Assembly rules for ground beetle communities: What determines community structure, environmental factors or competition?

Abstract

Abstract. Species assembly in ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) communities in local microhabitats was studied in a forest. The following questions were addressed: are there important filters that sort the species in the assemblages? If so, what is the specific nature of these filters? In order to address these questions rarefaction analysis was used to determine whether ground beetle species are distributed non-randomly. Next, the nature of filters was determined by analyzing (1) the community matrix and searching for the consequences of competitive exclusion and (2) species-environmental relations. Rarefaction analysis revealed that the species composition is filtered: species richness was less than expected and there were fewer than expected congeneric species coexisting at high beetle population densities. However, community matrix and body size analyses did not detect significant competition among the beetle species and the matrix was significantly nested. Species-environmental analyses indicated that the ground beetle assembly was strongly linked to ground vegetation. It is concluded that spatial distribution of ground beetles across local communities in this forest habitat is determined more by local environmental conditions than competition, and ground beetles do not interact strongly among themselves so that competitive effects do not play an important role in their distribution except at high beetle population densities.

The influence of agricultural management on the structure of ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages

“…Species composition carabid beetle assemblages can be also influenced by inter-species competition. Except direct changes in species composition, competition may also affect the body size of competing species (Currie et al 1996;Shibuya et al 2011).…”

The effect of disturbance caused by rivers flooding on ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

“…If this is the case then a competitor release effect can result in some competitively weaker species settling in disturbed (i.e. flooded) habitats (but see also Shibuya et al, 2011). Nevertheless, the division of the whole community into winners and losers is a typical effect of disturbance and has been reported before for many taxonomic groups that occur on floodplains of rivers (Ellis et al, 2001) and in other disturbed habitats (Saint-Germain et al, 2005;Sk odowski & Garbali ska 2007Grimbacher & Stork, 2009;mihorski & Durska, 2011).…”

Carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages in the intermediate successional stage after Mt. Bandai eruption of 1888: Effects of environmental variables on carabid beetles in the Urabandai area

“…Niemelä et al (, ), however, do not mention the habitat preference of Japanese carabid species. In this study, we used the term “forest specialists” as the species known to inhabit only mature forest, such as climax forest, and the term “forest generalists” as the species known to inhabit multiple forest types including secondary forest, artificial forest, and mature forest, based on previous studies on the habitat preference of Japanese carabid species (Higashi et al ; Hosoda , ; Ishitani ; Hori , ; Hiramatsu , , ; Matsumoto , , , ; Taniwaki et al ; Yamashita et al ; Kagawa et al ; Lee & Ishii , ; Ueda et al ; Shibuya et al , ; Okada & Suda ; Imura & Mizusawa ; Sato et al ; Ohwaki et al ; Washimi et al ; Okatsu & Tsutsumi ). The majority of carabid beetles collected in the seral forest of the Urabandai area were forest species.…”

“…Carabus insulicola kita , which was only recorded in the seral forest, is one such species. C. insulicola kita is a habitat generalist, and it does not inhabit forests with a high degree of preservation (such as the climax forest), instead it inhabits environments affected by artificial disturbance, such as secondary forests, grasslands adjacent to secondary forests and plantations of Japanese cedar and larch (Matsumoto ; Taniwaki et al ; Shibuya et al ; Imura & Mizusawa ). However, habitat generalists such as C. insulicola kita will be able to survive by dispersing to neighboring frequently disturbed forest areas, such as small‐scale woodlands around residential areas and plantations (Japanese cedar and larch) before the seral forest eventually becomes a climax forest.…”