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- Title
Red deer (Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758) increasing density effects on species assemblage of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in Alpine forests.
- Authors
Gobbi, Mauro; Bragalanti, Natalia; Lencioni, Valeria; Pedrotti, Luca
- Abstract
Red deer (Cervus elaphus) increasing density may trigger several modifications at the ecosystem level. Positive and negative impact of red deer on the invertebrate fauna is known in northern Europe, whereas it is currently unknown in the Alps. In this paper, we tested the impact of red deer density on ground beetles’ (Coleoptera: Carabidae) richness and species distribution in forests of the central-eastern Italian Alps (Stelvio National Park). Carabid beetles were sampled using pitfall traps in nine forest sites with different density of red deer. Carabid species richness was related to elevation, habitat type and red deer density in summer and winter using generalised linear mixed models and canonical correspondence analysis. The high winter red deer density affected positively the carabid species richness. Overgrazing seemed to increase presence of generalist species of dried and unshaded soils and decreasing of specialised species typical of well-preserved Rhododendro-Vaccinietum cover. Accordingly, the presence of patches with different red deer density seems to contribute to maintaining high levels of carabid beetles’ richness, albeit overgrazing needs to be monitored because it is likely to cause a local decrease of specialised forest species.
- Subjects
RED deer; BEETLES; GROUND beetles; SPECIES distribution; RHODODENDRONS; OVERGRAZING
- Publication
European Journal of Wildlife Research, 2018, Vol 64, Issue 3, p1
- ISSN
1612-4642
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10344-018-1194-x