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Intra-annual variations in abundance and species composition of carabid beetles in a temperate forest in Northeast China

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Abstract

In most habitats in temperate zones, species show clear intra-annual shifts in abundance and species composition. Here we aimed to present a comprehensive picture of community composition and seasonal dynamics of carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forest in Northeast China, which harbors a large diversity. We sampled 23,336 individuals from 14 genera and 39 species with pitfall traps over more than 1 year in a 25-ha plot. The six most abundant species accounted for 76.65 % of all individuals. Species estimations for the 25 ha plot ranged from 40 to 45 species. Overall abundance, species diversity, community composition, and abundance of individual species varied seasonally. Most of the abundant species showed an activity pattern of single peak, and were most active between July and early September. Few species showed a bimodal seasonal activity pattern. Both temperature and precipitation significantly influenced the carabid community within a year. Hierarchical clustering indicated that carabid communities of ten consecutive sampling periods could be partitioned into three time-windows, respectively, corresponding with warm temperature-high rainfall season, warm temperature-low rainfall season, and cool and cold season. By using the extended method of indicator species analysis, 11 indicator species were identified for the three time-groups and their combinations, suggesting the existence of temporal niche partitioning among carabid species. We suggest that intra-annual patterns of carabid abundance and species composition can be explained by species responses to seasonal changes in hydrothermal conditions. Cost-effective sampling effort to assess native carabid diversity and assemblage was also discussed in this study.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Prof. Hongbin Liang, Dr. Hongliang Shi and Dr. Yuki Imura for their assistance in carabid identifications. We are grateful to all of those who contributed to this study in the field, especially Mr. Luxin Zhao, Mr. Laibao Song and Mr. Xichang He. We also thank Prof. Shijie Han, the director of Changbai Mountain Forest Ecosystem Research Station, who provides meteorological observation data for this study. The authors would like to thank Dr. Qing-He Zhang for his help and good advices throughout this work. We thank Alison Cassidy at the University of British Columbia for her assistance with English language and grammatical editing of the manuscript. Partial funding support for this research was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Number 30970515), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2012BAD22B0401) and the Science and Technology Department of Liaoning Province (2012214001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Xiaowei Wang, Linli An, Lanzhu Ji, Yan Liu, Xugao Wang & Zhanqing Hao

  2. Bavarian Forest National Park, Freyunger Str. 2, 94481, Grafenau, Germany

    Jörg Müller

  3. Chair for Terrestrial Ecology, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Center for Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München Freising, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Jörg Müller

  4. Shenyang Institute of Technology, Fushun, 113122, China

    Linli An

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  1. Xiaowei Wang
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  2. Jörg Müller
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  3. Linli An
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Correspondence to Xiaowei Wang.

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Wang, X., Müller, J., An, L. et al. Intra-annual variations in abundance and species composition of carabid beetles in a temperate forest in Northeast China. J Insect Conserv 18, 85–98 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-014-9617-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-014-9617-9

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