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Overlapping generations can balance the fluctuations in the activity patterns of an endangered ground beetle species: long‐term monitoring of C arabus hungaricus in Hungary
Author(s) -
Bérces Sándor,
Elek Zoltán
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
insect conservation and diversity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1752-4598
pISSN - 1752-458X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-4598.2012.00218.x
Subject(s) - endangered species , population , biology , ecology , population size , habitat , habitat fragmentation , steppe , mark and recapture , demography , zoology , sociology
C arabus hungaricus is a ground beetle inhabiting the P annonian steppes. It is highly endangered by fragmentation and abandonment of its habitat. For five consecutive years, from 2006 to 2010, we used the mark–release‐recapture technique in a grid of 270 live‐capture pitfall traps to study its population ecology in sandy grasslands on S zentendrei I sland in the N orthern vicinity of B udapest, H ungary. In total, 3950 individuals of C . hungaricus (1874 females and 2076 males) were marked. Population size was estimated at∼2000 individuals per year; the estimates for females were consistently higher than those for males. The minimum population size was 1317 ± 60.1 individuals in 2007, whereas the maximum was 2169.7 ± 108.8 individuals in 2008. Adults older than a year formed∼32–42% of the population, whereas individuals surviving for 3 years formed∼10%, and those surviving for 4 years formed∼2% of the population. Individuals older than 4 years comprised <1% of the population. Female survival rate was higher than that of male, but the capture rate also differed between sexes. Although the studied population showed considerable fluctuations in the pattern of activity during the 5 years, its size seemed to be relatively stable, underlining the importance of overlapping generations.