Wildfires are among the basic ecological factors that change habitats and initiate the succession of new forest communities. Burned areas are ephemeral habitats presenting a broad range of ecological niches that many insect species may exploit. In 2016, we studied the carabid fauna in burned pine forests of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve (European Russia). Sixty carabid beetles in total were collected in an unburned (control) area and on sites damaged by crown fire and surface fire. Carabids were more numerous and diverse in the burned areas, compared to the unburned forest, while the catch index was significantly higher in unburned area. This was due to the extremely high dynamic density of Carabus arcensis on the control site, while it was ten times lower in the burned area. The number of carabid species tended to increase in the sequence unburned forest-forest impacted by surface fire-forest impacted by crown fire. Expectedly, species compositions were more similar between firedamaged areas, while there was a higher difference between the unburned site and area damaged by crown fire. Concerning trophic group classification, all carabid beetles were distinguished in two groups, zoophagous species and myxophytophagous species. In both groups, the species number increases in the sequence from unburned areas to the forest impacted by crown fire. Finally, the dynamic density of some carabids (e.g. Poecilus lepidus, P. versicolor, Harpalus tardus, H. rufipes, H. rubripes, Cicindela sylvatica) largely increased after fire impact, while it decreased for the most other species. Our results suggest that burning of the forest stand may support some carabid species, i.e. larger forest fire increases species richness of beetle fauna. The highest dynamic density of the carabids is maintained by a few beetle species (Carabus arcensis, C. hortensis, Pterostichus oblongopunctatus).

(1) Background: The conservation of entomofauna in individual macroregions requires efforts to study the distribution and abundance of insects. For this purpose, databases are created that enumerate this information. Such databases, with the processing of significant factual material, make it possible to objectively assess the status of a species and, if necessary, take measures for its protection. The aim of the paper is to describe the modern Coleoptera fauna in nine regions of Russia on the basis of a recently published dataset. (2) Methods: We conducted our own studies in 1994, 1996, 1998–2003 and 2005–2022. The dataset also includes data from museum specimens from other years. We used a variety of methods, such as sifting through litter, searching under the bark of trees and stumps, trapping by light, soil traps, beer traps, window traps, etc. For each observation, the coordinates of the find, the number of individuals observed and the date were recorded. (3) Results: The dataset contains data on 1469 species and subspecies of Coleoptera from 85 families found in the Volga Region. In total, there are 31,433 samples and 9072 occurrences in the dataset. (4) Conclusions: The largest families in terms of species diversity are Curculionidae (202 species), Carabidae (145 species) and Chrysomelidae (142 species). There are 54 species of Coleoptera with a northern range boundary in the macroregion, two species with a southern range boundary and one species with an eastern range boundary. Twenty-one invasive Coleoptera species have been recorded in the macroregion.

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The species diversity of ground beetles (Carabidae) was studied in the meadow ecosystems in the center of European Russia (Nizhniy Novgorod region and the Republic of Mordovia). Seventeen localities were studied. All meadow biotopes were divided into four types: dry meadows, dry meadows adjacent to forest shelter-belts, wet floodplain meadows, and floodplain meadows affected by livestock grazing. The highest species diversity was in dry meadows adjacent to forest shelter-belts (65 species) and wet floodplain meadows (62 species). The lowest number of species was in floodplain meadows affected by livestock grazing (24 species). Forty ground beetle species have been identified in dry meadows. Wet floodplain meadows had the highest Shannon's index, and the lowest Simpson index. The ground beetle fauna had high values of the Simpson and Berger-Parker indices in dry meadows. Only two species dominated in dry meadows, while four to seven species dominated in other habitats. According to the Jaccard similarity index, the most similar species composition of ground beetles was in dry meadows and dry meadows adjacent to forest shelter-belts. By reducing the number of species and specimens of ground beetles, trampling has a great effect on the fauna of floodplain meadows affected by livestock grazing.

Опубликовано Российским государственным педагогическим университетом им. А. И. Герцена. Открытый доступ на условиях лицензии CC BY-NC 4.0. Аннотация. Приводятся результаты изучения сборов 2012-2019 гг. (частично -предыдущих лет) на территориях, прилегающих к Мордовскому заповеднику (Республика Мордовия, Россия). География сборов включает 6 районов Нижегородской области (Выксунский, Вознесенский, Первомайский районы и г. Саров с окрестностями) и Республики Мордовия (Темниковский, Ельниковский, Теньгушевский районы). Сборы осуществлялись вручную, а также с помощью почвенных и кроновых ферментных ловушек. В общей сложности обнаружено 260 видов из 29 семейств жесткокрылых.