Rove beetle species and their pitfall trap abundance were studied in red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.; Pinaceae) stands in the Acadia Research Forest, New Brunswick, Canada, in 1999. The study yielded over 5000 specimens representing 134 species in 11 subfamilies of Staphylinidae. Of these, 58 species represent new distribution records for New Brunswick (NPR), including 15 new distribution records for Canada (NCR), 6 new species, and 4 synonyms, as follows: Omaliinae, 3 species; Proteininae, Proteinus pseudothomasi Klimaszewski sp. nov. (NCR, NPR) and P. acadiensis Klimaszewski sp. nov. (NCR, NPR); Tachyporinae, 3 species; Trichophyinae, 1 species; Aleocharinae, 33 species, including Atheta capsularis Klimaszewski sp. nov., A. brunswickensis Klimaszewski sp. nov., A. pseudocrenuliventris Klimaszewski sp. nov., Oxypoda lacustris Casey (NPR) [= O. bradorensis Lohse syn. nov., O. egestosa Casey syn. nov., O. lassula Casey syn. nov., and O. optiva Casey syn. nov.], and Pella gesneri Klimaszewski sp. nov.; Oxytelinae, 3 species; Paederinae, 3 species; and Staphylininae, 10 species. The new species or known species representing new records for Canada are presented here with a short diagnosis, habitus images, and genital illustrations to help with identification. The habitus images and most genital illustrations are presented here for the first time for these species.

Theory and empirical results suggest that high biodiversity should often cause lower temporal variability in aggregate community properties such as total community biomass. We assembled microbial communities containing 2 to 8 species of competitors in aquatic microcosms and found that the temporal change in total community biomass was positively but insignificantly associated with diversity in a constant temperature environment. There was no evidence of any trend in variable temperature environments. Three non‐exclusive mechanisms might explain the lack of a net stabilising effect of species richness on temporal change. (1) A direct destabilising effect of diversity on population level variances caused some populations to vary more when embedded in more diverse communities. (2) Similar responses of the different species to environmental variability might have limited any insurance effect of increased species richness. (3) Large differences in the population level variability of different species (i.e., unevenness) could weaken the relation between species richness and community level stability. These three mechanisms may outweigh the stabilising effects of increases in total community biomass with diversity, statistical averaging, and slightly more negative covariance in more diverse communities. Our experiment and analyses advocate for further experimental investigations of diversity‐variability relations.

(E)-6,10-dimethyl-5,9-undecadien-2-ol (geranyl acetol), termed here fuscol, was identified as a male-produced pheromone emitted by Tetropium fuscum (F.) and Tetropium cinnamopterum Kirby. In field experiments, traps baited with synthetic fuscol alone were not significantly attractive, but the combination of fuscol plus host volatiles (a synthetic blend of monoterpenes plus ethanol) attracted significantly more male and female T. fuscum and female T. cinnamopterum than did host volatiles alone. This is the first homoterpenoid alcohol to be described in the Cerambycidae, and the first pheromone reported from the sub-family Spondylidinae.