Disturbance regimes in a wetland remnant: implications for trait-displacements and shifts in the assemblage structure of carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) |
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Authors: | Giovanni Bettacchioli Mauro Taormina Fabio Bernini Massimo Migliorini |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy |
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Abstract: | Studies on disturbance regimes involving carabid beetles have mainly focused on forest habitats. We therefore decided to analyze
the effects of disturbance on carabid communities in a wetland remnant (Lake Chiusi, central Italy). Results highlighted the
presence of a disturbance gradient affecting the species richness and trait-displacement of carabid communities. Carabids
were sampled with pitfall traps from March to October 2008 at nine randomly selected sample stations; a set of landscape attributes
were also collected. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) were used to link the
distribution of carabid life-history traits and species richness with the most informative combination of landscape attributes.
The first PCA axis (PC1) showed significant correlation with “distance to the lake shoreline” and “perimeter-area ratio”,
highlighting the presence of a disturbance-axis. The second and third axes accounted only for a trivial portion of the total
variance. GLMMs revealed a progressive decrease in the number of hygrophilous species from the core of the wetland to its
outer areas. Similar trends were observed for species richness and for predator species with good dispersal ability and larval
period in summer. Our results highlight the importance of taking into account community-wide functional implications in landscape
ecology studies. |
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