Maksimovich K.Yu.1, Dudko R.Yu.2,3, Novikov E.A.1,2 2022. [Assemblages of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in the wheat and corn fields of the West Siberian forest-steppe zone] // Euroasian Entomological Journal. Vol.21. No.3: 166–174 [in Russian, with English summary].
1 Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Novosibirsk State Agrarian University, Dobrolyubova Str. 160, Novosibirsk 630039 Russia. E-mail: kiri-maksimovi@mail.ru; eug_nov@ngs.ru
2 Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Frunze Str. 11, Novosibirsk 630091 Russia. E-mail: rdudko@mail.ru
3 Tomsk State University, Lenina Prosp. 36, Tomsk 634050 Russia.
doi 10.15298/euroasentj.21.3.06
ABSTRACT. The species composition and ecological structure of ground beetle communities (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in spring wheat and maize crops and virgin plots near crops in the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia were examined over a period of three years. The ground beetles observed belong to 41 species from 16 genera, with the highest species diversity in the genera Harpalus, Amara, Pterostichus, and Poecilus. The group of dominant species (making up from 5 to 19% of the total number of species) of the studied agrocenoses included 4 to 5 species. Poecilus cupreus (Linnaeus, 1758), Dolichus halensis (Schaller, 1783) and Harpalus rufipes (De Geer, 1774) dominated in all observations. The abrupt predominance (88 to 95% in abundance) of mesophilic, moderately moisture-demanding species was due to regional climate features as well as the properties of the selected plots and the weather characteristics of the 2019–2021 seasons. In terms of biotopic confinement, a significant predominance of species of the meadow-field group and very little participation of forest species in all the observations were distinctive. It was established that groups of ground beetles in the studied agrocenoses and virgin plots with natural vegetation are similar in terms of both species’ composition and abundance. High indices of pairwise similarity in the dynamic density of beetles were found for all plots in all years of study. The technology of cultivation and the type of crop in individual agrocenoses, in particular, influenced the formation of the structure of carabid complexes. The influence of corn crops on the attendance of the plot by beetles was stronger than that of wheat compared with virgin plots. The species composition of the dominant complex of ground beetles in plots with crops was relatively stable during the whole period. The use of low-intensity cultivation technology for three years did not lead to disturbance of the stability of ground beetle communities.
KEY WORDS: Carabidae, species diversity, dominance structure, ecological and faunal characteristics, agrocenosis, West-Siberian plain.