Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as indicators of the effectiveness of restoration actions on the salt grasslands of the Baltic Sea coast

Published source details Schultz R. (2000) Laufkäfer (Coleoptera: Carabidae) als Indikatoren der Effizienz von Renaturierungsmaßnahmen auf den Salzgrünländern der Ostseeküste. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für allgemeine und angewandte Entomologie, 12, 389-262.
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Summary

Traditional cattle grazing in coastal flooded moorland, originally characterised by brackish water reeds, led to the development of flooded salt grasslands that harbour a specialised insect fauna. Diking in the middle of the twentieth century reduced the area of flooded salt grassland. This study assesses the community of salt-loving ground beetles (carabids) after interventions to restored flooded salt grasslands at the Baltic Sea Coast in West Pomerania, Germany.

In December 1993 the restoration interventions outdiking (removal of dikes to cause flooding) and cattle grazing took place in the Karrendorfer Wiesen near Greifswald. There is no information about the area or number of restoration sites.

Carabid beetles were sampled before and after restoration, from 1986 until 1998, with pitfall traps, photoeclectors (a kind of pyramidal emergence trap with a collecting chamber at the apex), quadrat sampling and hand sampling.

The number of carabid beetle species increased after restoration (exact numbers not given). The proportion of specialised species also increased. In contrast, carabid density after restoration was lower than before restoration. By the second year after outdiking, the carabid beetle community showed characteristics of a typical flooded salt grasslands carabid community.