Coleoptera, Carabidae) from the Sueve Massif (North-West Spain)
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Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (S.E.A.), nº 53 (31/12/2013): 243–252. ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CARABID COMMUNITY (COLEOPTERA, CARABIDAE) FROM THE SUEVE MASSIF (NORTH-WEST SPAIN) Mª del Camino Peláez1 & José Mª Salgado2 1 C/ Catedrático Francisco Beceña, 10, 3º F. 33006 Oviedo, Spain – [email protected] 2 Department of Ecology and Animal Biology, University of Vigo. 36310 Vigo (Pontevedra), Spain – [email protected] Abstract: This study analyzes the ecological data obtained for the carabid community from the Sueve Massif (Asturias, Spain). We studied the frequencies of the different carabid species and their evolution along the seasons. We found that the most abundant species was Steropus (Steropidius) gallega, even though in spring we collected higher number of individuals of Nebria (Nebria) brevicollis and Paranchus albipes. The spatial distribution of the species was examined by means of their constancy analysis, find- ing two constant species, Steropus (Steropidius) gallega and Carabus (Megodontus) violaceus, and a great number of accidental ones. Finally, a detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was performed. The DCA ordered the species according to their prefer- ences for altitude and loose or compacted material soils, and according to their light requirements. This analysis also allowed corre- lating carabid species to their habitats. Key words: Coleoptera, Carabidae, ecological analysis, Asturias, Sueve Massif. Análisis ecológico de la comunidad de carábidos (Coleoptera, Carabidae) del macizo del Sueve (noroeste de España) Resumen: La finalidad de este trabajo es analizar los datos ecológicos obtenidos para la comunidad de carábidos del Macizo del Sueve (Asturias, España). Se analiza la frecuencia de las diferentes especies y su distribución a lo largo del año, encontrándose que la más abundante es Steropus (Steropidius) gallega, si bien durante la primavera es superada en número por Nebria (Nebria) brevicollis y Paranchus albipes. Se examina la distribución espacial de las especies mediante el análisis de su constancia, señalándose dos especies constantes, Steropus (Steropidius) gallega y Carabus (Megodontus) violaceus y un gran número de especies accidentales. Por último, se realiza un Análisis de correspondencias sin tendencia (DCA), que permite separar a las especies según su preferencia por la altitud y por los sustratos de materiales sueltos o compactados y según su preferencia por la luz, así como relacionarlas con los hábitat que ocupan. Palabras clave: Coleoptera, Carabidae, análisis ecológico, Asturias, Macizo del Sueve. Introduction From de data obtained about the Carabidae (Coleoptera) of species. In this study the detrended correspondence analysis the Sueve Massif (Asturias) some faunistic, ecological and (DCA) has been used in order to complete previously ob- biogeographical studies have already been performed (Peláez tained results on the spatial and temporal distribution of the & Salgado, 2002, 2006a, 2006b, 2007a, 2007b; Salgado & species. Peláez, 2004). In the present study the ecological analysis is The choice of the Sueve Massif to carry out this study is completed through a global assessment of the carabid com- due to the presence of different types of vegetation, several munity. lithologies, a wide altitudinal interval and various geograph- The study of Carabidae, family that shows high biodi- ical orientations in a quite small area, also close to the coast. versity (Ortuño & Toribio, 2005), reveals itself as really inter- This leads to the existence of a great variety of suitable habi- esting because of the great capacity of adaptation of carabid tats for these edaphic insects. beetles to different environmental conditions. Carabid species, except for the eurytopic ones, are typical of particular habi- Material and methods tats. Therefore, they have shown to be excellent bioindicators (Meskens et al., 2002; Ortuño & Marcos, 2003) that could be Study area used to evaluate the effects of the anthropic management and The study was performed in the Sueve Massif foothills (north- use of certain ecosystems (Dufrêne & Legendre, 1997; west Spain), which covers an area of approximately 170 km2 McGeoch, 1998; Rainio & Niemelä, 2003; Pearce & Venier, (Fig. 1). The Sueve Massif makes up one of the so called 2006; Taboada et al., 2006b; Tárrega et al., 2006; Paoletti et coastal mountain ranges of eastern Asturias, in the northern al., 2010; Taboada et al., 2011) and also in population studies slope of the Cantabrian Mountain Chain. It is very close to the and biological conservation (Kotze et al., 2011). coast, trending northeast-southwest and presents several quite When working with a great amount of data, statistical high summits. Its most characteristic aspect is the connection methods for their interpretation are required, being very useful of both, sea and mountain, in a restricted area, so the highest diverse types of multivariate analysis, for instance those used summit, the Pienzu Peak, with 1159 m altitude, is only 5 km by authors like Salgado et al. (1998), Taboada et al. (2003), away from the sea. Gutiérrez et al. (2004) or Michels et al. (2010) to analyze the The mountain range was uplifted during the Alpine connections between Carabidae communities and different Orogeny (Alonso et al., 1996); its subsequent erosion has ecological factors such as soil or vegetation characteristics, as enhanced the calcareus formation, which displays sinkholes, these factors may condition the distribution of the carabid limestone pavements, and other features of the karst modeling. 243 Fig. 1. Map of the study area and location of the sampling sites. Fig. 1. Mapa del área de estudio y situación de las localidades de muestreo. There are two other processes that have influenced the relief: carabid species which where only caught by hand collecting the coastal modeling that gave rise to beaches, cliffs and ma- methods. rine abrasion platforms, and the fluvial incision, as the steep In Peláez & Salgado, 2006a the sampling sites are listed slopes that watercourses encounter when descending the (Fig. 1), showing for each of them: locality, vegetation type, Sueve Massif provide them with great erosive power (Farias lithology, altitude, slope orientation, UTM coordinates and & Marquínez, 1995). sampling type (direct, indirect or both). The climate could be considered temperate, with quite mild temperatures; the winter snowfalls last very little, except Statistical analysis in very shadow places, because of the strong sunshine of de We calculated the species frequency or relative abundance, southern slopes and the sea influence on the northern side. defined as the percentage of individuals of each carabid spe- The vegetation in high altitude is poor, mainly composed by cies in relation to the total number of individuals collected pastures; in the middle area the natural forests have disap- (Dajoz, 1979). For this analysis, we considered the carabid peared to a large extend, due to the expansion of meadows catches obtained from both collecting methodologies together, and cultivated fields; while in low elevations there are com- as well as by the indirect and direct sampling separately. mon forests and meadows, intensely modified by farming, We also analyzed the annual evolution of the frequency forestry and ranching purposes. of the carabid species captured with at least 100 individuals. Besides, we examined the constancy of the carabid species Sampling methods caught by indirect sampling, defined as the relation between We used two types of complementary sampling methodolo- the percentage of samples in which a particular species was gies to collect the beetles: (1) indirect method by pitfall trap- collected and the total number of samples (Dajoz, 1979). ping and (2) direct one by hand collecting. The combination A detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was per- of the data obtained by both sampling techniques provides a formed to correlate carabid beetles and sampling sites (Hill, better understanding of the biodiversity of the Sueve Massif 1979; Hill & Gausch, 1980), assuming a unimodal (Gaussian) Carabidae. response of the carabid abundance to the environment Indirect sampling was performed in a systematic way. (Jongman et al., 1995; Quinn & Keough, 2002). For this In 76 previously established sites, we placed 105 independent analysis we elaborated a quantitative data matrix (number of traps (depth 110 mm, diameter 75 mm) partly filled with beer, individuals of each species) based on the carabid catches which were emptied monthly for two years. This sampling obtained by indirect sampling. After a preliminary test and effort is considered sufficient to obtain a reasonable represen- having into account the high number of data represented, we tation of the carabid species that make up each community. decided to exclude from the analysis the species registered in Direct sampling was carried out in 212 sites in an une- less than three sampling sites. The DCA was performed with ven and sporadic way. For this reason, only the pitfall catches CAP (Community Analysis Package) 3.11 computer program; were taken into account for calculations in which the number the plane defined by the axes 1 and 2 has been graphically of samples was included, excluding from the analysis those represented and interpreted. 244 Fig. 2. Annual distribution of the most abundant carabid species. Fig. 2. Distribución anual de las especies más frecuentes. Results A total of 14993 carabid beetles belonging to 196 species