TY - JOUR

T1 - Habitat diversity and peat moss cover drive the occurrence probability of the threatened ground beetle Carabus menetriesi (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in a Bavarian mire

AU - Harry, Ingmar

AU - Assmann, Thorsten

AU - Dormann, Carsten F.

AU - Skarbek, Carl J.

N1 - Our work benefited from exchange with Jörg Gebert, Sebastian Görn, Stefan Müller-Kroehling and Jürgen Trautner who have been studying this interesting species as well. We are grateful to Thomas Harry and Fabian Kräusche for their help in fieldwork. The study was funded by the Regierung von Schwaben (RvS) and the Allgäuer Moorallianz (AM). We are grateful to Alois Liegl (RvS), Simone Reylaender (AM) and especially Ulrich Weiland (AM) for their widespread support of our work. We also would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their support in improving the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

PY - 2022/12/1

Y1 - 2022/12/1

N2 - Within the Natura 2000 network, there is a legal imperative to protect endangered species. A lack of knowledge about habitat requirements for these species undermines the ability to make informed decisions about appropriate conservation measures, especially for isolated populations that may have developed habitat preferences specific to their region. Carabus menetriesi is an endangered ground beetle found in Europe and warrants protection under EU law. We collected occupancy data of C. menetriesi using live pitfall traps over two seasons in 2016 and 2018 at a protected nature reserve in southern Bavaria, Germany. Here, we present the results of a patch-occupancy modeling approach to determine habitat preferences for C. menetriesi at this site. Our model shows that increasing Sphagnum cover and habitat diversity led to higher occupancy levels for C. menetriesi at this site, while tree cover was negatively correlated with occupancy, but increased the detectability of the species. Implications for insect conservation: Measures for protecting the C. menetriesi population at the study site were taken in accordance with our results. Areas with high tree cover were thinned at several sites, although the success of this measure has yet to be determined. Our findings about habitat diversity suggest that expansion of low intensity grazing in the area, a measure that was suggested as a result of our survey and is currently in process of implementation, might benefit the species. Whether our results can be transferred to C. menetriesi populations in different habitats remains to be investigated, however, our methodological approach with regard to both the data collection and analysis can be used to assess other populations and provide important information about relevant habitat parameters for that population. This will allow conservation managers to make well-informed decisions about conserving C. menetriesi, or indeed other similar carabid species with isolated populations.

AB - Within the Natura 2000 network, there is a legal imperative to protect endangered species. A lack of knowledge about habitat requirements for these species undermines the ability to make informed decisions about appropriate conservation measures, especially for isolated populations that may have developed habitat preferences specific to their region. Carabus menetriesi is an endangered ground beetle found in Europe and warrants protection under EU law. We collected occupancy data of C. menetriesi using live pitfall traps over two seasons in 2016 and 2018 at a protected nature reserve in southern Bavaria, Germany. Here, we present the results of a patch-occupancy modeling approach to determine habitat preferences for C. menetriesi at this site. Our model shows that increasing Sphagnum cover and habitat diversity led to higher occupancy levels for C. menetriesi at this site, while tree cover was negatively correlated with occupancy, but increased the detectability of the species. Implications for insect conservation: Measures for protecting the C. menetriesi population at the study site were taken in accordance with our results. Areas with high tree cover were thinned at several sites, although the success of this measure has yet to be determined. Our findings about habitat diversity suggest that expansion of low intensity grazing in the area, a measure that was suggested as a result of our survey and is currently in process of implementation, might benefit the species. Whether our results can be transferred to C. menetriesi populations in different habitats remains to be investigated, however, our methodological approach with regard to both the data collection and analysis can be used to assess other populations and provide important information about relevant habitat parameters for that population. This will allow conservation managers to make well-informed decisions about conserving C. menetriesi, or indeed other similar carabid species with isolated populations.

KW - Carabus menetriesi

KW - Ground beetle

KW - Habitat diversity

KW - Patch-occupancy

KW - Habitat management

KW - Raised bog

KW - Transition mire

KW - Biology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85137433150&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/777da601-f0ae-3a9b-9f5e-f4b6e0bc6abb/

U2 - 10.1007/s10841-022-00429-9

DO - 10.1007/s10841-022-00429-9

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 26

SP - 863

EP - 871

JO - Journal of Insect Conservation

JF - Journal of Insect Conservation

SN - 1366-638X

IS - 6

ER -