Back
pdf
Journal article

Density and nutritional condition of carabid beetles in wildflower areas of different age

  • Frank, Thomas University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Research, Institute of Zoology, Vienna, Austria
  • Kehrli, Patrik Zoological Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland - Unit of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Germann, Christoph Zoological Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland
    01.12.2006
Published in:
  • Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. - 2007, vol. 120, no. 2-4, p. 377-383
Agonum mülleri
Anchomenus dorsalis
Anisodactylus binotatus
Poecilus cupreus
Pterostichus vernalis
Semi-natural habitats
English Density and nutritional condition of the five carabid beetle species Agonum mülleri, Anchomenus dorsalis, Anisodactylus binotatus, Pterostichus vernalis and Poecilus cupreus was studied. Carabids were caught in sixteen 1–4-year-old wildflower areas, identified and counted, their nutritional condition was calculated and calculations were related to habitat parameters (i.e. wildflower area age, vegetation cover, soil water content, habitat size, surrounding landscape composition) and sex.Whereas the number of Anisodactylus binotatus caught responded positively to succession in wildflower areas, A. mülleri numbers tended to decrease and the other three species were unaffected. In a stepwise multiple regression species affiliation, sex and age of wildflower area explained together 98.5% of the variance in the pooled nutritional condition of Anchomenus dorsalis, Anisodactylus binotatus, A. mülleri and P. vernalis. Age of wildflower area alone explained 61.7% of the variance and age increased the nutritional condition of carabids. Correspondingly, nutritional condition of Poecilus cupreus was positively correlated with the age of wildflower area. Overall, the nutritional condition of the carabid assemblage studied increased from the first to the second year and then remained stable. To keep the proportion of 1-year-old wildflower areas low, wildflower areas should therefore be maintained for several years to improve the life conditions of carabid beetles and to enhance their beneficial effects in agroecosystems.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Biologie
Language
  • English
Classification
Biological sciences
License
License undefined
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/300151
Statistics
Document views: 33 File downloads:
  • KEHRLI_DNC.PDF: 40