XVII European Carabidologists Meeting, Primošten, Croatia, 20-25 September 2015
LONG-TERM DYNAMICS OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF LOCAL GROUND BEETLE POPULATIONS IN A MOSAIC OF FLOODPLAIN MEADOWS 1
2,3
2
Trushitsina O.S. , Matalin A.V. , Makarov K.V. 1
The S. Yesenin Ryazan State University, Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology, Russia,
[email protected] 2 Moscow State Pedagogical University, Zoology & Ecology Department, Russia,
[email protected],
[email protected] 3 The N.I. Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Department of Biology, Russia.
Introduction Floodplain meadows are the unstable and variable ecosystems where the environmental conditions vary annually depending on weather and the hydrological regime. Thus, floodplain meadows are useful sites for the study of betweenyear changes in the life cycles of Carabidae.
Material and Methods In 2006-2008, the dynamics of the demographic structure of local ground beetle populations were studied in floodplain meadows of Pra River, Ryazan Area, Russia. Beetles were trapped in nine natural habitats differing in the inundation regime (Fig. 1). Plastic pitfall traps of 0.5 l capacity (Ø 95 mm) with 4% formalin as a fixative were used. In each habitat, ten traps were set along transects at 10 m intervals. The hypothesis of 'stable/labile components' (Makarov, Matalin, 2009; Matalin, Makarov, 2011) was utilized for describing the Carabidae assemblages. 6 2 3 1
4
7
5
9
8
1 km
Table 1. Between-year variations of the distribution of resident species of ground beetles in floodplain meadows. Habitats Species Years Carabus stscheglovi Carabus granulatus Carabus menetriesi Carabus estreicheiri Carabus aurolimbatus Clivina fossor Trechus secalis Bembidion biguttatum Bembidion guttula Bembidion gilvipes Bembidion assimile Patrobus atrorufus Poecilus cupreus Poecilus versicolor Poecilus lepidus Pterostichus niger Pterostichus vernalis Pterostichus anthracinus Pterostichus minor Pterostichus nigrita Pterostichus diligens Pterostichus strenuus Pterostichus melanarius Calathus fuscipes Calathus erratus Calathus melanocephalus Agonum versutum Agonum viduum Agonum fuliginosum Platynus krynickii Oxypselaphus obscurus Synuchus vivalis Amara communis Amara lunicollis Amara bifrons Amara equestris Acupalpus exiguus Harpalus rufipes Harpalus rubripes Harpalus latus Harpalus luteicornis Harpalus smaragdinus Harpalus affinis Panagaeus cruxmajor Panagaeus bipustulatus Oodes helopioides Badister dorsiger Badister sodalis Brachinus incertus Residents
06
1 07
08
06
2 07
Migrants
08
06
8 07
08
06
7 07
08
06
4 07
08
06
5 07
08
06
6 07
08
06
9 07
08
06
3 07
08
Sporadic
The range of between-year variation in the number of residential habitats for individual species owing to changes in air temperature and flood stage could reach 1.5-3 times. Despite this, the ordination of communities according to the list of residents appears to be more adequate than that according to a full species list. In Pterostichus melanarius and Harpalus rufipes, between-ear variations in the life cycles from annual (2006) to facultative (2007) and then to obligate biennial (2008) were observed (Fig. 2).
Pra River A
2006 2007 2008
8
1
2 7
3
4 5
9 6
B
Fig. 1. Collection localities: A - lines of pitfall traps; B - flood levels of Pra River in different years; numbers - model habitats (1 dry forb-grass meadow; 2 - forb-grass-sedge meadow; 3 - swamped sedge-grass meadow; 4 - Galium-Bromus meadow; 5 - Lythrum-Digraphus-Carex meadow; 6 - wet sedge meadow; 7 - Alopecurus-grass meadow; 8 - gramineous-grass meadow; 9 - wet legume-sedge meadow).
Results During the period of observation, 52,712 specimens of Carabidae belonging to 142 species were collected. Among them, 49 species (35%) were residents at least for one year at least in one of the habitats; 57 species (40%) were recorded only as sporadic, while 36 species (25%) were recognized either as sporadic or migrants. Only Poecilus versicolor was resident virtually in all habitats during all three years of observation. Two species, Carabus granulatus and Pterostichus melanarius, were residents in seven and six habitats, respectively, during the whole study period (Table 1).
Fig. 2. Between-year variations of the life cycle of Pterostichus melanarius in Alopecurus-grass meadow.
Conclusions 1. The survival of local populations of most ground beetle species is determined by migration activity. 2. Large-scale migrations across the whole landscape are only typical of stenotopic species which inhabit only a certain type of meadow. 3. Eurytopic species are easily redistributed within a limited area and occupy all nearby habitats available at the moment. 4. In some species of Carabidae, not only migrations, but also changes in the life cycle from annual to biennial ensure the survival of local populations. This study was financially supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Project No 17072).
