{"title":"Effects of heterogenous forest environments on ground-dwelling beetles in a conifer plantation","authors":"Akira Ueda, Hiroki Itô, Seiichi Kanetani","doi":"10.1111/ens.12584","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>It is widely recognized that heterogeneous environments promote biodiversity. Consequently, we investigated whether heterogeneous environments influence the diversity of ground-dwelling beetles within a well-managed conifer plantation forest. We collected carabid beetles, and necrophagous silphid and dung beetles (necrophagous beetles) using pitfall traps at 37 sites with or without fish meat bait. The result of a two-dimensional principal component analysis (PCA) utilizing environmental indices measured at each site suggested that the environmental heterogeneity depended on the survival density of planted conifers, serving as an indicator of historical gap formation levels. Gaps populated by invading broadleaved trees exhibited low canopy opening percentages and understory cover degrees, while those filled by the growth of planted conifers displayed the opposite conditions. The presence of bait had a negligible impact on carabid beetles but significantly influenced necrophagous beetles. No significant relationships were found between the scores of PCA components and the beetle species richness, suggesting that a heterogeneous environment does not increase the beetle species diversities. However, significant relationships were observed with the scores on nonmetric multidimensional scaling axes, indicating that a heterogeneous environment contributes to the complexity of beetle assemblages. The most dominant carabid, <i>Synuchus cycloderus</i>, was abundant in areas where historical gap formation was thought to be more prevalent. Among necrophagous beetles, <i>Pherotrupes laevistriatus</i> and <i>Panelus parvulus</i> preferred habitats with darker environments, in contrast to <i>Onthophagus fodiens</i> and <i>O. nitidus</i>. This study will aid in developing forestry practices aimed at conserving specific ground-dwelling beetle species within conifer plantations.</p>","PeriodicalId":11745,"journal":{"name":"Entomological Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Entomological Science","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ens.12584","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ENTOMOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
It is widely recognized that heterogeneous environments promote biodiversity. Consequently, we investigated whether heterogeneous environments influence the diversity of ground-dwelling beetles within a well-managed conifer plantation forest. We collected carabid beetles, and necrophagous silphid and dung beetles (necrophagous beetles) using pitfall traps at 37 sites with or without fish meat bait. The result of a two-dimensional principal component analysis (PCA) utilizing environmental indices measured at each site suggested that the environmental heterogeneity depended on the survival density of planted conifers, serving as an indicator of historical gap formation levels. Gaps populated by invading broadleaved trees exhibited low canopy opening percentages and understory cover degrees, while those filled by the growth of planted conifers displayed the opposite conditions. The presence of bait had a negligible impact on carabid beetles but significantly influenced necrophagous beetles. No significant relationships were found between the scores of PCA components and the beetle species richness, suggesting that a heterogeneous environment does not increase the beetle species diversities. However, significant relationships were observed with the scores on nonmetric multidimensional scaling axes, indicating that a heterogeneous environment contributes to the complexity of beetle assemblages. The most dominant carabid, Synuchus cycloderus, was abundant in areas where historical gap formation was thought to be more prevalent. Among necrophagous beetles, Pherotrupes laevistriatus and Panelus parvulus preferred habitats with darker environments, in contrast to Onthophagus fodiens and O. nitidus. This study will aid in developing forestry practices aimed at conserving specific ground-dwelling beetle species within conifer plantations.
期刊介绍:
Entomological Science is the official English language journal of the Entomological Society of Japan. The Journal publishes original research papers and reviews from any entomological discipline or from directly allied field in ecology, behavioral biology, physiology, biochemistry, development, genetics, systematics, morphology, evolution and general entomology. Papers of applied entomology will be considered for publication if they significantly advance in the field of entomological science in the opinion of the Editors and Editorial Board.