CARABID BEETLES AS BIODIVERSITY AND ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS By Karyl Michaels B. Ed., Grad Dip. Env. Stud. (Hons) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Geography and Environmental Studies University of Tasmania Hobart November 1999 Catadromus lacordairei (Boisduval) Carabids are beeetles of ground So spots where carabids are found Is reason for inferring That there they' re occurring This circular reasoning is round Without wings they're more apt to stay there But the winged may take to the air Dispersing in myriads Through Tertiary periods We know they all started, but where? Erwin et al. l 979 DECLARATION This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any tertiary institution and to the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except when due reference is made in the text. Karyl Michaels This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. STATEMENT OF PREVIOUS PUBLICATONS Parts of the material presented in this thesis were published as: Michaels, K. and Bornemissza G. (1999). Effects of clearfell harvesting on lucanid betles (Coleoptera:Lucanidae) in wet and dry sclerophyll forests in Tasmania. Journal oflnsect Conservation 3 (2):85-95. Michaels, K. F. (1999). Carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) communities in Tasmania: classification for nature conservation. Pp. 374-379 in The Other 99% The conservation and Biodiversity of Invertebrates (eds. W. Ponder and D. Lunney). Transactions of the Royal Zoological Sociey of NSW, Mosman. Taylor, R., Michaels, K., and Bashford, D. (1999). Occurrence of old growth carabid beetles in retained unlogged strips in production forests in southern Tasmania. Pp. 120-127 in Nature conservation 5: Managing the Matrix, (eds. J.L. Craig, N. Mitchell and D.A.Saunders).Surrey Beatty and Sons. Michaels, Karyl and Mendel, Louise. (1998). Carabid Beetle and Vegetation Associations in the Tasmanian Eastern Tiers: Implications for Conservation. Pacific Conservation Biology 4 (3) 240-249. McQuillan, P. B. and Michaels, K. F. (1997). First record of Pseudoheteronyx (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) from Tasmania, with description of Pseudoheteronyx littoralis sp. n. from sandy beaches, Australian Journal of Entomology 36: 117-120 Michaels, K. F. (1997). The ground beetle fauna (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as an indicator of the conservation value of grasslands, Tasmanian Conservation Trust, Tasmania. Michaels, K. F. (1997). Carabid beetle values of dry sclerophyll forest and grassy ecosystems in Eastern Tasmania, University of Tasmania, Tasmania. Michaels, K.F. 1996. Report on the Impact of the 'Iron Baron' Oil Spill on the Common Invertebrate Fauna of Coastal Sand Dunes, University of Tasmania. Unpublished report. ii ABSTRACT The explicit assumption in the proposed use of ecological and biodiversity indicators is that patterns of diversity and distribution observed in the indicator taxon are reflected in other taxa, yet this assumption has rarely been tested. The use of biodiversity and ecological indicators requires that their representativeness of other taxa be demonstrated. This thesis examines the potential for using carabid beetles as biodiversity and ecological indicators for other Coleoptera in Tasmania. Species-occurrence data for carabids and a range of Coleoptera collected by continuous year-long pitfall trapping at fifty-one sites in three biomes, dry sclerophyll forest, remnant native grasslands and coastal sand dunes were used to investigate the utility of carabid beetles as biodiversity indicators for overall coleopteran diversity and for other selected beetle taxa. Correlated species counts, correlations in rank ordering based on species richness, and coincidence of hotspots revealed that while the patterns of diversity exhibited by carabids did not necessarily predict the patterns of diversity of other individual beetle taxa considered separately, they did, with a reasonable degree of accuracy, indicate overall patterns of diversity for Coleoptera in all the biomes studied. Carabid species richness was a good predictor of overall beetle species richness within biomes and within vegetation community types. Application of three reserve selection approaches: (1) Hotspots, (2) Representative Species Richness and (3) Complementarity, demonstrated that a set of representative areas, based on carabids species richness, gave proportional representation for all Coleopt~ra. Representation for, all carabids using the complementarity approach also gave protection to over 90% of all coleopteran species. It is therefore likely that a set of representative areas in which carabids are completely represented will substantially represent the diversity of other Coleoptera. To assess the utility of carabids as ecological indicators for other Coleoptera, the response of carabids and other Coleoptera to silvicultural practices (clearfelling and slash burning) were examined and compared. Morisita-Horn community similarity indices demonstrate that carabid and overall Coleoptera species composition showed less variation within grouped age classes than between different age classes in both forests. Results for other beetle taxa Ill considered separately were more complex and varied with forest. In both forests, UPGMA cluster analysis generally grouped the total beetle fauna according to regrowth age, but indicated that the species composition of regrowth sites were often similar to some old-growth sites. This pattern was observed for carabids in the dry sclerophyll forest, but not in the wet. Other beetle taxa demonstrated more complex patterns of clustering, with no clear evidence of site separation on age class. The family Carabidae did not reflect the exact response of other beetle families considered separately. However, they did reflect the overall patterns of diversity and distribution exhibited by beetles as a group in response to forest management practices. Results demonstrated that monitoring particular carabid species would provide evidence of the success or otherwise of management practices for other old­ growth dependent beetles. The results reported in this thesis support the hypotheses that: (i) the family of ground beetles (Carabidae) is an appropriate biodiversity indicator for identifying and predicting the biodiversity patterns of ground dwelling Coleoptera in most instances in Tasmania, and (ii) that carabids are useful ecological indicators to predict and monitor the effects of forest management on a wider range of ground-dwelling beetles in Tasmania. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to the many people who generously gave assistance at various stages throughout the duration of my studies. I owe a special thanks to Michael Russell, firstly, for his wonderful and unceasing support and constructive and creative advice in every aspect of this study, and secondly for rescuing me from the horrors of Maplnfo and preparing the maps. I thank my supervisor, Dr McQuillan, for invaluable advice, interest and enthusiasm, but especially for orchestrating an initial interest in beetles from a hard days night into many a hard days work. I thank especially, Dr Louse Mendel and Louse Gilfedder for their botanical expertise and assistance in site selection and establishment. Thank you also to Greg Blake, who gave me gainful employment which contributed some of the data for this thesis. I am indebted to Nahrel Dallywater and Vanessa Shoobridge for field assistance over and above the call of friendship. I am particularly grateful to the specialist taxonomists, Dr Barry Moore, Dr John Lawrence, Dr Tom Weir, Dr Andrew Calder and Dr Zimmerman at the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC), CSIRO, Canberra, Dr Eric Mathews at the South Australian Museum and Dr George Bornemissza, for access to the reference collections, examining voucher specimens and providing valuable information and assistance. I would like to thank all the farmers who were so generous with their time and their properties and without whose cooperation parts of this project would not have been possible. I would like to extend my thanks to Margaret Atkinson and others at the Tasmanian Conservation Trust. I would also like to thank the Tasmanian Forestry Commission in particular, Brett Warrren, and John Traill, for allowing access, providing maps and answering questions on the forestry study areas. v My thanks to the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPIF); in particular Trevor Semmens, for invaluable assistance and access to the museum reference collection at NewTown in Tasmania. I would like to thank the staff and students of the School of Geography and Environmental Studies for support and company in many ways. In particular: David Sommerville helped with transport and computer advice. Mike Harlow was there with support in every computer crisis. Denis Charlesworth gave assistance with soil analysis. Kerry Green for administration and money matters. Glenda Fahey for keeping me a gym junkie and for muchos margaritas. Janet Smith for musical jam sessions. John Ashworth for invaluable assistance and advice on the vagaries of PATN. The Geography Society for much fun and laughter. This thesis was partly supported by the National Estate Grants Program (through the Tasmanian University (NEGP Report 9523) and through the Tasmanian Conservation Trust (NEGP Report 9606)). vi TABLE OF