Family Carabidae (Coleoptera) in an Algerian salt wetland: taxonomic diversity, functional traits and effect of environmental drivers on their structure and composition

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study treated the taxonomic diversity and the functional traits of the carabid beetle communities living at Sebkha Ezzemoul in Northeastern Algeria. The fauna was fortnightly sampled using pitfall traps, set up in two stations at the wetland vicinity, during one year. Alpha diversity was evaluated by calculating non-parametric indices. Moreover, several functional traits of the beetles, such as body size, diet, humidity requirement, wing morphology and chorotypes, were studied. The GLMM test was applied to test the spatiotemporal effect and the effects of the environmental variables on the variation of beetles’ diversity. The CCA was applied to determine how environmental factors influence the functional traits of the carabid community. Catches totalled 173 individuals belonging to 18 species, 14 genera and 9 subfamilies. The most abundant species is Cicindela maura with 51 individuals (29.48%). The collected species were dominated by medium-sized body (55.55%), zoophagous (72.22%), hygrophilous (61.11%) and macropterous species (94.44). Most of them were Mediterranean (77.77%). The use of GLMM showed significant effects of the environmental factors on the Carabidae communities. The CCA demonstrated that mesophilous and zoophagous as well as small- and medium-sized species were positively correlated with the environmental factor except the soil pH.