Changes in the distribution of carabid beetles in Belgium revisited: Have we halted the diversity loss?

Twenty years ago, Desender and Turin (1989) analysed the changes in the composition of carabid beetles in four NW European countries between the periods <1950 and 1950–1985. Recently, a new distribution atlas of carabid beetles in Belgium was compiled using data collected during the period 1986–2008. In the light of the Countdown2010 target of halting the loss of biodiversity, we used these new data to test whether or not previously observed trends were altered. Since 1950, 46 species were no longer recorded in Belgium and seven species were added to the Belgian fauna. By relating the changes in distribution area to ecological and life history traits as well as to conservation priorities of the species, we examined which species characteristics were associated with the strongest changes in distribution. Comparing the period before 1950 with the period 1950–1985 showed that species from nutrient-poor dry biotopes and heathlands, threatened, rare and big species declined. Generalists, non-threatened species, species with a pan-European distribution range, species in the centre of their distribution range and common species, on the other hand, increased. From the period 1950–1985 to 1986–2008, mainly macropterous species, both rare and very common species and big species decreased, while generalists, dimorphic species, species with a pan-European distribution range and species that were already common in the second period increased. For the conservation of carabid beetles in a strongly industrialised and highly fragmented NW European landscape, we propose actions on two levels: first, the protection and adequate management of high quality biotopes, especially nutrient-poor grasslands and heathlands, in large core areas for specialist species and second, the creation and/or restoration of a ‘matrix’ that facilitates the exchange of individuals between core areas for the conservation of both generalist and specialist species.

[1]  J. Thomas,et al.  Why small cold‐blooded insects pose different conservation problems to birds in modern landscapes , 2008 .

[2]  Robert R Parmenter,et al.  The spread of invasive species and infectious disease as drivers of ecosystem change , 2008 .

[3]  P. Legendre,et al.  SPECIES ASSEMBLAGES AND INDICATOR SPECIES:THE NEED FOR A FLEXIBLE ASYMMETRICAL APPROACH , 1997 .

[4]  J. Niemelä.  The Utility of Movement Corridors in Forested Landscapes , 2001 .

[5]  C. Margules,et al.  A SYNERGISTIC EFFECT PUTS RARE, SPECIALIZED SPECIES AT GREATER RISK OF EXTINCTION , 2004 .

[6]  H. Turin,et al.  Loss of habitats and changes in the composition of the ground and tiger beetle fauna in four West European countries since 1950 (Coleoptera: Carabidae, cicindelidae) , 1989 .

[7]  V. Kaitala,et al.  Interactions between Ecological Traits and Host Plant Type Explain Distribution Change in Noctuid Moths , 2009, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[8]  B. Tóthmérész,et al.  Effects of habitat fragmentation on carabids in forest patches , 2001 .

[9]  R. Gregory,et al.  Ten common mistakes in designing biodiversity indicators for forest policy. , 2003, Journal of environmental management.

[10]  C. Margules,et al.  Effects of habitat fragmentation on carabid beetles: experimental evidence , 1998 .

[11]  H. Vermeulen.  Corridor function of a road verge for dispersal of stenotopic heathland ground beetles carabidae. , 1994 .

[12]  P. J. Boer.  On the significance of dispersal power for populations of carabid-beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) , 1970, Oecologia.

[13]  J. Greenwood,et al.  Comparative Losses of British Butterflies, Birds, and Plants and the Global Extinction Crisis , 2004, Science.

[14]  J. Niemelä,et al.  Carabid beetle assemblages (Coleoptera, Carabidae) across urban-rural gradients: an international comparison , 2002, Landscape Ecology.

[15]  D. Simberloff.  The ecology of extinction , 1993 .

[16]  Professor Dr. Hans-Ulrich Thiele.  Carabid Beetles in Their Environments , 1977, Zoophysiology and Ecology.

[17]  B. Eversham,et al.  Conservation value of roadside verges for stenotopic heathland Carabidae: corridors or refugia? , 1994, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[18]  Marc Dufrêne,et al.  Geographic Structure and Potential Ecological Factors in Belgium , 1991 .

[19]  C. H. Lindroth,et al.  The Carabidae (Coleoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. , 1985 .

[20]  T. Southwood,et al.  Ecological Methods with particular reference to the study of insect populations , 1967, Pedobiologia.

[21]  D. Refseth.  Ecological analyses of carabid communities— potential use in biological classification for nature conservation , 1980 .

[22]  J. Maelfait,et al.  Diversity and conservation of terrestrial arthropods in tidal marshes along the River Schelde: a gradient analysis , 1999 .

[23]  M. WallisDeVries,et al.  Global warming and excess nitrogen may induce butterfly decline by microclimatic cooling , 2006 .

[24]  D. Maes,et al.  Een nieuwe verspreidingsatlas van de loopkevers en zandloopkevers (Carabidae) in België. , 2008 .

[25]  R. O’Hara,et al.  Species decline—but why? Explanations of carabid beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) declines in Europe , 2003, Oecologia.

[26]  Michel Loreau,et al.  Carabid Beetles: Ecology and Evolution , 1994, Series Entomologica.

[27]  D. Bonte,et al.  Integrating environmental conditions and functional life-history traits for riparian arthropod conservation planning , 2009 .

[28]  O. Phillips,et al.  Extinction risk from climate change , 2004, Nature.

[29]  Changes in the distribution area of vascular plants in Flanders (northern Belgium): eutrophication as a major driving force , 2008, Biodiversity and Conservation.

[30]  S. Gardner.  Ground beetle (Coleoptera : carabidae) communities on upland heath and their association with heathland flora , 1991 .

[31]  H. D. Vries.  Size of habitat and presence of ground beetle species , 1994 .

[32]  Françoise Burel,et al.  Movements of Abax parallelepipedus (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in woody habitats of a hedgerow network landscape: a radio-tracing study , 1997 .

[33]  J. K. Hill,et al.  Rapid responses of British butterflies to opposing forces of climate and habitat change , 2001, Nature.

[34]  G. Mace,et al.  The 2010 Biodiversity Indicators: Challenges for Science and Policy , 2007, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[35]  M. G. Telfer,et al.  Investigating the relationships between the distribution of British ground beetle species (Coleoptera, Carabidae) and temperature, precipitation and altitude , 2005 .

[36]  G. D. B. D. Warnaffe,et al.  Effects of forest management on carabid beetles in Belgium: implications for biodiversity conservation , 2004 .

[37]  M. Gilbert,et al.  Species richness coincidence: conservation strategies based on predictive modelling , 2005, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[38]  Ter Braak,et al.  Canoco reference manual and CanoDraw for Windows user''s guide: software for canonical community ord , 2002 .

[39]  Terry L. Erwin,et al.  Carabid Beetles, Their Evolution, Natural History, and Classification , 1980 .

[40]  H. Gibb,et al.  Wing loading and habitat selection in forest beetles : Are red-listed species poorer dispersers or more habitat-specific than common congenerics? , 2006 .

[41]  Michael J. Samways,et al.  Insect Diversity Conservation , 2005 .

[42]  K. Desender,et al.  Ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae)on set-aside fields in the Campine region and their importance for nature conservation in Flanders (Belgium) , 1998, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[43]  D. Bonte,et al.  Assemblage structure and conservation value of spiders and carabid beetles from restored lowland river banks , 2007, Biodiversity and Conservation.

[44]  R. Dennis,et al.  Bias in Butterfly Distribution Maps: The Effects of Sampling Effort , 1999, Journal of Insect Conservation.

[45]  R. Dennis,et al.  Bias in Butterfly Distribution Maps: The Influence of Hot Spots and Recorder's Home Range , 2000, Journal of Insect Conservation.

[46]  Y. Heymann,et al.  CORINE Land Cover. Technical Guide , 1994 .

[47]  F. Hendrickx,et al.  The effects of forest patch size and matrix type on changes in carabid beetle assemblages in an urbanized landscape , 2008 .

[48]  J. Niemelä.  Carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and habitat fragmentation: a review , 2001 .

[49]  J. Niemelä,et al.  Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as bioindicators , 2003, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[50]  D. Bailey,et al.  Pervasive effects of dispersal limitation on within- and among-community species richness in agricultural landscapes , 2009 .

[51]  T. Backeljau,et al.  Age and size of European saltmarshes and the population genetic consequences for ground beetles , 1998, Oecologia.

[52]  Andrew Balmford,et al.  The 2010 challenge: data availability, information needs and extraterrestrial insights , 2005, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[53]  M. Koivula,et al.  Highways and Forest Fragmentation – Effects on Carabid Beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) , 2005, Landscape Ecology.

[54]  J. Maelfait,et al.  Long term dynamics of carabid beetles in Belgium: a preliminary analysis on the influence of changing climate and land use by means of a database covering more than a century , 1994 .

[55]  H. Van Dyck,et al.  Declines in Common, Widespread Butterflies in a Landscape under Intense Human Use , 2009, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[56]  H. Dyck,et al.  Habitat quality and biodiversity indicator performances of a threatened butterfly versus a multispecies group for wet heathlands in Belgium , 2005 .

[57]  Hans Van Dyck,et al.  Butterfly diversity loss in Flanders (north Belgium): Europe's worst case scenario? , 2001 .

[58]  Peter Poschlod,et al.  Challenges for the conservation of calcareous grasslands in northwestern Europe: integrating the requirements of flora and fauna , 2002 .

[59]  R. O’Hara,et al.  Testing abundance-range size relationships in European carabid beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) , 2003 .

[60]  G. Cumming,et al.  Habitat Use and Life History as Predictors of Bird Responses to Habitat Change , 2008, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[61]  S. Beissinger.  Ecological mechanisms of extinction. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[62]  D. Maes,et al.  Een gedocumenteerde rode lijst van de zandloopkevers en loopkevers van Vlaanderen , 1995 .