Can I read Species decline—but why? Explanations of carabid beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) declines in Europe on EtoBox?

Species decline—but why? Explanations of carabid beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) declines in Europe by D. Johan Kotze; Robert B. O'Hara is a Environmental Science article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Species decline—but why? Explanations of carabid beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) declines in Europe about?

We investigated some of the causes of ground beetle decline using atlas data from Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, countries in which natural environments have all but disappeared. We used ordinal regression to identify characteristics that are significantly correlated with the decline of carabid beetle species over the last 50-100 years, using a stepwise selection procedure to select the optimal model according to the Akaike Information Criterion. The results showed that large-bodied carabid populations have declined more than smaller ones, possibly because of their lower reproductive output and lower powers of dispersal. Habitat specialist populations (i.e. species with small niche breadths) have also decreased more than habitat generalist populations. Species with both long- and short-winged individuals have been less prone to decline than those that are exclusively either short-winged or long-winged. Dimorphic species may survive better in highly altered environments because long-winged individuals are good at dispersing between suitable habitats and short-winged individuals are good at surviving and reproducing in these newly colonised habitats. Finally, populations of la

Who reads Species decline—but why? Explanations of carabid beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) declines in Europe?

Author

D. Johan Kotze; Robert B. O'Hara

Publisher

Springer-Verlag; Springer Verlag; Springer Science and Business Media LLC (ISSN 0029-8549)

Published

2003

Language

EN

Field

Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)