Carabidae and Staphylinidae of Bohemian villages

Summary

The effects of land use on the ground beetle and staphylinid faunas of six villages in two rural areas in south and north Bohemia with different intensity of man management were analysed using pitfall trapping and multivariate techniques.

The whole villages, the separate sites within them and surrounding fields were classified and ordinated on the basis of their species lists of ground beetles, staphylinids and all ground-dwelling beetles.

The effect of more intensive land use was distinct: species composition in the south Bohemian villages with more intensive management was richer than in the north Bohemian settlements possibly due to the higher number of habitats and sharper boundary between them. The number of beetle species in particular villages did not depend on the size of the settlement. The classification of beetle communities in the villages shows greater similarity of medium and large-sized villages than small in both regions.

The classification and ordination of beetle communities in particular sites in villages and in the surrounding fields demonstrated the dissimilarity of field communities from other sites.