Effects of climate and landscape heterogeneity on the distribution of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in agricultural fields

Our objective was to elucidate how climate and landscape composition influence the ground beetle community at different time and spatial scales. Ground beetles were sampled with pitfall traps at 36 sites located in nine provinces. A total of 2355 individuals, belonging to 96 species, were observed. The dominant species were Anisodactylus punctatipennis, Dolichus halensis halensis, Harpalus griseus, Harpalus jureceki, Pheropsophus jessoensis, and Pterostichus haptoderoides. The distribution pattern of ground beetles among nine provinces seemed to have a zonal variation with latitude in national scale. Dendrograms revealed that the province of Jeju-do has a distinctive species composition, and the highest species number compared with the other eight inland provinces. A cluster analysis showed that the distribution patterns of 18 dominant species could be separated into two groups according to their abundances. It suggested competition between dominant and subdominant groups for habitat resources. A higher number of species were associated with recent annual climate (June 2012–May 2013) than climate normals (1981–2010). Maximum temperature was the most determining factor among the temperature variables, whereas some species correlated with recent annual precipitation. However, Patrobus flavipes only correlated with precipitation normals. Furthermore, some species correlated with the landscape composition of the area surrounding the sample site. A. punctatipennis was associated with grasslands, which reflects their specialized food source and habitat type dependency. Pterostichus haptoderoides was associated with forest parameters. Finally, species number was positively correlated with both grasslands and annual precipitation. The results show that climate and heterogeneous landscape compositions may influence the distribution of ground beetle communities in agricultural fields.