Carabid beetle communities as indicators of conservation potential in upland forests

In northern England, large areas of marginal agricultural upland have been planted with conifers. This paper compares the assemblages of carabid beetles in such forests with those on unplanted grassland and moorland habitats nearby. Afforestation disrupted the characteristic ground beetle communities of these open upland habitats, and carabid species-richness was low in closed-canopy plantations. However, when all stages of the forestry cycle were considered, the forests as a whole were as species rich as the surrounding habitats. Unplanted areas within the forests contributed to this diversity, but the early successional stages after cleat felling were also species rich. The clear fell sites were not favourable habitats for the rarer species of open moorland and grassland and these species also showed decreases in the open habitats within the forests when compared with the open habitats outside. It is concluded that although forests contain as many carabid species as the surrounding open habitats, many of these species only occur on the clear felled areas. There is also a reduction in the numbers of rare species, especially those characteristic of wetter habitats. Wet areas such as mires within the forest should be monitored and managed to prevent further drying out and fragmentation.