Community Ecology
Volume/Issue:
Volume 19: Issue 2
Co-occurrence pattern of ground beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) assemblages along pollution gradient in scotch pine forest
Authors:
R. Kędzior Department of Ecology Climatology and Air Protection, University of Agriculture, Krakow, Poland

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A. Kosewska Department of Entomology, Phytopathology and Molecular Diagnostic, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Prawochenskiego 17, 10-687 Olsztyn, Poland

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T. Skalski Institute of Biology, Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, Poland

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Pages:
148–155
Online Publication Date:
Dec 2018
Publication Date:
01 Dec 2018
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/168.2018.19.2.7
Keywords:
Body size; Carabidae; Contamination; C-score; Heavy metals
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Over the last 30 years there has been a great deal of interest in investigating patterns of species co-occurrence across space and time, which may be shaped by interspecific competition for shared resources. A good model of co-occurrence mechanisms is developed among predatory animals along a pollution gradient, where shared resources become more limited in more contaminated areas and the energy budget for detoxification is much higher. Community disassembly by heavy metal pollution may occur when the presence of toxic elements shifts patterns of species co-occurrence from structured to random. On the other hand, limited resources on a pollution gradient should lead to higher competition between dominant species. Disassembly may entail the loss of existing co-evolved interactions among species, which has ramifications for community dynamics and the quality of the functioning of polluted ecosystems. We expect an assemblage dominated by competitive species interactions to exhibit a significant segregation of taxa, whereas one dominated by mutualistic or syntrophic interactions would exhibit an aggregation of taxa. Responses of Carabidae co-occurrence patterns and changes in body size measures to heavy metal concentrations were investigated in a zinc contamination gradient in a Scots pine forest in the vicinity of Olkusz (southern Poland), at 12 study sites. The zinc concentration in the humus layer varied between 108 mg kg-1 dw to 6150 mg kg-1 dw. We used the C-score index, between all possible species pairs in a matrix. The ground beetle assemblages from the reference sites showed a significant segregation pattern. Community disassembly occurred only among assemblages in heavily polluted sites. The average value of skewness and kurtosis were significantly higher in the highly contaminated sites, indicating the greater proportion of small-bodied species in contaminated areas. The Gini coefficient was highest in the low contaminated sites, indicating the body-size inequality of carabid assemblages was greatest in the uncontaminated areas. Our data suggest that increased pollution contributes to the extinction of sensitive forest specialists with large body size and higher competitive abilities, leading to replacement by less sensitive generalists, with smaller body size and that the co-occurrence of species on heavily polluted sites is a result of unstable interactions between species in communities.

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Cover Community Ecology
Community Ecology An Interdisciplinary Journal Reporting Progress in Community and Population Studies
Print ISSN:
1585-8553
Online ISSN:
1588-2756

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Community Ecology
Language English
Size A4
Year of
Foundation		 2000
Volumes
per Year		 1
Issues
per Year		 3
Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245
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Springer Nature Switzerland AG
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ISSN 1585-8553 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2756 (Online)

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