The contribution of poplar plantations to regional diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in agricultural landscapes

Abstract

The PAMUCEAF (Poplars - A multiple-use crop for European arable farmers) project of the European Union was initiated to evaluate the influence of poplars on local agricultural practice and on local and regional biodiversity. The underlying hypothesis was that afforestation with poplars contributes to regional biodiversity. We use ground beetles as an indicator taxon and show that poplar plantations contain mainly ubiquitous species with unspecific habitat requirements. Judged by the samples from pitfall traps the species numbers in the poplar plantations were lower than in the adjacent arable land and did not noticeably contribute to overall regional diversity. An analysis of community structure revealed that the plantations did not contain habitat specialists not occurring elsewhere in the adjacent rural environments. We have no convincing evidence that the plantations enhanced species numbers in adjacent fields by providing refuges or hibernation sites.