Khobrakova L.Ts. 2020. [Communities of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) of the Ivolga River basin of Western Transbaikalia, Russia] // Euroasian Entomological Journal. Vol.19. No.1: 1–17 [in Russian, with English summary].
The Institute of General and Experimental Biology, SB RAS, Sakhyanovoi Str. 6, Ulan-Ude 670047 Russia. E-mail: khobrakova77@mail.ru
doi: 10.15298/euroasentj.19.1.01
ABSTRACT. 22 communities of ground beetles in the basin of the river Ivolga (Western Transbaikalia) were studied. Clustering resulted in 4 types and 15 variants of stable and unstable communities of ground beetles according to species richness, abundance and structure of the dominants. Typologically ground beetle communities of steppes and pine-steppe forests are diverse and communities of meadows and flood-plain forests are monotonous. Typical indices of stable ground beetle communities are as follows: prevalence of stenotopic meadow-steppe, meadow and forest species, a high level of species diversity, aligned structure of abundance and dominance, and presence of dominant, subdominant, rare and unique species. Ground beetle communities of elm and pine steppe forests of Tapkharskoe, steppe plots, Achnatherum-bushes and salt meadows of Nizhne-Ivolginskoe, swamp of Muhinskoe, and spruce forests of Verkhne-Ivolginskoe are considered as stable communities. Unstable ground beetle communities differ as follows: domination of flexible meadow-steppe and steppe species, low indices of species diversity and uneven structure, high level of dominance indices (lack of subdominants and presence of super-dominants). As a rule such communities are confined to small-scale biotopes, namely: elms, Artemisia-type fallow lands, steppes with Rosa bushes of Tapkharskoe; meadows of Nizhne-Ivolginskoe, pine-steppe forest, mountain steppe with Spirea, riparian forest in valley of Bolshaya River, fallow lands of Bolsherechenskoe, frozen soil meadows of Muhinskoe, and birch belt along the irrigation channel of Verkhne-Ivolginskoe. Steppe ground beetle communities are prevalent in the Ivolga river basin due to the steppe vegetation typical of an arid climate with only 250 mm precipitation per annum. The result of 2009 research of ground beetle communities in the region could be considered as a model for bioindication and prognosis in the event of habitat destruction or climate changes.
KEY WORDS: ground beetles, basin of the river Ivolga, Western Transbaikalia, communities, structure, classification.