Contrasting effects of land-use intensification on carabid beetles occurring in insular (semi-)natural habitats within arable fields

Le résumé fourni par la source

Abstract The increase of agricultural fields leads to habitat loss and fragmentation of (semi-)natural habitats (SNHs) that provide refuge sites for a variety of taxa. Carabid beetles are reliable biodiversity indicators and provide important ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. However, it still remains unclear how carabid beetles inhabiting SNHs respond to increasing arable field cover as a measure of land-use intensification. We predict that the relationship between arable field cover and carabid beetle abundance and species richness is specific to habitat type and species ecology. We tested our predictions in an intensively used agricultural landscape in northeast Germany and sampled carabid beetles at two different insular SNHs within arable fields: grassland patches of wind turbines (novel SNH) and kettle holes (natural SNH). Our multi-spatial-scale analyses revealed that with increasing arable field cover the proportion of arable species increases for both SNH types. However, we found contrasting relationships in species richness and abundance between the SNHs. At the grassland patches around wind turbines, arable field cover negatively affected arable species´ richness and abundance as well as non-arable species´ richness. In contrast, at kettle holes, arable species richness and abundance increased with arable field cover, while non-arable species were not affected. In summary, our study demonstrates that the effect of land-use intensification on carabid beetles is highly dependent on the specific habitat type and species ecology. Our findings highlight the importance of habitat type for managing SNHs within agricultural landscapes while improving our understanding of how land-use intensification affects carabid beetle diversity.

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