Beetle families as indicators of Coleopteran diversity in forests: a study using Malaise traps in the central mountainous region of Japan

The conservation of biodiversity is an important goal of most forest management efforts, and proper monitoring of biodiversity requires immediate attention. Coleoptera, the largest order of organisms on Earth, should be monitored as a crucial part of overall biodiversity. To facilitate monitoring of Coleopteran diversity, indicators at the family level that adequately represent the beetle diversity were investigated. One Malaise trap was placed in each of 52 forest stands in the central mountainous region of Japan; all captured beetles were identified to species. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated between the number of species in each family and the total number of species in all families combined. The relationship between the species composition of each family and the overall composition of all families was examined using Mantel tests. Families with high correlation coefficients for species richness included Cerambycidae, Cleridae, Curculionidae, Lycidae, Elateridae. Families exhibiting strong similarity in composition to the composition of all families were Scolytidae, Elateridae, Curculionidae, Cerambycidae, and Staphylinidae and the Cerambycidae, Curculionidae, and Elateridae were determined to be useful surrogates for Coleopteran diversity. All significant pairwise correlations between each of these three families and other Coleopteran families were positive, indicating that each was appropriate as a competent surrogate. Thus, this study identified adequate diversity indicators in Coleoptera that can be caught by Malaise traps. The accumulation of data on indicators obtained through different methods or in different climates is necessary to ensure the selection of widely applicable indicator families as stable surrogates of beetle diversity.