associated with dry open lowland habitats, wetter woodland habitats, hygrofil wetland habitats and dry to semi wet unshaded habitats.