Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 83. (Budapest 1991)

Báldi, A. ; Ádám, L.: Habitat selection of ground-dwelling beetles during dolomitic succession

The number of individuals of the 6 beetle species used in the temporal analysis showed great oscillation, but the values of the habitat selection index did not correlate with the number of individuals, therefore the different number of individuals did not affect the results. The values of the habitat selection index usually decreased during the study period (Fig. 2), but this decline proved to be significant only in the case of Carabus convexus and Pedinus femoralis (Table 3). Habitat selection of the two Nicrophorus species (N. vespillo, N. vespilloides) showed great oscillations without any trends. In the case of Sisyphus schaefferi and Geotrupes vernalis the habitat selection showed certain trends, without any significance. The number of individuals did not correlate significantly with time, therefore the error caused by the great variance of numbers did not influence the results. DISCUSSION During ecological succession there are significant changes in the composition and structure of vegetation (e.g. RICKLEFS 1976, MACMAHON 1980, TILMAN 1985). Beetle communities show strong relationships with the structure of vegetation during succession (BROWN & HYMAN 1986, HENDRIX et al. 1988, BALDI 1990, WALICZKY in press). Habitat fidelity index of species help to reveal these relationships in details, measuring the tolerance of species for a suboptimal or optimal habitat. Table 3. Correlation values between the habitat selection indices, number of individuals and time in the case of the six most abundant beetle species. (Pearson's correlation coefficient, number of valid trap records, onetailed significance.) Correlation between: Habitat selection Habitat selection Time and Number index and Number index of individuals of individuals and Time Carabus convexus 0.274 -0.523 -0.109 13 13 13 0.182 0.033 0.362 Geotrupes vernalis 0.171 -0.497 0.345 11 11 11 0.307 0.060 0.149 Pedinus femoralis -0.245 -0.781 -0.48 13 13 13 0.210 0.001 0.438 Sisyphus schaefferi 0.493 -0.215 -0.482 10 10 10 0.074 0.275 0.079 Nicrophorus vespillo -0.281 0.188 -0.463 9 9 9 0.232 0.314 0.105 N. vespilloides -0.501 0.596 -0.163 6 6 6 0.156 0.106 0.379