Community structure and distribution of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in sobaeksan national park, Korea

Abstract

The ground beetles collected during the investigation period were nine subfamilies, 24 genera, 51 species, and 3504 ground beetles. Species richness was high in Pterostichinae has 24 species (47%), Harpalinae nine species (17.6%), Carabinae six species (11.8%), and Lebiinae three species (5.9%). Overall dominant species was Synuchus agonus, and dominance index was 0.361. Synuchus agonus was investigated as the dominant species in both Namcheon Valley and Geumseon Valley. Regarding subdominant species, it was Synuchus nitidus (52 individuals, 12.6%) and Synuchus cycloderus (52 individuals, 12.6%) in the order in Namcheon Valley, and it was Pterostichus orientalis orientalis (660 individuals, 21.3%) and Pterostichus audax (378 individuals, 12.2%) in the order in Geumseon Valley. Total species diversity index of ground beetles in Sobaeksan National Park was 2.917. By area, the number of collected ground beetles was smaller in Namcheon Valley than in Geumseon Valley. Sobaeksan National Park is located at the boundary of northern and southern parts in Korea and is a very important place in terms of geography and climate. Sobaeksan has been designated as a national park, and its ecosystem is relatively preserved well. If continuous investigation of basic data for ground beetles is conducted through long-term monitoring, the data can be used as key data to research mutual relationship with organisms, effects by climate change, and ecosystem change depending on human activities.